There were 16 young women from across Australia converging on Albatross for the three-day camp, which introduced them to the career opportunities available to them in the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and life in the Royal Australian Navy.

The hands-on program included an exciting range of activities such as weapon and parade training, winching and sea survival skills, leadership, teamwork and physical training and work placement at 725 Squadron, home of the MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’ naval combat helicopter.

Among those participating was Sophie Brown from Narooma, who attends St Peters Anglican College at Broulee.

“I really enjoyed the 5.30 am PT sessions and testing myself and becoming  better and learning more about myself and what I’m capable of,” Ms Brown said

At the final feedback session many of the participants said one of the aspects of the program that they most enjoyed was the opportunity to meet women already working in the Defence Force.

Jaskiran Mai, a Year 11 student from Hurlstone Agricultural High School in Sydney, is deliberating between pursuing a  career as a pilot or Intelligence Officer and said the Camp had definitely helped her narrow down her choices.

“It was really useful for me to interact with the pilots, to learn about their careers and just get a feel for how people of my age and background fit into the Australian Defence Force,”  Ms Mai said.

One of the pilots the girls spent time with was LEUT Kate Munari of 808 Squadron.

“I hosted the girls when they came to visit 808 SQN and gave them a brief of the capabilities of the MRH90 helicopter and the role of 808SQN, including talking about the current involvement in an HADR response in Vanuatu,” LEUT Munari said.

“I then took them down to the hangar and showed them around the aircraft and they sat in it and asked all sorts of questions about it. I was really impressed by the range of questions and their level of enthusiasm.” 

LEUT Munari  also participated in a Pilot Q&A session with the girls. Scheduled for 30 minutes, the session lasted for almost two hours.

“It was an opportunity for the girls to ask any of the questions they had, and they had quite a few,” LEUT Munari said.

“They wanted to know about everything from my personal experiences in the military, to recruiting questions, to pilots course questions, to just pilot related questions.”

 “I think the camp is a great initiative and I hope they got a more in depth understanding of what it is to be a pilot or Aviation Warfare Officer (AvWO)  and indeed some of the other careers in the Navy.

“Also I hope they got to see that aircrew are just normal people with high levels of motivation and their dream of becoming a pilot is achievable, and they have a much better understanding of what life in the Fleet Air Arm is all about so they can make well informed career choices.

“I always enjoy chatting to the youth and seeing their enthusiasm towards a career path that I am involved in. I also like to help people achieve their goals and hope that sharing my experiences and tips it has helped them. I enjoy sharing the ‘real’ side of Navy Aviation.”

“I would have loved to have done something similar to this Camp at their age.  The access these girls got to the base, and the aviation community will give them so much more information to enable them to make a very educated decision regarding joining the military in Navy Aviation. And it will give them an extra bit of motivation during the long recruitment and pilot’s/AvWO courses.”

Albatross Camp Mentors LCDR Joanne Mackintosh, LSATV Christie Thomson and AB Alanah Whitburn were on hand throughout the Camp to guide and assist the participants through the intensive three days, which started with a 0545 fitness session and ended with lights out at 2200. 

Officer in Charge,  Leading Seaman Jan Gilmour said that while the camp had definitely met its goal of providing the young women with exposure to  career options and the leadership and teamwork required for a career in aviation, there were other outcomes that couldn’t be measured or predicted in an Administrative Instruction.

”I loved seeing the transformation. For many of the young women there was definitely a moment when it all clicked and came together,  a moment when they thought ‘I can do this job’ particularly when they were inspired by the female mentors.”

Georgie de Cure, program support officer with the DEWP, said that when developing the program the primary goal of the Women in Naval Aviation Camp was to increase female participation rates in naval aviation and they were definitely on track to achieving this.

“The camp was an absolute success, the girls were engaged right from the start. It was really awesome to see them come in with a vague idea of maybe getting into aviation to leaving with specific jobs in mind,” Ms de Cure said.

“Or there were ones who thought they wanted to do something specific but the camp persuaded them to try something that suited them better.”

“They enjoyed the hands on activities, getting their hands dirty and experiencing exactly what they might be doing in the future.

“The interactions with the staff were one of the most valuable aspects for the girls, just seeing women in positions that they want to see themselves in in the future, the people who have done it before and hearing  about their great careers in the Navy. This was just invaluable.”