Transcript
So the mechanic piece, I certainly didn't grow up wanting to be a mechanic at all but it was actually the only trade that I could get. So you do your aptitude testing and I'd thought well, if I can't fly the airplane, I'll fix it. So I tried to get into aviation technician type roles but again, I couldn't match the aptitude but they said, "Oh but you can come and be a mechanic." And so I think my dad and mum had said, "Well, you might as well get a trade, so go and do that instead," and so I found myself training as a mechanic…
So as a Reserve solider, I was at 4th/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse, so I'd done my M113A1 drivers course, so I was an APC driver and I loved that, it was a lot of fun. And so during trade training, you stay in your corps, so you're posted to the Army School of Logistics up in Bonegilla at Latchford Barracks but you stay in your corps until you complete the trade training. So there were a number of us that were either Infantry, Armour, different various corps, in amongst those who had enlisted directly into the trade training school but we didn't become RAEME, Royal Australian Electrical Engineer soldiers until you'd finished your trade.
