The first recruits to join a new environmental specialisation are turning up at HMS Raleigh this month.

The new Operator Mechanic (Hydrographic, Meteorological and Oceanographic), or OM(HM), will eventually succeed the current OM Survey Recorder – OM(SR) – and Naval Airman Meteorological and Oceanographic – NA(METOC).

Environmental specialists are of increasing importance as the Navy continues to build up its amphibious and expeditionary capabilities, with force commanders needing to ensure weather, tide and topography are as favourable as possible before committing men to battle.

The existing specialisations will continue to function, protecting conditions of service and maintaining a career path for serving personnel.

The Fleet will also need to maintain these existing specialists as the new system beds in and environmental warfare techniques are developed.

The team which has created the new OM(HM) acknowledges that at the top end of the specialisation there may be a permanent need for a depth of knowledge which can only be provided by a bias towards one or another of the original skills – either SR or METOC – and development of the senior end of the specialisation will need to take that possibility into account.

Recruitment into the existing specialisations stopped in January, and the first HM ratings are starting their Phase 1 training at HMS Raleigh, the new entry establishment at Torpoint in Cornwall, for Phase 1 training this month.

The new recruits will get their first taste of sea service in HMS Endurance or a survey ship from September this year, and the new trade should be fully integrated into the Navy’s rank structure by 2014.

The initiative was first investigated by the Maritime Warfare School, and an HM Implementation Steering Group was then set up to develop the new specialisation, as well as a training programme to support it.

HM ratings will wear the standard Warfare Branch (WB) badge on their uniform, with the letters HM beneath to denote their trade.

Although the framework for the next step up the promotion ladder – the leading hand billets – has been developed, a review procedure over the next two years will help to refine the system.

The current LOM(SR) and LA(METOC) courses will continue until April 2007 when a new LOM(HM) course will take their place.

Arrangements will be in place for leading hands in the old specialisations to complete their career progression by dovetailing into new courses in accordance with their original skill sets.

The new OM(HM), described in detail in DCI RN10/04, is intended to be “more versatile and employable in a far wider range of drafts than either of the source specialisations, and will continue to provide both generic and specific warfare support to Fleet across the whole environmental field.”