For some veterans, leaving the Australian Defence Force means stepping into an entirely new world. For others, the skills, relationships and experience built during service can provide a pathway into a civilian career.
At Asia Pacific Aerospace (APAERO), two senior leaders know both sides of that transition.
General Manager Tony Cotroneo and Business Manager Peter Faunt are both veterans, and their own experiences have helped shape the way they approach employment, training and support for people making the move from Defence into civilian work.
Today, veterans make up around 15 per cent of APAERO’s workforce – a mix of Army, Navy and Air Force personnel. The company employs more than 80 people across its two Brisbane workshops.
For Tony, the journey began in 1983 when he joined the Australian Army.
He initially had no family history in the military and admits he ‘didn’t know what I was doing’ when he enlisted. But within a few years, a promotional course changed his direction.
‘It just all clicked for me,’ Tony says.
Inspired by the leadership of the people teaching him, he developed a career in Army Aviation, working around Black Hawk and Kiowa helicopters. He was promoted to Warrant Officer Class One and later commissioned as a Captain, eventually taking responsibility for the Black Hawk platform from a logistics perspective, including contracting, maintenance and spares. He also served in East Timor.
Tony had always expected to remain in the military. That changed when Sikorsky Aircraft, the manufacturer of the Black Hawk, offered him a civilian role.
He spent 11 years with the company, eventually becoming second in charge of a business generating around $150 million in annual revenue. When an opportunity later came up at APAERO, a veteran colleague encouraged him to apply.
He got the job and has now been with APAERO for almost 10 years.
Looking back, Tony says leaving Defence was both exciting and frightening.
‘The initial step out, it was scary,’ he says.
The difficult part was not finding work. It was leaving behind the structure, connections and sense of security that came with military life.
For Tony, the transition was made easier because he moved into a role where he continued working with many of the same people and organisations he had known through Defence.
‘So I didn’t really leave,’ he says. ‘I was still connected.’
But Tony also understands that not every veteran has that experience.
Through his work at APAERO, he has seen people arrive directly from Defence with very different needs. Some have a clear job to move into and adapt relatively easily. Others leave the ADF without knowing what comes next.
‘Those young guys that are getting out and have nothing to go to, that’s the problem area,’ he says.
That understanding has influenced the way Tony approaches people in his own workplace.
For him, being a veteran-friendly employer is not complicated.
‘Very, very flexible,’ he says. ‘We do a lot of training. We maintain a training regime, which military guys enjoy.’
Tony says APAERO’s specialised trades also mean the company has a strong focus on developing and supporting its people. Employees have access to further education, including university courses, with the company covering the cost.
He also continues to mentor former Defence personnel he has worked with over the years.
‘We look after them. We really do,’ he says.
A civilian career built on military experience
Peter Faunt’s transition followed a different path.
He joined the Air Force in February 1991 and left in May 2005. He initially hoped to become an air traffic controller, then considered diesel fitting before moving into aircraft maintenance. He ultimately spent around 14 years working across aircraft maintenance, maintenance control and related roles.
When a civilian maintenance control position came up during a posting cycle, Peter applied.
The role was doing much the same work he was already doing in the Air Force – but in a civilian setting.
He started the day after leaving Defence.
More than two decades later, he is APAERO’s Business Manager, having progressed through maintenance control, quality and operations management. He has been in the Business Manager role for just over a year.
For Peter, the transition was relatively straightforward, and he believes being surrounded by people with military backgrounds played a big part.
When he first joined APAERO, the workplace included people with Austrian, Rhodesian and British military backgrounds.
‘Coming to a workplace that had a few veterans in it made it easier,’ he says.
Today, the mix is predominantly Australian veterans from different services, and there is still plenty of friendly banter between them.
Peter says there is also something distinctive about the way former Defence personnel communicate with one another.
‘You know how you can talk with them and how far you can sort of push things,’ he says.
For him, that familiarity is one of the less obvious elements of a veteran-friendly workplace – an understanding that does not necessarily need to be explained.
Supporting veterans beyond the workplace
APAERO’s commitment to veterans extends beyond employing people with Defence backgrounds.
The company supports a range of charities, including Soldier On, and Peter says it is important to work somewhere that contributes to the wider community.
‘It’s nice to see someone not just counting the dollars for themselves all the time,’ he says.
For Tony, the connection with Soldier On is particularly personal.
His son-in-law, who was medically discharged from the military, found employment through Soldier On.
That experience has given Tony a direct view of what employment support can mean for someone whose transition has not been straightforward.
He says the support available to veterans today is also very different from what existed when he left the military more than 20 years ago.
‘All the help that’s out there now for veterans is really coming to the front where we just didn’t have it,’ he says.
It is one of the reasons APAERO continues to support Soldier On.
‘We can see what you’re doing. We see the effect,’ Tony says.
That connection between employment and wellbeing is something both Tony and Peter understand from their own experience.
At APAERO, the veteran workforce is not treated as a separate group. Veterans are part of the broader team, bringing technical knowledge, leadership, training, discipline and experience from Defence – while also continuing to develop new skills and careers in civilian life.
For Tony, that includes the company’s current work supporting the Australian Army’s Apache and Black Hawk fleets, managing engines on the aircraft and bringing him back into contact with many of the Defence relationships that have been part of his career.
After decades in Defence and civilian aviation, Tony says he still misses aspects of military life – particularly the challenge, camaraderie and shared experiences.
But his career also demonstrates what can happen when the skills built through service are recognised and given somewhere to grow.
For Peter, the same is true.
He joined APAERO the day after leaving the Air Force. Twenty-one years later, he is still there, continuing to learn and taking on new challenges in a very different role from the one he started in.
Together, their stories show why veteran-friendly employment matters – not simply because veterans need jobs when they leave Defence, but because the right workplace can give their skills, experience and potential somewhere to go next.
And for APAERO, that commitment is being lived out every day – through the people it employs, the training it provides and its ongoing support for the veteran community.
