Four Aussies have lift the lid on what their experience in the military was like.
LADbible Australia has released a new episode of Hindsight and it dives into what serving in the Air Force, Navy and Army is like.
For Chris who is an ex-Army officer, he signed up when he was only 16 years old.
To join, you first have to do a psychology test, then a medical test and then an interview similar to a typical job interview.
Advert
In terms of fitness requirements, James, who was a part of the Army, says you need to be able to do 30 pushups, 100 situps and get a 7.5 in the Beep Test.
“They tell you during the recruitment process that it’s not going to be like in the movies,” said James.
“It ended up being pretty full-on.”
“They take you down the first day at the range and they have a car door that they’ve shot and they say ‘Yeh we shot this from a distance and the bullets just go straight through the car door’.”
“You know if it’s doing this to a car, you can just imagine what it’s going to do to your body. And that was sort of a wake-up call for everyone,” said James.
Chris added: “The way it was portrayed to me. It really still is that sense of The Great Adventure.
“But the reality is someone’s going to try and kill you.”
For Aiden, being in the Navy meant staying at sea for a long time away from his girlfriend, family and friends.
“Being on a ship for three months in a room with five other people sharing the same two showers, the same four bathrooms, eating with these guys. These guys become your family," he explained
Tamara’s dad was also a part of the Navy and she remembers him telling her that one day maybe she could also join.
“I said, ‘Oh no, it’s not the same for girls," she said.
But eventually, she did join up and took part in the East-Timor conflict.
Chris says it's fairly hectic 'once you get the notification that you’re on the Order of Battle to be deployed overseas'.
"You go into a very-in-depth training cycle,” he said.
“It’s not just your physical fitness, your medical fitness, it’s your job ready levels, your skill levels.”
He added: “Right before you deploy, you get about a week to go home and kind of see your family and friends and have a last few beers before you ship out.”
Tamara told us: “The general community needs to understand that the face of a veteran is different now.
“We have so many young people coming back from overseas, particularly after Afghanistan that are struggling with their family lives to get jobs.
“Part of my adjustment disorder is that I feel really angry that the general public can’t understand what these young men and women have gone through for them.”
You can watch the full video on the LADbible Australia YouTube page.
Velentina Boulter