A WORCESTER woman has swapped her life as a civilian for two weeks training at Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) in Devon.
Honorary Sub Lieutenant (SLt) Danielle Jackson joined members of the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) for the course, at the world-renowned college, as part of her role as a training officer, with the Glasgow University Royal Navy Unit (URNU). Now living in Scotland, she joined the unit in March 2018.
The intense two–week course includes ceremonial training, weapons training, strategic studies, theoretical and practical leadership development, as well as gruelling physical sessions. Three days were spent refining boat skills on the River Dart followed by assessments on Dartmoor and within the grounds of BRNC to determine the fate of pass or fail.
At the end of their course the Cadets were formally commissioned as Officers during a ceremony attended by Captain Sue Jameson, Captain Training Royal Navy Reserves.
SLt Jackson was a member of the URNU herself when she was studying at Liverpool University and now works as a veterinary surgeon.
She said: “I became a training officer with the URNU to give something back to an organisation that gave me so much during my time at university. It’s been an honour to train alongside my RN and RNR peers at BRNC and to take that experience back to enhance the training of our students.
“It feels fantastic to pass out of BRNC and I look forward to working with the RNR in the future, hopefully opening up opportunities for our students to follow this route should they chose to do so.”
The Maritime Reserves is made of the RNR and the Royal Marines Reserves. In many cases reservists are indistinguishable from their regular counterparts. In recent years the Maritime Reserves has been involved in a range of operations including counter-terrorism and anti-piracy work in the Gulf.
There are 15 URNUs located across the country offering many exciting opportunities for university students.
The main purpose of the organisation is to develop knowledge of the Service as well as leadership, personal and inter-personal skills while building on the importance of teamwork, which students can take into whatever career path they choose.
