ADF Gap Year Archives - CONTACT magazine

Navy combat systems operator Leading Seaman Sarah Kidd in the operations room simulator on board HMAS Stirling in Western Australia. Story by Petty Officer Keigan Gunther. Photos by Able Seaman Connor Morrison.

ADF People Royal Australian Navy

Queensland Kidd is going places

09/07/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 667 Views 0 Comments ADF Gap Year, HMAS Stirling

Growing up in the semi-rural Queensland town of Jimboomba, Leading Seaman Sarah Kidd always had a love for the outdoors.

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Lieutenant Lara Hamblin on Exercise Cartwheel as the officer in command of demolitions, Nasouri Highlands, Fiji. Story and photos by Captain Annie Richardson.

Horse rider’s Army career galloping ahead

08/10/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 994 Views 0 Comments ADF Gap Year, ADFA, Exercise Cartwheel, RAEME, Republic of Fiji Military Forces, Royal Military College-Duntroon (RMC-D)

Combat engineer Lieutenant Lara Hamblin’s journey in the Army began with a snap choice to join the Army Gap Year

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Navy gap year sailor Seaman Ross Hunter chats with veterans in Bathurst during HMAS Harman's Navy Week tour of the central west, NSW. Story and photos by Corporal Jacob Joseph.

ADF People Royal Australian Navy

First nuclear-powered attack submarine captain could be schoolgirl from Dubbo

08/03/202410/03/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 2545 Views 0 Comments ADF Gap Year, Australian Submarine Agency, HMAS Harman

Head of the Australian Submarine Agency said Defence must act now to build a workforce for the future – setting

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Seaman Elmarie Faurie in the Navy' Centre for Innovation, Sydney, with her 3D-printed torch clip. Photo by Able Seaman Lucinda Allanson.

ADF People Royal Australian Navy

Gap-year sailor excels in 3D

13/02/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1171 Views 0 Comments ADF Gap Year

An eight-week posting to Navy’s Centre for Innovation to finish off Seaman Elmarie Faurie’s Gap Year program has led to

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Corporal Casey Childs, a supplier with RAAF 33 Squadron, checks inventory at Gimhae Air Base, in South Korea during Exercise Vigilant Defense 24. Story by Flight Lieutenant Steffi Blavius.

Going global with supply role

21/11/2023 Posted by Mike Hughes 1119 Views 0 Comments ADF Gap Year, Exercise Vigilant Defense, KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport, Korea, No. 33 Squadron

Air Force Corporal Casey Childs has come a long way since moving around during her childhood and settling in the

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Gap Year Seaman Vimbayi Hakutangwi with a dive helmet at HMAS Stirling, Western Australia. Story by Richard Wilkins. Photo by Able Seaman Rikki-Lea Phillips.

Achieving goals personally and professionally

27/10/2023 Posted by Mike Hughes 2074 Views 0 Comments ADF Gap Year, Clearance Diving Team 4, HMAS Stirling

Seaman Vimbayi Hakutangwi is hoping to inspire others, particularly young women, to pursue a career in Defence and show it

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Gap Year Midshipman Sophia Dakin enjoys some down time on board HMAS Choules during Exercise Malabar. Story by Lieutenant Jonathan Wills. Photo by Leading Seaman David Cox.

Sailor excited by sea of opportunities

15/09/2023 Posted by Mike Hughes 1492 Views 0 Comments ADF Gap Year, Exercise Malabar, HMAS Choules, HMAS Creswell

An interest in travel and life at sea led Midshipman Sofia Dakin, from Queensland’s Gold Coast, to do an ADF

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