Families at Sea

[RoyalGreenJacket]

The relatives of the Royal Navy's HMS Chatham's ship's company recently experienced life at sea, joining their loved ones for the final leg of the frigate's journey back from the Gulf of Aden.



HMS Chatham was making use of the 'Parents and Children At Sea' (PACAS) scheme to show sailors' relatives what life is like on board ship.

Over fifty fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers embarked at Gibraltar for the four-day passage back to Plymouth on the last leg of the ship's seven-month deployment countering piracy in the waters in and around the Gulf of Aden.

what an excellent opportunity for families to 'go to sea' with their loved ones and experience what they do for living, as well as being a great adventure for everyone.

[Goldie fish]

Naval Service regularly does this also, calling it "family day".
However because the NS is fully operational, it cannot take the luxury of 4 days, and most of the trips take half a day.

[Sluggie]

Sounds like a bit of a nightmare to me

[RoyalGreenJacket]

why would it be a nightmare?

4 days at sea with family you invited?

it's good for the sailor and the family.

if you were the sailor on board would you not like the opportunity to have your parents come along for the ride for a few days?

likewise - if it was your son / daughter on board and they invited you - you turn them down because it would be a nightmare???

in my opinion, it's a great initiative. we often have 'WaGs Weekends' (Wives and Girlfriends) in the Army where they come along and experience what we do for change and it's great fun for all concerned.

the Royal Navy's PACAS scheme is obviously a more serious step up from this and probably very popular with sailors and families alike.

[hptmurphy]

Pros and cons really.

The services have nothing to hide so why not let the families have a look, but then again if the families don't like what they see does it put pressure on the service man, especially from a naval perspective.

If at 19 my mother and father were aware of some of the stuff we had to do they would have aged prematurely and been well in their graves by now....

Access and too much access can be good and bad.

[RoyalGreenJacket]

i'm pretty sure it would have been a pretty mellow 4 day trip back to the UK without the usual 'drinking till your eyes bleed' or 'walking the plank' etc. i'm sure everyone was on their best behaviour but i'm also pretty sure the messes were put through their paces and a good time would have been had by all.

i'd love it if i had a relative at sea who invited me along for a ride back to the UK, sounds good to me.

[Jungle]

i'd love it if i had a relative at sea who invited me along for a ride back to the UK, sounds good to me.

Same here; except I would insist on being able to 'drink till my eyes bleed' and 'walk the plank' etc !!!

[hptmurphy]

We'll see what we can do...Fancy atwo weeker off the west coast in about november on a PV ?

Preferably Emer...(Rattle and Hum...)

Could sort you out witha day bunk, in the mechs accom, you can slum it and eat with the senior rates given your rank.

An eye opener. No holds barred, although something tells me you'd be well up for it.

[damo de muff diver]

We'll see what we can do...Fancy atwo weeker off the west coast in about november on a PV ?

Preferably Emer...(Rattle and Hum...)

Could sort you out witha day bunk, in the mechs accom, you can slum it and eat with the senior rates given your rank.

An eye opener. No holds barred, although something tells me you'd be well up for it.

I would love that , one last spin before she is gone forever....
Is there any orphans on board , I could be their family , am only a small fella won`t need much room & am willing to do some light mopping of decks..........

[trellheim]

Join NSR, have one last go.