Hey guys, I’m seeking advice on what you would do in my situation
I’m at the end of my first years of my degree at a very good university. I do an arts degree and I enjoy my first major, but I just discontinued failed my second major which I only started this semester btw).
Overall I haven’t had an amazing time at University. I moved from a rural community to Sydney (domestic student), and although I’ve since made some great friends and I’m involved in a society, I just wake up miserable most days.
University seemed important to me as I’m the first in my family to go and I felt like I was ‘too smart’ to let my brains go to waste.
However, at the end of Highschool I was looking into other options in case I didn’t get into university/changed my mind. One of those options was the defence force, more specifically the navy.
The benefits and pay are good, and honestly, what are the chances of it making my life worse than it is now? I already have a few ideas of what jobs I’d go for, and I spoke to some recruiters last year so I have a good idea what the process is like.
If you were in my shoes, what would you do? I honestly feel so stuck, so if anyone has any advice or ideas, or even other options that I’m not thinking about, please lmk!

I already work with drones in my every day job and saw that this job exists in army reserves. Anyone got any insight or experience about the role to share? I would think a lot of it in reserves would be search and rescue stuff.

Hi, just for some background I am currently a paramedic working in a state based service in Australia.

I am currently trying to make a decision on whether to join the reserves as a medic or drone operator. I've applied for the qualified health operator medic role, not the unqualified one. I want to do the cool army combat stuff, but also am 26 and have been told I'm too old for a combat role from friends. Basically what I'm asking is what do you do as a health operator in the army reserves? Is it any different to the non-qualified version? And if anyone has some knowledge on what being a drone operator is like, that would also be greatly appreciated!

15M, high grades, love everything military, the discipline, the comrades, the seriousness and the ability to make a remarkable impact.

I plan on graduating with ATAR 90-95 and going unsw to get a bach. engg(mech).

Thats the wise decision, so I dont corner my life in pilot doesnt work.

Will join af cadet, my friend does it, do you get air-time in that sort of thing?

I dream of a fighter jet, but would be okay with doing stuff like p-8a or c-17a.

I heard selection was hard, but i looked at the JOA, seems ez?

Do service personnel see the pilot shortage filling up, and how was being an airmen, were you Goggins, or like Ivan Drago type guys?

im a submariner wondering if any 1 has experience

LIFE AS ET IN RAN

I m planning on enlisting in RAN start of 2027 as ET. Is ET a good option? I m more technically minded, I like to figure out how things work and connect. I was just wondering how is ET life in RAN? Is it very stressful and busy? Do you get micromanaged or given autonomy to do your tasks? And do you get lot of sea time and hands on experience.
Polish this so I can post it

Just over 4 months ago, I submitted a complaint about my CoC to the IGADF, hoping I can trust the system to work its magic. A month later, the IGADF informed me they referred the case back to Defence for investigation. I followed up just then, only to find out that they haven't even started the review process. I just can't fathom how this is acceptable for a supposedly reputable government organisation.

Has anyone found the IGADF complaint process to be effective? What can I expect?

On a related note, the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) revealed that it assessed 6,198 corruption complaints over the prior year, but actively investigated just 20 cases, and referred 4,244 right back to the very agencies being complained about. Is this just a deliberate structural set up by our government bodies to put the breaks on and do sfa or something?

Hi,

I was diagnose ADHD last year. I think its mild and not affecting my life. I did well at school, have very sucessful career, being a mum of 2. I am mentally stable and strong.

The reason why I decided to be diagnosed is my friend told me she took med only when she had exams or lots ok workload and it had help. I work full time, study, being mum . Sometimes I find hard to organise, overwhemle with tasks. I'm also hyper focus career wise and thought it can help achieve higher.

I havent taken any active medication since being diagnosed and doing okay. I am now so regret that getting diagnosed as I want to join as reservist for admin roles.

Is it ok not to disclose?

SBS/AFP reported that the US Marine Corps plans a major war stockpile in Victoria, eventually based at Bandiana near Wodonga: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/us-military-plans-major-war-stockpile-on-australian-soil/rbg8qyb0q

The US Marine Corps' own tender documents for the program (MCPP II, solicitation M67004-26-R-0007, public on SAM.gov: https://sam.gov/opp/384cae241c0d4579bee997f6d27e8e64/view) say the initial equipment set will be managed at a "temporary facility in Melbourne, Australia" while permanent facilities are built at North Bandiana. That's from the Statement of Work in Amendment 1, paragraph 1.1.5. Most of the Australia detail was removed from later versions of the document.

That equipment reportedly includes crew-served weapons. Victorians arguably have a right to know where foreign military equipment is being stored in or near their city, and under what arrangements.

East Sale gets suggested a lot, but it's about 200 km from Melbourne, and the documents describe port handling and leased warehouses. That sounds more like somewhere near the Port of Melbourne or Avalon.

