Jobs on the front line
By Karleigh Smith, Abridged version and photos courtesy of New Idea
Only 17 per cent of New Zealand’s Defence Force are women. Karleigh Smith spoke to three fearless women about juggling home life with their military careers. Here are their inspiring stories:
FLTLT Frew
The Chopper Team is Tight
If you ever wanted to know what life’s like in a man’s world, just ask Flight Lieutenant Tina Frew. Less than 10 per cent of her Air Force engineering colleagues are women—and it doesn’t faze her in the slightest.
“It’s not something that puts me off, even though sometimes I think it would be nice to have more females around,” she said with a laugh.
Tina, works on the NH90 helicopter project in Wellington. Far from feeling the odd one out, Tina says she enjoys working with her male colleagues.
“On the whole it’s fine,” she said. “Sometimes the guys might be more conscious of how they speak when I’m around, but I’ve been in the environment so long I barely notice.”
Chivalry isn’t dead, though—“There are occasions where they’ll go—‘Let me get that for you’—if I pick up something heavy,” Tina says. “But usually I’ll do it myself.”
The 26-year-old doesn’t think of herself as a tomboy. “I met most of my civilian friends in high school or flatting, so I keep a good balance,” she said. “But having said that, I’ve made some great friends through my Air Force career.”
Those Air Force friendships become more solid following the devastating Anzac Day helicopter crash that killed three of her comrades and injured another. “It’s a tight community—it affected all of us in some way,” Tina said. “But it’s amazing to see how everyone pulls together at a time like that.”
It’s this attitude that inspired Tina to learn her trade in the military. “I wanted a job that would help me keep fit and travel,” she said. “I’ve been to Australia, the United Kingdom and Samoa, but I’m happy even if I’m going to a New Zealand town I haven’t seen before.”
Tina encourages women to step out of their comfort zone when it comes to their career and experience the lifestyle she’s come to appreciate in the Air Force.
“Whether you’re male or female isn’t the driving factor. The fact that you enjoy it is the main thing,” she explains. “Knowing you’ll to be in the minority can be daunting, but don’t let it put you off doing something you love.”
I Hate Leaving My Daughters
Seeing the grisly result of a bomb blast would bring many to their knees, but for Lieutenant Sheree Mudford, it’s all in a day’s work. The 32-year-old’s medical knowledge has helped save lives across the globe, from Timor-Leste to Afghanistan, where she worked as a medic and a radiographer.
LT Mudford
Now home, LT Mudford reveals that, while the bloodshed she’s seen was devastating, it also spurs her on. “You’re inspired every day,” she said.
“I’ll never forget when I was in Afghanistan and a bomb went off next to a family, including seven children. Everyone was badly injured.”
LT Mudford, a mother of one, explains that no matter what you’re confronted with, you have to keep going. “As a radiographer you meet a patient in the trauma room, and go with them to the operating theatre and then to intensive care,” she said. “But once you’re done, there’s no time to dwell because the next patient deserves your attention.”
While deployments have been the highlights of her career, every time LT Mudford leaves behind her partner Daniel and their daughter Alyssa, three, she struggled to cope when the day came to say goodbye to her family. “It was horrible. But Alyssa was more interested in the planes—she wanted to get on one, and not particularly with me!”
I Keep A War Diary For My Sons
Staff Sergeant Nicky Ruki’s voice is so clear. It’s hard to believe she’s calling from Afghanistan. She’s still coming to grips with living in a war zone herself. It’s the greatest opportunity of her military career, but it also means she’s a world away from her three young sons.
SSGT Ruki
SSGT Ruki works in communications and spends her time on duty overseeing high-tech equipment. When she’s not on the clock, she’s thinking of her husband Wilson, and their boys Jayden, nine, Liam, five, and Damon, two.
“I manage to talk to them on Skype and on the phone,” she said. “But I do miss the contact. My boys are very cuddly and affectionate.”
Despite the distance, SSGT Ruki has invented novel ways to be there for her brood—diaries. "Jayden was having trouble at school, so we decided to keep diaries. He writes about his thoughts and feelings in his, and I do the same in mine," she said.
SSGT Ruki knows she couldn’t do her posting in Afghanistan without support. "There are other mums here in the same situation, so we sit down and talk. They know what you’re going through.”
Even though SSGT Ruki’s deployment is the job she always wanted, she’s counting down the days until she can see her boys again. “I think they’ll be very excited when I get home—we’ll go on a family holiday,” she said.