For Navy veteran Matthew Smith, life in the Defence Force was a journey full of adventure, challenge and historic moments. But after years at sea, he faced the daunting question that many veterans encounter: ‘what’s next?’
Matthew joined the Navy expecting adventure.
‘I joined before 9/11. I was sort of not expecting, or not really thinking about, going into an active zone, but when 9/11 happened, that really changed the landscape. It was incredibly surreal.’
He remembers his early deployments vividly:
‘I did my first two-three years of training down at Cerberus. I was WA-based then, serving on a frigate, and after those initial postings, 9/11 hit and then it was pretty much full-time at sea from that point on – so, very busy.’
Matthew also reflected on the historic moments he witnessed:
‘I was lucky enough to be on ANZAC, which was the first ship to fire in anger since the Vietnam war. I really got a firsthand look at everything that was going on. Right place, right time is not what everyone would feel but it’s how I felt at the time.’
But the intensity and extended deployments eventually took their toll:
‘When you do that amount of time, you do get burnt out quickly and that’s pretty much what happened at the end for me. By the time I was ready to leave, I felt like I had nothing left in the tank, but I also felt like I had nothing left to fulfil. I had more medals, and I had more deployment experiences than most people who have been in the Defence Force for much, much longer than me. More than I could have imagined. I did think, ‘what’s left for me?’’
Facing the great unknown: Transitioning out
Leaving the Navy meant stepping into a new world, and it wasn’t easy:
‘It seemed like the natural pathway at the time, but I really didn’t know what I was meant to be doing to transition. There were times I felt lost, for sure. I first met Jason going on three years now. What’s in place now certainly wasn’t available back then. There wasn’t the same support for transitioning. In the past, you had to explore what came next off your own bat. But when you’re really burnt out and you’re leaving because you feel it’s too much, the last thing you have the energy for is to work out what to do next,’ he says.
‘Being back in Melbourne, back in my home state, I am now glad to link back up with Jason and Soldier On and that whole veteran experience, which has enabled me to view my experiences in the Navy as something positive. There was a period when I viewed some of my time as a negative, but reconnecting has helped me view it differently.’
Through Soldier On, working with Career and Education Manager Jason Isaac, Matthew found guidance and perspective.
‘Jason does a lot of work going out the bases and educating people about the things that can occur in your life when you transition out of the Defence Force. Now, when people come to their time and it’s time to leave the Defence service, they understand their options better, I think,’ he says.
‘Jason was able to help me view it as a positive. It’s not really one thing – like a light switch suddenly going on – it’s a number of things coming together. When you’re in the Defence Force, it becomes part of who you are. Jason was able to tap into that – and all good counsellors can do that – he was able to help me tap into the positives of the training I had, and I could use those positives as a benefit to help me find employment.’
Positive pathway to employment
Matthew’s next step led him to civilian life with Navantia, working on the design of ships – a connection to his Navy past.
‘Working with Navantia, it’s almost like coming full circle. I used to work on the ships, now I’m working on the design work for the ships. I was able to use my time in the Navy as a positive and move to that next step. I’m on a good path and, slowly but surely. Life is changing. It’s turning around.’
He describes the supportive work culture at Navantia:
‘Flexibility with working hours, to be able to home in on what you need…It’s been really rewarding as an employee, and all the veterans here have some similar stories. We have a great veteran culture here at Navantia now. It’s wonderful to be able to keep the veteran flag flying for all to see,’ Matthew says.
‘It’s rewarding to know that I have come full-circle and come 360 to positive. I saw myself exactly like that. They might be thinking about the next step and knowing they can see someone who’s been there and done the hard yards and come out the other side and hopefully be a bit of an inspiration. That’s what I needed, and I thank Soldier On and Jason for all the ongoing support.’
Reconnecting with skills and purpose
Matthew (pictured above taking part in the annual Veteran Games) also highlights how his Navy experience helped him thrive in civilian employment:
‘Once you think past what you’ve gone through and you can celebrate those skills and positive elements of your training, it’s about understanding what you can contribute and being part of something again. That’s one of the biggest positives. In the military, you are used to working with different people with different skillsets and different personalities and that’s a great skill to have in the workplace,’ he says.
‘When it has the right fit…for me, it was Defence contracting. But it could be a number of things. For a lot of people transitioning, they go from being told what to do and where to be every day and suddenly they feel like they are on their own. But with the right support and encouragement, you can find the right fit.
‘I felt ten foot tall and bullet-proof – I wanted all the action; I wanted all the deployments. I wanted to tap into that feeling that I could take things on and achieve good things and Navantia gave me that feeling.’
Now, Matthew has a renewed sense of direction and stability:
‘Now the five-year plan is to keep building because now I’ve got something to work towards. When you have employment that is a good fit and reflects your unique skills and training, it feels like the world’s your oyster. It’s a really great feeling to have that glass ceiling lifted again. It’s a good foundation, but, ultimately, it’s what you make it,’ he says.
‘At the end of the day, that’s all you want – to see a future that has hope and potential. Hopefully, you get somewhere that makes sense and you can see a future for yourself. It’s challenging, it’s rewarding. At the end of the day, that’s where you want to be.
‘Working on the cutting-edge equipment that we do and getting back into that smart mode feels fulfilling and interesting. It gives you purpose. It’s such a nice feeling to have a five-year plan again. Because at the start there isn’t. And it was wonderful to have Soldier On and Jason there to support me at every step to make that future seem possible.’
🎧 Listen to episode 8 of Soldier On’s podcast, Saluting Their Service – Voices of Contemporary Bravery, available on Spotify and YouTube.
