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Delivering adventure training aboard

Corporal Pat Hoey serves with the Royal Marines Reserve and joined the Nottingham Detachment around nine years ago where at that time he was a student. 

However, being a keen sports person he was excited to be offered an opportunity to work at the Naval Outdoor Centre in Germany on a full-time reserve service contract and decided to leave his old life behind to follow his ambition of becoming an adventure training instructor.

Corporal Pat Hoey climbing Strahlengrat

Pat explained: “I had the opportunity to move aboard presented to me almost by accident as I wasn’t looking for a new job. There was a position available at the Naval Outdoor Centre as an adventure training instructor and I decided this was too good an opportunity to pass up so 10 days later I found myself driving out to Germany with all of my possessions. Here I quickly took part in some ski training and later in the Silveretta multi-day ski tour in Austria with the staff.”

Since this time, Pat has helped to deliver a variety of outdoor training programmes to students including climbing, biking and kayaking as well as developing his own skiing skills.

Pat continued: “I’m now more than three years into my contract and have not regretted my decision to move at all. I have developed a range of ski qualifications I can take back and deliver to the wider corps and have been able to deliver activities to a range of audiences using my new qualifications.

“Whilst this is not a conventional role for a reservist to fill my passion for adventure training allowed me to expand my horizons. The Royal Marines Reserve has invested in me and I have been allowed to develop myself during my placement to become widely useful at the centre delivering a range of training to the wider Naval Service.”