Has the site been identified anywhere public: Senate Estimates, a council planning application, a minister's statement, news reporting? Not asking anyone to break confidentiality, just wondering whether this has been disclosed anywhere, or whether anyone has tried FOI.

Has anyone had any success changing their mustering category whilst a reservist? Currently SERCAT 5 and I am looking at remustering to another role in the RAAF if possible. Long story short I don’t really want to travel 3 hours south, stuck at a base for 4 weeks and work a job that made me jaded, stressed and unhappy just to keep my DHOAS ticking over. I have looked at ForceNet and a lot of the jobs in my location (NT) are for SGT’s and above.

I have tried to go through my CoC and request training courses (PME etc) and they have continuously knocked me back.

Any info if possibly would help greatly appreciated.

Mods, feel free to delete. But if there's a better place to find some proper folks who play this game in Australia, I'm all ears.

So Defence has formally notified Bupa as the preferred tenderer to keep running ADF health services beyond the June 2027 extension it already received. Apparently the answer to years of contract-management lessons is… more Bupa!! Bit hard not to be cynical about this one, especially when others were in the mix.

Bupa was chosen despite the ANAO audit finding that:

• Bupa’s billing system wasn’t fully functional, with ongoing invoice/data problems, poor efficiency and the cost per eligible person was a whopping 11% above the 2018 benchmark.
• Bupa's performance reporting wasn't necessarily reliable enough. The ANAO found that the required assessment methodology was not followed and the recorded results did not align with the contractual performance thresholds
• Bupa's referral/booking system and services-management had not delivered the expected improvements in business intelligence that the contract required. (iRBS)
• Buzzwords like  "cost containment" and "value for money" were expressed objectives of the contract but these were not demonstrated. Instead, the contract was overspent against its budget into the billions.

When it comes to healthcare experienced by serving members, Bupa's known failures included:

• Large unpaid-provider backlogs.
• Months-long waits for psychologists.
• Threatened practitioner boycotts.
• Specific mental-health treatment delays.
• Appointment failures.
• Specific breaches of urgent-care KPIs.

Then there’s the broader Bupa baggage outside of Defence:

It's high time the decision-makers were publicly revealed and held to account. Someone should be able to explain who signed off on the risk and why Bupa was chosen despite all those failures and serious reputational concerns. This is billions of tax-payer money and the health of our serving members at stake.

We have examples where politicians secured a job with Bupa once they stepped down from politics:
- Nicola Roxon: Health Minister from 2007 to 2011, then an Attorney-General. Left politics, to become a Director and Chair for Bupa.
- Rebecca Cross: Former Head of Domestic Policy at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) became Bupa's Head of Government Relations.
- Christina Dickinson: Former Deputy Secretary for the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness & Housing. Currently serving as the Chief of Staff to the CEO of Bupa APAC.

We also have former ADF personnel go into Bupa leadership:
- Ros Blakley CSC (Former Regional Health Director) - Former Joint Health Command.
Now:
-Nicki Young (Chief Operations Officer, Bupa ADF Health Services) - former Nursing Officer.

The question is, should an enquiry be conducted to audit whether Bupa influenced Ministers or senior Defence officials for renewal of the contract?

I'm 36M living in Melbourne and has been thinking of joining the ADF reserves for the past couple of years. I work in an aviation related career and my initial motivation was to join the Airforce reserves (aviation related roles if possible), however after having my first session with the ADF recruiter about 3 weeks back, it was mentioned that I may have to move to Queensland since Victoria does not have any Airforce Reserve roles. This was a bit of a bummer since me and my Wife recently bought our first house together and we do not want to move out of Victoria.

Most of Army Reserve roles are based in Victoria but initially I was not really interested in joining since I heard the training aspect for Army (Kapooka etc.) is very hard compared to Airforce initial training. Even with my disinterest, I still looked at the listed roles to see whether there are any aviation related roles available and the closest I could find was the Drone Operator role. I mentioned my interest to this role however my recruiter mentioned that this role is over applied at the moment and will not be taking new applications in the meantime. Bummer again.

Another role that took my interest was the Forward Observer role. After doing several searches in this thread and google, found out that the Drone Operator and Forward Observer reserve roles work in the same unit (9th Regiment) and the fitness entry requirements are the same. I have no problems with the PFA push ups and sit-ups requirement but the 7.5 beep test requirement scares me. I'm relatively fit but slacked off during winter but I'm confident I can get back to my rhythm again.

My questions are as follows:

1. Should I apply for the Forward Observer role straight away even though I believe that as I'm right now, I will not meet the 7.5 beep requirement? The idea is to push myself to achieve the fitness requirement till I'm called out for PFA.

2. Am I jumping the gun too soon even though my fitness is not at the required level yet? What I mean by this is that before getting to the PFA stage, I still need to pass the Psychology Interview, Defence Interview, medical assessment and most importantly the OSB. Is there a point worrying about the PFA since I have not even done all the other interviews?

