Ron Gordon – Offered Officer path, but turned down due to cost of uniform
And as soon as they heard I got eight ‘O’ Levels, they said, “Oh, do you want to go through for Supplementary Officer?” I said, “No” I said, “not with my background. My mum can’t afford anything like you know all the uniform and all the …” ‘cos I’d heard about what the life as an Officer required you to do, the Mess life, and I said, “No, we can’t afford that” so I went in as an Apprentice.
You got an allowance when you joined, but if you wanted to get the best uniforms, you needed to … they gave you some forms, they cost a bit extra. Same as when I got promoted SD.
You still needed a bit extra to pay for the best uniform, a uniform that was going to last, ‘cos if you were going to BRNC Dartmouth, for your Officer training, you didn’t want to be the odd one out with a tatty old uniform, a cheap one from wherever. Marks and Sparks or somewhere like that rather than Gieves and Hawkes, so it was a decision I’d already knew I wouldn’t want to go through, and I still am an introvert, but I was shy, and I didn’t want to get involved in that sort of that career path.