North Shore aviator on humanitarian career path

And she has just moved a step closer to her goal after graduating, alongside 46 new aviators, from the RNZAF recruit course at RNZAF Base Woodbourne. At the ceremony Aviator Lustre was presented with the Andrea McNabb award for perseverance. 

She will now begin her career training as a Ground Support Equipment (GSE) specialist.

“The GSE trade is made up of a really cool bunch of people who are knowledgeable in a variety of machinery, not just vehicles. I'm really looking forward to being a specialist in that.”

The North Shore local moved to New Zealand with her family from the Philippines when she was six years old. She decided to enlist in the military after realising she wanted to be part of a team.

“I also knew the New Zealand Defence Force was well known for humanitarian aid in other countries and I wanted a career path that was one that was able to help people."

“I decided I’d like to have that kind of purpose in my career. It's also not a desk job, but every day is different, which I like as well,” Aviator Lustre said.

The 26-year-old has spent the past 12 weeks conquering the intense RNZAF recruiting course, with a particular highlight being the practical assessments at Dip Flat Military Training Camp in the Upper Wairau Valley in Marlborough. 

“It was probably the most fatigued I'd ever felt in my life, but also, looking back, one of the best parts of the course. We could apply all the lessons we had learnt and work together as a team. 

“We all struggled together, but we all got through it together, and at the end of it, it was a huge sense of achievement.”

The recruits, who also gained their rifle qualifications, were on duty for 12-hour shifts keeping an eye out for and responding to enemy attacks.

“We had some search and rescue missions as well, including saving a civilian from a car crash and transporting them back to base. Everything we did was as a team and every person was needed for their role.”

Aviator Lustre is the first in her family to join the military and said the beginning of the course was a “culture shock”.

However, enlisting was a decision she has not regretted and encouraged anyone unsure of a career plan to consider doing the same.

“The reason I was able to stick with the recruit course is it was the first time I was able to make my own decisions about my own career and my own life, and I really wanted to stick to it to prove a point that I can do anything if I set my mind to it.”