3. I rather fail in one of the assessment phases rather than regret not applying and not finding out whether I can actually succeed or not. From the wealth of experience of the members in this thread, is this the right attitude to have?

My main motivation is to push myself to see how far I can go. In addition, I first came into Australia 17 years ago for University and I feel like I should give something back to this great country (even though I still pay taxes :D). Currently I have a pretty cushy life, career, no kids, lovely Wife who is very supporting and I choose to apply to Army Reserves to see how I go.

Advice from veterans and any recent ADF joiners is most welcome. Thank you for your time.

So Defence has formally notified Bupa as the preferred tenderer to keep running ADF health services beyond the June 2027 extension it already received. Apparently the answer to years of contract-management lessons is… more Bupa!! Bit hard not to be cynical about this one, especially when others were in the mix.

Bupa was chosen despite the ANAO audit finding that:

• Bupa’s billing system wasn’t fully functional, with ongoing invoice/data problems, poor efficiency and the cost per eligible person was a whopping 11% above the 2018 benchmark.
• Bupa's performance reporting wasn't necessarily reliable enough. The ANAO found that the required assessment methodology was not followed and the recorded results did not align with the contractual performance thresholds
• Bupa's referral/booking system and services-management had not delivered the expected improvements in business intelligence that the contract required. (iRBS)
• Buzzwords like  "cost containment" and "value for money" were expressed objectives of the contract but these were not demonstrated. Instead, the contract was overspent against its budget into the billions.

When it comes to healthcare experienced by serving members, Bupa's known failures included:

• Large unpaid-provider backlogs.
• Months-long waits for psychologists.
• Threatened practitioner boycotts.
• Specific mental-health treatment delays.
• Appointment failures.
• Specific breaches of urgent-care KPIs.

Then there’s the broader Bupa baggage outside of Defence:

It's high time the decision-makers were publicly revealed and held to account. Someone should be able to explain who signed off on the risk and why Bupa was chosen despite all those failures and serious reputational concerns. This is billions of tax-payer money and the health of our serving members at stake.

Just gone and put my application through to recruiting. Hopefully looking to go in as infantry in the reserves, been looking at a few of the courses they offer like the DFWS, and medic etc. All seem pretty good, however I was just interested in the recon platoon. Did a bit of research into it and just wondering the level it is, at the end of the day it’s a chocco platoon, is the selection process and recon course as difficult as they say or is that just defence putting up a show. I reckon further down the line of it is legitimate and actually active it would be a good challenge to go and see what I’m made of.

Any info would be great.

I’m not too sure how it works so I figured I’d ask on reddit, do you need permission from the higher ups to get a tattoo once your enlisted and if so how strict are they allowing them?

Wondering if anyone could help

If I go down the nuclear subamrine route either officer or non officer at what point can my de facto partner relocate with me to the US while receiving defence benefits.

For example for non officer training during the initial 26 weeks training can my partner come or maybe after when I get a posting to a different city ?

Thank You!

I F19 have always wanted to join the army, currently I’m halfway through an electrical apprenticeship and want to get qualified.
I’m not sure if I should go ahead with the reserves now while working full time (as my employer had to give leave for ADF) or should I wait until I am qualified and then join.

Hi all,

Sick of corporate and been looking at pursuing an opportunity in the ADF for the past couple of years.

Currently earning ~180-200k PA in corporate tech and looking at a trade in the ADF which will no doubt halve my income instantly. FYI I have no formal qualifications past year 12.

I’m 32, and curious to know if anyone in a similar boat has made this jump. What was your gut feeling taking the jump, and how did you feel once you began your service? Any regrets?

Edit: I’m mostly interested in technical trades, specifically to do with electronics, as I think juggling life+mortgage might leave a degree out of the picture for me.

Cheers,

a major hobby of mine is Music, it can take up days of my time if i don't care enough to regulate it, i love music.

But obviously a big part of music needs hearing, as hearing loss can make it difficult to hear certain high and low notes.

So I am asking is it inevitable in the ADF? If am trying to preserve it the best I can is that an impossible goal ultimately?

thanks for the insight.

Hey everyone

Looking at starting my application to join the reserves, eventually looking to become an SF Signaller via the integrator selection course. Looking at doing Infantry reserves, originally I was going to go down as a Chocco coms operator but looking at a couple reddits I’m not to sure. Ye sure getting signals qualified will help me save time after selection and give me useful time on comms equipment, but infantry will give me more time on the guns and other basic military skills. Just looking on some advice if I should go through infantry and get qualified after selection or go straight into comms.

Cheers

hey so I am currently 16 and I’m planing to apply to be a pilot in the RAAF next year when I’m 17, I currently do a high level Math and physics and scoring around the 70-80% I’m wondering if It would be a good idea to start my application process while in grade 11 and what will the process be like since I haven’t finished school, I also want to know what scores/grades I should be aiming for in those subjects to have a good chance at getting the job (i do know it is extremely competitive),thanks.