Jim Perks – Looking after our people better
We haven’t got enough boats for the political requirement for submarines and that’s well recognised. What’s not well recognised is the ability to say, “No” in some areas in the MOD.
The answer should be “No, they’re knackered, they can’t do this, sorry, we don’t want them, they’re going” so that’s been for a number of years now, not fair on our people, so that’s what we … and of course Johnny Weale was up there.
He said, “We need to look after our people better” and a lot of people were going outside at that time so we took a … we didn’t get it all right, we absolutely didn’t, we scratched the surface definitely but trying to educate others as to what it is, the pressures that we’re under and the families in particular.
Look after the families better than we had done. All the way through my career we’ve said, “Yes, families are important.” “Yeah, we know but prove it.” So, we tried to put some things in place to do that and that’s how black dolphins came about. Black cap covers came out, bit more recognition, there was a bit more money being thrown around.
Ultimately we need more boats. Submariners that go outside generally don’t go outside because they don’t love being Submariners. They go outside ‘cos they’re knackered.
There are family pressures that, “Sorry, you’re working them too hard” so that was fascinating