Nuts & Bolts

The Navy dedicates an enormous amount of time & effort, without actually appearing to do so, in converting anyone who dons the whites into ‘Jacks of all trades’ while taking equal care to ensure that none of the trades is accidentally mastered in the process. It achieves this “important” task by constantly keeping everyone on the move across trades & stations, often without warning. So it hardly came as a surprise to discover one fine day that I was to lead a team of officers to Chennai and north Karnataka, to select candidates from final year engineering students for the Services Selection Board (SSB) interviews to be conducted subsequently under the University Entry Scheme (UES).             Basically, this time we were the “chosen ones” who had been plucked from different units under the Southern Naval Command and nominated to be the vanguard of this massive periodic exercise undertaken by the Navy. Different venues...

Reconstituting the Education Branch             After having served four fighter squadron tenures, three ship tenures & a few years at the operational nerve centre of Naval Aviation in its ultimate madhouse called ‘Chetak Section’, I was put out to pasture at the Naval Institute of Aeronautical Technology. Please don’t get me wrong….I have the highest regard for those who were responsible in their time for training me and those who simply revel at the task of guiding “lost” souls in our various military training institutes & schools. But for some like me, high on AVCAT or simply the rush of “operations”, it seemed as if the throttles had suddenly been pulled back to neutral.                Let’s face it…training or instructing others is not everyone’s cup of favourite beverage. A little dive into its depths tells me that Training  “… is the imparting of   knowledge,...

Fighter Maintenance- Unchaining the Predators                         I was a late initiate to Naval Aviation. I had originally been trained at the Naval College of Engineering, INS Shivaji to be an Electrical engineer on IN ships. This was followed by “specialisation” training on weapon systems at INS Valsura, Jamnagar. In-between, we were also deputed to ships for a period of “acquaintance” and “watch keeping”. All in all, I had been moulded well to sail the seas from the confines of the switchboard and generator compartments.             However, I soon discovered that the view from below decks was shrouded by fumes of engine oil & the incessant noise of diesel engines pounding away. Shutting them down in the interests of a few minutes of peace & quiet was not an option since we were in any case almost a...