When he’s not at sea, Seaman Oscar Dickson can be found under the hood of his Pontiac FireBird or Datsun 720.
“I slammed my Datsun to the ground before I realised how lowered cars scrape pretty much everywhere,” the gap year sailor said.
The teenager was always interested in mechanics, so when he posted to HMAS Albatross, he was drawn to a job on the tools.
Seahawks and Datsuns might have as much in common as apples and oranges, but Seaman Dickson knew the aviation technician role was the right fit.
“It was exactly what I wanted to do; it was hands-on work, not sitting behind a computer,” Seaman Dickson said.
He was one of four gap year seaman sailors pursuing aviation technician roles on board HMAS Adelaide.
As the ship completed a month-long deployment, the junior sailors received hands-on experience in their future jobs.
Navy gap year sailors spend a year after recruit school travelling Australia and sampling different jobs.
Those who make up their minds early, like Seaman Dickson or Seaman Kayla Thompson, can apply to stay at a particular unit until their trade-school application is processed.
By the time Seaman Dickson and Thompson begin their category training in Wagga, they’ll have experiences from months at sea and a head start over their classmates.
“We get opportunities that other qualified sailors mightn’t get, because we’re very easy to hand around to the different departments,” Seaman Thompson said.
“We’ll definitely have some stories to tell.”
Seaman Dickson said at the start it was just following someone around and seeing what they do.
“Now they’ve got us handling jobs and they will check it over,” Seaman Dickson said.
“It feels like we’re part of the team. It doesn’t feel like doing it as a gap year.”
