A ROYAL Navy Officer from West Devon has taken on a new role at HMS Raleigh, in Cornwall, training new recruits to the service.

Lieutenant Andrew Young is a divisional training officer at the Royal Navy training base, charged with overseeing the training of up to 60 recruits as they undergo their ten-week initial naval training course.

The 27-year-old said:  'It is a real privilege to be appointed to HMS Raleigh, helping the recruits make the transition from civvy to sailor.

'When I stop and think that they are the future of the RN and are an example of the quality of our people, it is very humbling.'

Lt Young, who is from?Tavistock, joined the Royal Navy in 2008 and hails from a service background. His parents, Jon and Helen Young, both served in the Royal Marines and Royal Navy respectively. Lt Young's eldest sister, Sally Armstrong, is a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Reserve, currently serving at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, and his brother-in-law, Lieutenant Commander Stuart Armstrong, serves at the NATO headquarters in Naples. 

Lt Young is married to Sally, who is a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Course.  Captain Young has completed two tours of Afghanistan and is currently working at the Ministry of Defence Hospital Unit Frimley Park, near Aldershot.

Prior to joining the Royal Navy Lt Young read for a War Studies degree at King's College, London, achieving an upper second class honours degree. 

He was originally destined for an Army career and entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2007, before opting to join the Royal Navy as a training manager. 

He completed his Royal Navy training in March 2010 and was appointed to HMS Sultan, in Hampshire, as the defence and political studies instructor.  Lt Young's secondary roles included responsibilities for media liaison, acting as the personal development officer and arranging battlefield tours to Europe for sailors under training. 

Before taking up his new appointment at HMS Raleigh he spent six months as the officer in charge of training support at the Royal Marine base in Poole.

Lt Young said:  'The opportunities that the Royal Navy has given me have been absolutely fantastic; working with some amazing individuals and really being able to have an impact on a diverse range of subjects and areas in a variety of roles that would never have been open to me in either the Army or civvy street. 

'The best part so far? Probably my time at Sultan, where I was really able to make a difference in training through personal development classes, the battlefield tours and the strategic studies programme. 

'For the future I'd like to work at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines and fulfil my lifetime ambition to deploy to an operational theatre.'