Royal Navy Recruits Participate In Their Initial Nine Week Training Course

PLYMOUTH, UNITED KINGDOM - MAY 15: Royal Navy recruits pose for photographs following their passing out parade at the training establishment HMS Raleigh on the final day of their initial nine-week basic naval training on May 15 2009 in Plymouth, England. New courses start every week and the intensive nine-week period, covers basic naval procedures, an induction in seamanship techniques, fire-fighting and weapons training, as well as including a series of mental and physical challenges to promote team working which culminates with the passing-out-parade where recruits march before their families and friends. The Royal Navy, one of the largest in the world, recruits around 4500 new ratings a year, from all over the UK and abroad, aged between 16 and 36, and many jobseekers are currently seeing a career in the Royal Navy as a good way to avoid the UK's recession. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)