I Joined the Airforce Out of Boredom

Did I say, I chopped all my hair off ?! >.<

At the start of 2020, just after I got married, I went off and joined the Airforce. I had already completed my Bachelor of Nursing and was working as a nurse and decided to out of the blue, do something different. I was bored working as a nurse at that time and hadn’t found what I was passionate about. Finding a job which you enjoy is important as you will spend at least one third of your life working. I encourage you to find something that you enjoy or at least work with others that make life easier and happy. Since than I have changed career paths at least 4 times but have now finally settled back to working as a nurse.

Anyways, the Airforce, oh what a time that was. I must say I really had no idea what I was doing and just going with the flow. I saw an ad for a 1-year program and decided to apply and somehow got in. I had to complete a maths (I hate maths!) and literacy test, an interview and a fitness test to get in. Somehow, I passed it all, at the time I only just briefly told my family that I was applying for it not thinking that I would get in. Then, soon after passing, I was told to pack my bags and head off to Wagga Wagga in NSW. I dressed formally for the day as we had to get our documents and get the big bosses handshake. After receiving our congratulations, they chucked us on a bus and headed off. Transferred to flights, then to bus again. At this point a lot of other recruits had joined, so I think I was with about 20 other people on the bus.  We arrived at the airbase at night, around 10 pm. Tired from my journey, I just wanted to get some rest but that was not how the first day was going to go. As soon as we arrived the yelling began, get off the bus, line up and march! I was still in formal wear with little heels that are not ideal for even walking! So marching! Oh, I was dying, there was another bus load of people that also joined. With at least 40 very uncoordinated people they tried to make us march to our shared dorms. With no training I can tell you now, marching is extremely hard as a group, people falling over and no timing at all. It was a nightmare and my feet were burning!

We got into the dorm and then told to open our suitcases and only keep some gym and sleep wear, everything else was confiscated and locked away. They took our phones, watches and civilian dress. We were not allowed contact with the outside world for at least 2 months. The next day we received our uniforms. So, for the next couple of months I was trained to march everywhere, to the cafeteria, to the classrooms, to the fitness centre and to the dorms. You always had to march when outside of your dorm, not allowed to walk.  We had to attend different classes throughout the day, which taught us how to use weapons, squad formations, different aircrafts, the rank system, everything that you needed to know about the Airforce. If you couldn’t stay awake in theory class (you weren’t allowed to yawn, as this was very rude) you had to stand up at the back of the class and continue learning from there.

After dinner each day, we needed to make sure the dorms were up to a specific cleaning standard. An instruction book was supplied to show you how, clothes folded to 30cm, bed made a certain way, dress uniforms ironed, shoelaces all tied the same way, items in cupboarded placed at a certain way. The rooms were shared with 3 other people and if one person was slightly off from the rest of the room, you were then yelled at and there would be a consequence for the whole squad. So doesn’t matter if you are perfect, you had to make sure everyone else was too. This does create a lot of drama as people interpret how everything is done and miss things. The bathrooms and common rooms had to also be spotless as well. Every night you had to complete your cleaning job to a high standard and trust that everyone else was doing the same. This is how I had to learn to trust others, to show and teach and trust that others can do the work. Many times, random inspections were conducted and lots of yelling.

Once we got our weapons, we then needed to take turns watching them during the night, usually at least 30-60mins we took turns. This had to be completed in full uniform, so most of us stayed in our uniform during the night. Waking up was exactly at 5am with running to the hallway at attention, and then only have 15mins to get ready and line up downstairs as a squad. Now 15mins is not a lot of time, to make the bed perfect, use the toilet, and get dressed, whilst making sure everything stays cleaned. It was chaotic, and did I say we had no watches! only one person out of 40 oversaw the time. They had to continuously yell out how much time we had left, and if this went wrong, we were screwed.

I enjoyed the weapons handling the most, field days were hard and hot but sometimes enjoyable. After finally getting through most of the training we were able to contact the outside world and what a shock that was. This thing called Covid was suddenly everywhere, no toilet paper? Huh? I was suddenly missing everything and had to again, quickly adapt. We were now allowed to go out but couldn’t cause of covid! After completing the basic training, I was then supposed to head back home to Qld and finish job training within the airbase at Amberly but had to stay in NSW longer due the border being closed. They eventually found a way to travel which involved a very long bus ride! No flights this time. I then stayed in Amberley base for a while for the specific job training and was allowed to eventually go home after about 6 months of basic and job training. I then attend work at Amberly base from home for the next 6 months. Eventually leaving to only work reserves, as I found that the job wasn’t for me. I wanted to work within a work environment where people respect each other and not just for their rank.

I don’t regret my time in the Airforce, I found it made me a better me, I can handle stress easier, and my cleanliness standard is a lot higher now! Which makes life easier, I’m always now forever going to take less than 1-minute showers. I can respect others and teach easier; I now know that we are all human beings just trying to live our life so why make it hard. I want to make life easier for everyone and help in anyway I can. I had found my focus in life to help others and started back in the health care journey. If you or anyone is looking to join the defence force, I would say go for it just be prepared and I hope this gives you a bit of an eye opener.