International footballer David McNamee has gone from defending for his nation on the football pitch to defending his nation at sea.
The 35-year-old, capped four times by Scotland in a 15-year career north and south of the border, has signed for the U.K. Royal Navy and is now training to become a mine warfare specialist.
McNamee, who played for a string of clubs including Aberdeen, St Mirren, Livingston and Coventry City, hung up his boots last year.
The former defender said, “I finished playing and I decided to do my qualifications for going into the coaching world and started to work at Coventry City Academy.
“I found that I didn’t have the same drive to do that as I had had when I was a player,” he continued. “So I decided I had to do something I was interested in doing and if I hadn’t been a football player, I would have been involved with the Military in some way, whether it be the Army, Navy or RAF.”
“It was something I’d always wanted to do as a kid,” he said. “I decided that if the Navy was what I was going to do I was going to have to do it now, before I was too old.”
David arrived at HMS Raleigh, the Royal Navy training base in Cornwall last July for his 10-weeks basic training and was placed in a class with 28 other recruits whose ages ranged from 16 to 36 years. The class has lived together in a dormitory, known as a mess-deck and worked side-by-side throughout the course.
“Our group is what I would imagine to be one of the older groups of lads,” McNamee said. “There’s a good four or five of us who aren’t far off my age and have got a bit of life experience. It’s been alright and the young ones have actually kept me feeling that little bit younger.”
During training great emphasis is placed on the Royal Navy’s core values of commitment, courage, discipline, respect for others, loyalty and integrity.
McNamee said, “The word discipline comes into sport, not being able to go out and just party, when you are considered to be a role model for young children.
“Transferring from that into here has been one of the easier things because I am a person that’s driven a lot like that.
“I was brought up very well by my parents and had a good strong family unit, so the Navy’s core values came relatively easy to me.”
McNamee was selected for extra responsibility at the beginning of the course and given the role of Deputy Class Leader.
He said, “I was proud to be given the job. It’s something I wanted and when the names were read out for the class management team I was happy to be given the job of Deputy.
“I expected to be in the mix, but I didn’t expect the Class Leader position because a couple of lads in the class have got previous military history, so I knew they’d be the favorites.”
