A Spectator's Notebook
I CAME ACROSS a depress- ing example last week of what can happen as a result of the navy's catch-
'em-young recruitment principle, in the shape of a young naval officer whose application to leave the service has recently been rejected. He entered Dartmouth at the age of thirteen (I asked him what influenced his choice of career; he could recall only that he remembered being shown around a ship when at a very impressionable age). Although he achieved nothing outstanding during his training, he was apparently considered an above- average officer, and went on to hold down a sea-going appointment to the satisfaction of his superiors. Around the age of twenty, though, he had begun to have misgivings about his choice of career; and some months ago this reached the point when he decided ho could no longer give the kind of service which, he realised, he ought to be giving; his heart was not in it. Accordingly he sent in his resignation. Ironically, his good record in the past was held against him; he was told that he would not be permitted to resign.
Previous page
