17 December
Congratulations to Amy Macallister, Class of 2007 who won the prestigious 2020 Woman In Defence Award, Technical Trade Division in late October.
The award organised by the Australian Defence Magazine (ADM) recognised the exemplary work that Amy does at Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) as an AME 4 aviation mechanical engineer. Amy gets to work on the Boeing CH-47 Chinook, which is an American twin-engine, tandem-rotor, heavy-lift helicopter. The CH-47 is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters.
During the awards ceremony, which was live-streamed by ADM, the presenter noted the increased number of females in aviation and commended Amy for the mentoring that she does. Amy shared with the audience that she enjoys passing along her knowledge.
When she was a student at Damascus, I asked Amy what some of her favourite subjects were. She said, “I loved Simo’s Systems technology class and Indonesian with Nolene”.
Amy made the most of her time at Damascus and participated in a wide range of extracurricular activities, she was a Rice House Captain, a member of the SRC, played just about every sport and even did some debating.
Amy joined the Army straight out of school. She made the decision early on in year 12. She applied and the Army recommended she finish her schooling before starting. “I finished my year at Damascus then left straight for Kapooka. It was a struggle to adjust mentally at times but I loved it. It gave me heaps of opportunities and allowed me to travel the world, meet amazing people and do some things that made me proud” said Amy.
She started her career as a tradesman aviation maintenance technician which is an aircraft mechanic. Amy spent the first four years of her Army career working on Blackhawk helicopters where she deployed a number of times before going to Europe and America to train on Ch-47 chinook helicopters. She then spent the next seven years working and travelling the world with them before discharging and staring her job with Boeing.
She left the Army after 11 years. She had two young kids and the amount of time she was going away became too hard to juggle. Amy shared with me that she is “an independent inspector working with Boeing. I lead maintenance teams, help with forecasting, planning and am the final set of eyes over maintenance before it flys. I have also spent my time mentoring and training young people in aviation”.
Amy feels that the best part about her job is that every day is different. She is stuck behind a desk and the environment she works in changes completely, constantly. She loves the fast pace, and it keeps her on her toes!
Amy said “there were very few women in my field when I first started my career, I was in fact the only one in my unit up until about two years ago but we are seeing a lot more women in the field now. There were times it was draining or mentally hard but that was a reflection of myself, not my environment. I think it was a great field to work in, the army is great in the sense they don’t care if you are a woman or a man as long as you’re doing your job. I never felt out of place or singled out, I’ve always had a great crew.”
I asked Amy what would she say/or advise our young woman at Damascus College as they are considering their future? Her response was “take a chance, network and make the most of every opportunity you are given. Continue to train in whichever field you chose, education is power and it keeps you evolving. Stay outside of your comfort zone, that’s where all the good stuff happens.
Joining the Army wasn’t something Amy had always planned to do. In fact, she joined the army because she didn’t know what she wanted to do, but she loves that is has given her far more opportunities than she ever imagined.
Amy has an amazing partner who she met in the army. They have two bike crazy young kids who keep them on their toes. Amy finished with “we get the privilege of living life as a holiday in beautiful Townsville and in my spare time I love to run”.
Congratulations on receiving your award Amy, what an incredible achievement from an impressive field of woman in the Technical Trade category.