Thread: Army - Heavy Vehicle Mechanic

Like I tell all Army mechanics....

you ticked the wrong box then dintcha.

Let me give you an idea. Im about to go off on a month long exercise with the RAAF to exmouth.

Im taking 2 laptops, a fridge, a push bike, snorkling gear, civvies, fishing gear, booze, coffee maker, stereo and in order to make more room on the vehicle we put the spare parts and oils into a container which will be coming along later. (bout a day or 2)

We're flying over on civilian aircraft and they're puttin us up in single room accomodation while we're there.

Of all the time that we're there we've been warned out that we have to take our packs and webbing just incase they decide they want us to partake in 3 days of the exersize for our yearly "ground combat" currency. which means basically that I have to sit in a pit for a couple of hours a day while living out of my swag along side of the vehicle in stead of out of a room and a workshop.

I'll be supporting.

landrovers, mogs, a mack, hino, scania, bobcat, busmaster, fire engine, gensets, helping the gun plumber, and whatever else they take that they havent told me about. Thats assuming Im not of fishing, diving the ningaloo, driving on the beach, drinking, eating or generally having a good time.


Do you want me to tell you how I'd have done that trip when I was in the army?

at work I get 3 hours a week to do whatever the hell PT I like and then on top of that theres 2 structured pt session I can do as well.
3 breaks a day (mornos, lunch, afternoon hyrdation)
I knock off every friday at 1200
no packmarches
I can go to and from work in civvies

think of it this way

Stars.
The army sleeps under them
the navy navigates by them
the RAAF choose their accomodation based on them.

RAAF - Rarely Available After Five.

Hey dave didnt you tick the wrong box first time

Cheers for the feedback mate will definitely put a bit more thought into it and maybe change my preferences.

In your normal duties what vehicles do you work on?

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

Like I tell all Army mechanics....

you ticked the wrong box then dintcha.

Let me give you an idea. Im about to go off on a month long exercise with the RAAF to exmouth.

Im taking 2 laptops, a fridge, a push bike, snorkling gear, civvies, fishing gear, booze, coffee maker, stereo and in order to make more room on the vehicle we put the spare parts and oils into a container which will be coming along later. (bout a day or 2)

We're flying over on civilian aircraft and they're puttin us up in single room accomodation while we're there.

Of all the time that we're there we've been warned out that we have to take our packs and webbing just incase they decide they want us to partake in 3 days of the exersize for our yearly "ground combat" currency. which means basically that I have to sit in a pit for a couple of hours a day while living out of my swag along side of the vehicle in stead of out of a room and a workshop.

I'll be supporting.

landrovers, mogs, a mack, hino, scania, bobcat, busmaster, fire engine, gensets, helping the gun plumber, and whatever else they take that they havent told me about. Thats assuming Im not of fishing, diving the ningaloo, driving on the beach, drinking, eating or generally having a good time.


Do you want me to tell you how I'd have done that trip when I was in the army?

at work I get 3 hours a week to do whatever the hell PT I like and then on top of that theres 2 structured pt session I can do as well.
3 breaks a day (mornos, lunch, afternoon hyrdation)
I knock off every friday at 1200
no packmarches
I can go to and from work in civvies

think of it this way

Stars.
The army sleeps under them
the navy navigates by them
the RAAF choose their accomodation based on them.

RAAF - Rarely Available After Five.

Not a hint of smugness there either...



Sounds like a great way to travel.

there are a few of us kicking around the site......although i was a fitter and had to put up with the greasers

everybody's experiences will be different, i enjoyed the 9 and a bit years, funny enough my discharge date was 1st april, still not sure who had the last laugh, make the most of your time is all i say. i ran a muck and got into a fair bit of trouble but had a ball doing it

what you get to work on will depend on the unit you are posted to, nearly every field force unit will have 110's and unimogs and the odd mack, if you get posted to armoured you will also work on tanks/ASLAVS, if you get posted to engineers you will work on plant i.e. dozers, graders, semi trailers etc

i have been out of the regs for 12 or so years but still do reserves and there has been no change to the dis-organiation

Originally Posted by THE BOOGER

Hey dave didnt you tick the wrong box first time

yes but I had a lot of fun there as well. I am quite happy to honestly state that I wouldnt enjoy the airfarce nearly as much if I hadnt done my time in the army.

Originally Posted by Xul

Cheers for the feedback mate will definitely put a bit more thought into it and maybe change my preferences.

In your normal duties what vehicles do you work on?

Same list + anything else they throw at me (tow motors, talu/taslu, forklifts, basically anything airforce thats not a plane and broken)

a rough outline of my service history and my official employments (which aint always what I was doing)

Army Armoured corps (M113a1 driversig/pretendy gruntapeed)
Army Transport driver (110, 6x6,mog, R series mack +trailers + instructor + supervisor role in one unit)
Army Terminal Operator (forklifts, cranes, container handlers logistics co-ordination)
RAAF heavy vehicle mechanic (fixing and driving pretty much everything, Evacuation Handling Center, DACC.)

If you've got any questions pop em out and If I can I'll give you the real world answers as opposed to the recruiters world answers. I;ve got some work in with the navy as well as a bunch of ex navy mates so I can throw some answers from their side as well.

Originally Posted by MacMan

Not a hint of smugness there either...



Sounds like a great way to travel.

maybe just a touch... the mearest whiff. and yeah, its a hard life.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

yes but I had a lot of fun there as well.


I am quite happy to honestly state that I wouldnt enjoy the airfarce nearly as much if I hadnt done my time in the army.

Sounds a bit like "the good thing about banging your head against a brick wall is that when you stop it feels good"

I was a HVM with the REME over here, had 10 yrs at it,hope all goes well for you.