Having gone through the junior and senior term in Officer Cadet School(OCS) Sungai Akar, it was finally time for the Navy Officer Cadets to enter their Special to Service term. The officer cadets of intake 11; 50577 OCDT Awangku Badaruddin bin Seri Jaya, 50582 OCDT Haji Norfaizul bin Haji Morni, 50587 OCDT Muhammad Adib bin Haji Amdan and 50588 OCDT Muhammad Nuh bin Haji Moksin begin their 15 week STS training.This also marks the first time intake 11 will undergo training under STET Defence. With STET Defence, the Singaporean instructors will share responsibility of training the officer cadets and therefore improve the quality of training.
Training opportunities for the officer cadets vary from theoretical lessons handled by the STET Defence instructors, to the practical lessons which are handled by the RBN officers.
The theoretical aspects of the STS training cover a plethora topics which include the Rules of the Road, general navigation, meteorology, chart works and more. The officer cadets were given regular quizzes and presentations to ensure they have understood and retained the knowledge. Furthermore, assessments on the theoretical aspect of training come in written tests.
The practical side of the lessons include basic sea survival, ship sorties, damage control and possibly more to come during the 15 weeks of STS training. Here, the officer cadets combine their leadership skills which they have honed during their time in OCS with the knowledge they gained during their STS term and implement them on ship sorties, where the bulk of the assessment will be made by the instructors of both RBN and STET Defence.
The officer cadets were also given the opportunity to visit the ships in order to gather information regarding the ships details, spanning from the OPV KDB Darussalam to the FIB 25 – 012 KDB Mustaed. Each ship were given detailed explanations of their roles and capabilities in the RBN.
The officer cadets will be graduated on 28th August 2014 as a Commissioned Lieutenant. Once commissioned, the cadets will apply the knowledge that the officer cadets had already acquired during the Special to Service Term, and continue their journey, gain experience and more importantly to be part of the Navy families upholding the duties and responsibilities as a future naval officer.
