From service to advocacy
I began my career in the Australian Regular Army in September 1992. After completing basic training, I moved to the School of Signals for Initial Employment Training as a Keyboard Operator. My early postings took me to 1st Signal Regiment in 1993 and later to Headquarters Northern Command in Darwin in 1995.
In November 1997 I was medically discharged, a moment that changed everything. Leaving the military was not just a career shift, it was a sudden loss of identity, structure and support. Like many veterans, I found myself struggling through a difficult transition, unsure of what came next and feeling disconnected from the system I had served.
Everything changed in 1998 when an advocate discovered that I had not received the correct entitlements for my medical discharge. With their guidance, I finally received what I was owed. That experience opened my eyes to how vital proper support is, and how profoundly it can change a veteran's life. From that moment, I made a promise: one day, I would become the advocate that I once needed.
In 2017 I fulfilled that promise. Today I use my lived experience, my understanding of the system and my commitment to my fellow veterans to guide others through their own claims and transitions. Advocacy is more than paperwork. It is standing beside someone during one of the hardest chapters of their life and helping them reclaim what they are entitled to.
My mission is simple: to make sure no veteran feels alone, unheard or unsupported the way I once did.