E40 - Army Reserve to Navy Mum - The Hidden World of Women

On the April 25th we celebrated ANZAC day here in Australia (and New Zealand). We wanted to talk to women whose lives are impacted by their connection to the Department of Defence, whether that be as serving members, as a partner of a member of Defence or as a mother of someone who serves or has served in the Department of Defence.

In this episode I spoke with Tonya Bailey who shares about her experiences in the Army Reserves. Tonya also spoke about how she shared stories of being in the Army Reserve with her children, so she wasn’t surprised when one of them shared that he was planning to join Defence, but he took a while to work out which branch of Defence he was interested in (Army, Navy or Airforce, how do you choose?). While Tonya had almost expected that he would join the Army he had to break the news to her that in fact he wanted to join the Navy. Like most mum’s Tonya just wanted him to be happy and she celebrated.

Tonya is just at the start of her Navy Mum journey, a journey that was made so much more difficult thanks to Covid and the lock downs, travel bans, restrictions etc. Tonya had some useful hints and tips to share for other parents who are just starting their journey as a parent of a Defence member. Not surprisingly, I cried, surprisingly so did Tonya and I thank you Tonya for your openness in sharing your story and being vulnerable and letting me dig into wounds that you perhaps didn’t know existed.

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