40 and still happy
Volume 11, No. 48, July 27, 2006
By Cpl Mike McSweeney

Still smiling: Maj Bruce Hughes has served in the Australian Army for over 40 years.

HOW many bars can you fit on a long service medal?

Well, there’s one major in Western Australia who’s entitled to five bars, and he’s well on the way to his sixth.

Maj Bruce Hughes has clocked up 43 years in the Army, and this year he is celebrating 40 years of service as an officer.

Originally from Brisbane, Maj Hughes entered RMC in 1963 and graduated in 1966. He was posted to HQ Norcom while he finished his Civil Engineering degree before being posted to 24 Const Sqn, Qld.

During his career Maj Hughes deployed to Vietnam with 17 Const Sqn and had a stint at Lord Howe Island, overseeing the construction of the airstrip there.

After a secondment to John Holland Construction in Hobart helping to rebuild the Tasman Bridge, he was posted to Western Australia for two years. That was 26 years ago.

“Then they just forgot about me,” Maj Hughes joked.

Maj Hughes is currently posted to CSIG Western Region as the Project Director Special Training Facilities (STF).

“I conceived the SASR STF from an engineering perspective, undertook much of the associated fundamental research and now I look after its maintenance and ongoing development,” he said.

Maj Hughes has been told by colleagues that he qualifies for the Federation Star, which replaces the bars on his long-service medal, but he is not too fussed about not receiving one yet. “They just let me get on with what I like doing,” he said.

The old-timer has had a few good trips, but reckons his time at SASR is what has kept him in for so long.

“They’re a good mob of blokes,” he said. “That’s why I keep doing this job, its just such good fun.

“I’ve got a few more years left in me, so I’m going to see if I can crack 50 years.”