Plotting a different course

FOR many people, the notion of serving in the Defence Forces suggests being locked into one service for life. However, Conor O'Geran proves otherwise. He has seen the inside of all three branches of the Defence Forces, having begun his working life in the Army before moving to the Air Corps and finally taking up his present berth as a petty officer with the Naval Service at its base in Cork.

"I joined the Army from school because my family situation meant I needed something that would give me an income and a profession right from the beginning," he says.

"My interest as a kid had been in mechanical things and I worked during my summer holidays with various companies involved in this type of business. But when it came to deciding what to do with my life, I opted for electronics rather than mechanics and with the way the world has gone in the past 10 years, it was a good decision," he says.

Following an apprenticeship as a radio technician with the Army which resulted in a City and Guilds qualification, Conor O'Geran moved briefly to the Air Corps before joining the Navy in 1990 because he was attracted by "the sheer range of equipment on which I'd be working". He qualified in marine radar maintenance and is now in the throes of a diploma in electrical engineering at Cork RTC.

"I decided I needed to work up my qualifications because I had reached a rank from which it would be difficult to progress without a degree," he says.

"My City and Guilds qualification was no use to me in this regard and I needed to get into the NCEA system in order to progress. The only problem was that the RTC had never accepted anyone on to its diploma without the national certificate qualification first and I didn't have one.

"I think they decided to accept me because I was so tenacious and kept annoying them until they finally gave in. So I'm something of a test case for them. But with a bit of luck I'll graduate in 1997 and I can then go on for the degree.

"Timing was also very important for me as we go to sea in two-year rotations and I knew I had to get the study in within a very tight timeframe."

The course takes up three nights a week with study time on top and O'Geran, who is married with an infant daughter, admits that it is difficult.

"Going to the lectures is not so bad, it's finding the time to study and not feeling guilty about locking yourself in a room instead of being with my wife and our daughter who has been very ill," he says.

"But I see this as my opportunity to move forward and I feel I have to go for it. I find the course content very interesting because I love the whole area of electronics. My work is extremely varied as I maintain and repair everything from ships' telephones to the whole spectrum of navigational equipment. Our ships are different which means different types of gear on each and we are also upgrading our systems and getting new pieces of equipment all the time, " he says.

A fully qualified canoeing instructor who is part of the national canoe polo squad, O'Geran is also a qualified life guard and represents the Navy in inter-service canoeing events.