Sailor follows in family footsteps (From The Oxford Times)

Sailor follows in family footsteps

4:30pm Saturday 31st July 2010 in

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BEN Lambert is following in his father and grandfathers’ footsteps completing basic training and joining the armed services.

The 17-year-old from Bicester took part in a passing out parade to mark completion of naval training at HMS Raleigh, at Torpoint, in Cornwall.

Mr Lambert was put through his paces in a series of physical and mental challenges over nine weeks’ training, which transformed him into a sailor.

Theformer Cooper School pupil, Mr Lambert has joined the Royal Navy as a trainee warfare specialist and has been transferred to HMS Collingwood, in Hampshire.

He said: “I joined the Royal Navy to travel and to carry on the family tradition.

“Both my grandfathers served in the Navy, my dad, Nicholas, was a submariner for 10 years in the 1980s and my uncle Tim, was also in the Navy.

“Basic training was hard but also enjoyable.”

In his new post the teenager will learn how to gather and interpret information about a ship’s surroundings and also operate its weapons and defensive systems.