Naval Officers Club Prize:
Reserve Entry Officers Course (REOC)
RADM Holthouse reported:
I am pleased and proud to report that with the current Chief of Navy’s wholehearted support the Navy has identified a most suitable target: the REOC (Reserve Entry Officers Course). The new Naval Officers Club Prize, in the form of an inscribed clock-barometer set valued at about $500 and awarded biannually will replicate the equivalent prize for the NEOC (New Entry Officer Course).
(Ed.note: The value of the prize will remain fairly constant, but its nature will vary from time to time, as NEOC prizes vary.)
An Honour Board is presently under construction at the club’s expense and the initial award will be presented by a club representative at the next REOC Passing Out Parade, in June 2007.
The prize is to be awarded to the officer appointed to the Reserve Entry Officers Course who has been distinguished by course results as well as self discipline, resolution, undeviating application and good influence among his or her fellows.
This wording closely matches that for the NEOC, the Permanent Navy Forces equivalent.
Most members will agree that this is a most satisfactory outcome which, by the way, should encourage a continuing stream of new members from the Naval Reserve community. The committee is confident that the club has reached the position in our financial affairs where we can afford this prize in perpetuity without depleting accumulated funds, but it will require the sort of careful management that you have every right to expect from your elected representatives.
This is a great achievement for the club and on behalf of the committee I would like to congratulate and thank the entire membership for their help in making it happen.
The President’s brother, John Holthouse, a skilled woodworker and French polisher, constructed the Honour Board. Here, he inspects his work before the sign writers mount their gold lettering.
RADM Holthouse presented the Honour Board (background) to HMAS Creswell during a Training Mess Dinner, 9 May 2007. SBLT Kelli Lunt (left) and Dining Mess President LEUT Victoria Meadth are two of the 29 members of the 1/07 REOC course who attended the dinner. Kelli Lunt graduated in 2008.
SBLT Mark Shannon, who won the inaugural Naval Officers Club Prize as the dux of his 1/06 REOC (Reserve Entry Officers Course), was a very welcome REOC graduate at the 36th NEOC (New Entry Officers Course) graduation parade on 29 June 2007. This was the first time such a valuable prize had been awarded to a REOC graduate and it is identical to the “take home” prize awarded to the NEOC’s Hammond Shield recipient.
Both NEOC and REOC programs aim to induct new naval officers into the culture, values and ethos of the RAN. Course segments include a concentrated training period, sea familiarisation training, sea training deployment onboard various HMA Ships and practical leadership assessments. NEOC 36 had 123 members present, including 28 females, making it the largest ever graduating class of new RAN officers. The course moved on from HMAS Creswell after a Passing Out Parade that was reviewed by the Chief of Navy, VADM Russ Shalders.
SBLT Mark Shannon, VADM Russ Shalders and RADM David Holthouse all participated in the award of the Naval Officers Club REOC prize during the NEOC passing out parade, in HMAS Creswell, 29 June 2007.
There is no formal equivalent graduation parade for young Reserve Officers, chiefly because REOC members rarely graduate together. They might take two or even three years to complete all the segments of their part-time training. The NEOC is more structured, adhering to a regular 22-week timetable.
The Royal Australian Naval College (RANC) in HMAS Creswell, has been graduating officers from its present Jervis Bay home for nearly 50 years. After completing this major phase, the newly commissioned officers commence further specialised training to prepare them for their chosen careers. While the majority of graduates go on to train as seaman officers, NEOC 36 also contained medical, dental, marine engineering, weapons, supply, training systems and aviation officers, along with a chaplain. Their ages ranged from 17 to 51 years.
HMAS Sydney
REOC course members complete much the same basic training and go on to perform similar duties, but they train to a more flexible timetable. SBLT Shannon, for instance, was serving in HMAS Sydney at the time of his graduation ceremony.
(Coincidentally, Sydney‘s Commanding Officer at the time was CMDR Guy Holthouse, the son of the Naval Officers Club’s President.)