The number of jobs open to women in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has expanded greatly since the first Army Nursing Service was established in New South Wales in 1899. In the new millennium, women can now be employed in approximately 88% of employment categories in the ADF including many positions that can see them serving overseas in some of the most rewarding situations undertaken by our military.
To secure our vast Australian coastline and service the many peacekeeping, aid and other such operational commitments of our nation, the ADF must have people with the right professional skills, experience and aptitude. Rebekah Castner can certainly be counted as one of the very competent people who make up the 50,000 strong Australian Defence Force personnel. Currently employed as a Military Working Dog Handler with the Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF), Rebekah has spent the past 4½ years in military service.
A Queensland police officer for 6 years, the Brisbane born and educated Bek chose to work in some of the most isolated or challenging police districts in the state before eventually hanging up her badge to study accountancy. 2 years into her degree she realized that accountancy wasn’t really what she wanted to do so she began the search for something that might better capture her interest. Acknowledging that she missed the sense of camaraderie and family that comes with being part of a tightly connected team environment and drawn by the idea of working with animals, a love she has had since childhood, Bek applied to the Australia Defence Force to train and work as a Military Working Dog Handler.
back to topBek and her patrol partner ‘Mack’ are part of a special division within the ADF’s Security Police and together are charged with the responsibility of securing assets and working closely with the RAAF Airfield Defence Guards. “I have found being with animals such as Mack one of the most rewarding experiences of my life so far. Part of the job of a dog handler is actually training the dog from scratch so I have had the opportunity of seeing a beautiful German Shepherd transformed from a normal, domestic animal into a trained, professional guard dog,” she explains. “As a dog handler you become very close to your animal because you spend so much time together and share so many experiences,” Bek continues. “If someone loves animals, especially big dogs, being a dog handler could be a very rewarding job for them to take up.”
However, as much as Bek has enjoyed working as a dog handler she is now once again choosing to look towards new horizons with her recent acceptance into Officer Training School at the Williams RAAF base in Victoria. The 17 week course will assist Bek to learn the many core skills involved in being a RAAF officer including organisational management, leadership skills, communication, airforce values and attitudes and personal development. Following her stint at Officer Training School where she will graduate as a RAAF Pilot Officer, Beck will immediately move on to other more specialist training in a vocational area of her choice. “My goal is to become an Air Traffic Controller which will entail undertaking a further 9 months of intensive full time study,” she comments.
During this time, Bek will learn the skills associated with the four very different, but linked, air traffic controller positions. Such positions include Planners, who give clearances in and out of the airspace surrounding the base, Approach Controllers who control aircraft within the airspace immediately surrounding the airfield, Surface Movement Controllers who control aircraft on the ground and the Tower Controllers who control the direct flight paths of aircraft as they make their final approaches or have just taken off from the base. “The great thing about being an Air Traffic Controller in the military is that I gain experience in all four areas of air traffic control, whereas, if I was a civilian I could only specialise in just one of them,” Bek explains.
back to topAir Traffic Controllers need to be good at multi-tasking, an attribute that Bek is confident she possesses. “It’s a very challenging job that will require me to be listening to and instructing up to five aircraft at the same time as well as co-ordinating everything with the other controllers. As a person I always like to be challenging myself to achieve new and better things so that I don’t become complacent and comfortable with the way I am. I think this is why I have chosen to move on from being a Working Dog Handler to trying something completely fresh and different,” Bek reflects.
The ability to move on to a totally different career and yet stay with the same employer is one of the many aspects that attracted Bek to the military in the first place. “How many jobs offer you this kind of diversity and support? They house, feed and pay you good wages while you undertake your training and then if you decide to change jobs later in your career they are willing to start the process all over again,” she says. Bek believes that there are not too many civilian companies that can offer that kind of support and a lot less that can offer the diversity of opportunities that the ADF can.
Leaving her role as a Military Dog Handler does have its down side and Bek finds it difficult even discussing the subject without feeling emotional. “While I am really excited about officer training and the possibility of becoming an Air Traffic Controller, I know I am going to really miss working with Mack. I have been his handler for a long time and now he will need to return to dog training school to be retrained with a new handler,” she says sadly. “I’m sure it’s going to be just as hard for him as it will be on me too.”
“Don’t let anyone ever, ever tell you that you can’t do something.”
“Keep building on your career, always seek out new challenges, try and find what really interests you and don’t let anything stop you from doing it.”
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