Kildalkey cadet one of just eight graduates of officer training school

Meath will have one of its own defending the country's coastline after a young Kildalkey woman was commissioned as a naval cadet last week. On Friday, 24-year-old Sarah Ledwith was honoured by the the Minister of State at the Department of Defence, Paul Kehoe; the Deputy Chief of Staff, Major General Ralph James, and the Flag Officer Commanding the Naval Service, Commodore Mark Mellet, at the commissioning ceremony of the 49th Naval Service Cadet Class at the Naval Base in Haulbowline, Co Cork. Sarah was one of just eight cadets graduating from the gruelling Officer Training School of the Naval College, following 21 months of intensive training, which included navigation, seamanship, weapons training, leadership, communications, marine engineering and naval warfare. Sarah, who was in the Army Reserve for six years, says she always wanted to do "something different" and started the punishing schedule of training in November of 2009. "You've no life for two years," she said this week. "You might get home every five or six weeks but the first term is military arms drills, fitness training, running and the likes. "In the first year, you can't drive your own car, you can't wear jeans, hoodies or runners so it's strict discipline and you're basically not allowed out - in second year, we got time off from 7.30pm to 10.30pm and were allowed to drive our cars, which was a way of rewarding year one." Of the 13 who originally made the course, just eight finished, with only two female officers making the final commissioning ceremony. "The second term had shorter courses, things like sea survivor courses, firefighting equipment training and armed boarding courses," said the double honours language graduate. "You spend two months out at sea on the LÉ Eithne (naval patrol ship), up on watches, cleaning and learning the about watch-keeping. "It's a big thing (being commissioned) because you are entrusted with the care of the people around you, of the equipment of the ship. I'll put it like this, if you mess up, it'll be in the news! "The ceremony itself is a big deal and it's the only State commissioning document signed by the President, the Minister for Defence and the Taoiseach." Sarah, who is fluent in German and Spanish, says Portuguese and Dutch (from her time playing Gaelic Football in Holland!) are no problem to her, which will come in useful when she boards one of the eight vessels patrolling Irish waters up to 200 miles off the coast. Sarah, whose brother is the well-known athlete Andrew Ledwith, says that being one of the few female cadets didn't bother her. "There's around 1,100 in the service and I think between 40 and 60 female females, but everyone gets treated the same because we all have to come through the same training," she said. Before she started reminding colleagues that Meath does have a coastline, her first experience which confirmed the naval life for her was being winched up to a helicopter for a Coastguard drill. "The helicopter is over you, this is all done at around 20 knots, and I was someone who had to go on the stretcher and be winched up. Actually, once I was secured, they were talking about putting me back in the sea for the craic! But I enjoyed it." After the ceremony, Sarah and the rest of the class were given two weeks' well-earned leave and her and her friends are spending it in familiar territory. "Well, you probably won't believe me, but we're renting out a boat to go down the Shannon!" she laughed. The ceremony marked the first step for the newly-commissioned officers towards full qualification as naval watchkeeping officers in the operations branch or marine engineering officers in the engineering branch, and will see them taking up appointments within the Naval Service, both ashore and at sea. Already having done security for the Tall Ships Festival in Waterford, her first assignment back is a three-month stint Down Under, guarding oil tankers. "I'll miss Christmas. I don't think mum is too impressed with that," added Sarah - but you get the feeling her mum and all her family are very much impressed all the same with Sub-lieutenant Ledwith.