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I am a soldier in the Royal Danish Navy, ask me anything!
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Nysen16 karma
Yes. The way I see sailors are tough guys who are pulling ropes and binding knots all day. This is really far from what I do on the ship. I forgot how to tie all the knots and these days when I am sailing my job consists of sitting in front of a computer 90% of the time.
If I had written "Ask a sailor" I believe I would get alot of question that I am not qualified to answer.
RichBl2 karma
Denmark is my favorite country and I live in London. Why? The standard of living is higher in Denmark. Less imigration which has been bad for the UK. Cleaner. Men have better protection in Law in Denmark with regards to the family. Better relationships between the genders. Dynamic country that looks forwward. The Uk looks back in History. Good luck to you
Nysen19 karma
Yes you are absolutely right. I have often dreamt about living in another country but now after I have seen quite a few places I can't help but think that Denmark/Scandinavia is the best place in the world to live as far as living standards go.
Thank you.
Didiyoso2 karma
What is your salary? Can you comfortably live off of your income? Military personnel in the US make barely enough to survive.
Nysen8 karma
My salary is really good. I also noticed this while I was sailing in USA, they had these navy exchanges near the military installations that granted huge discounts for military personel.
The regular prices in USA are way cheaper than in Denmark because of our taxes so when we saw these military discounts we went on one crazy shopping spree after another.
When we returned to Denmark we were shocked to find that we would be boarded by customs - we never imagined that they would board a navy ship so me and my three roomates were sitting in our bunk beds almost shitting ourselves, our floor in the room had literally turned into a maze because of all the stuff we had bought. Luckily they never went to our room.
THE_Aft_io9_Giz1 karma
Where did you go to train for boot camp? How long was it, and do you have to take test to determine what rate you should be, similar to the US military?
Nysen2 karma
I know little of how the US military educational system works but as far as I know you take a series of test that determines your MOS and this unlocks one or more courses you can take.
That is not how it works in the danish navy. The way I did it was that I looked on the internet for avaibly jobs in the navy and found this thing called "tactical constable". I looked at the requirements and then I trained my physique so I was sure to be selected.
I was accepted to participate in the 2 day exams which included a running tests as well as some pushups, medical exams, multitasking, technical thinking, english and danish tests.
The boot camp is at the same city that I grew up in called Frederikshavn, it is 4 months.
Nysen1 karma
I think it is difficult because they are not forced to work with other navies to the same degree that we are, therefor they often use their own procedures that are somehow incompatible with standard NATO procedures.
Other than that it is very cool to see all this great equipment that their defense budget allows them to buy. We can only dream of such gadgets in Denmark
Hashbrownd1 karma
Generally curious as to your opinion of American navy. Is it really the most powerful bar none, or is there some room for interpretation.
Nysen3 karma
There is no doubt that the USN has a great array of technology at their disposal thus making it a very powerful navy.
But I also think that this sets them back somehow, generally the USN has 2.5-3 times as many soldiers on their ships as we have in the danish navy. We can't afford that in Denmark.
This requires us to be more creative in the way that we do things and the organization on the ship is very smooth because of this.
btmims3 karma
You called yourself a "soldier" in the Navy. In the American military, Army, Navy, Air Force, and even the Marine Corps all have "official terms" for their members, with the navy being comprised of "sailors" (the Army is made up of soldiers). Is it the same in the Danish military, and you just used soldier to really get across that you are in the armed forces, or do you have a generic term for members of your armed forces, and would maybe only call someone a sailor while at sea on a ship?
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