Our People in WA
Rhiannon Kittel - Rockingham sailor hands over weapons to Aussie soldiers in the Middle East
Rhiannon originally joined up with the Royal Australian Air Force but two years ago decided to chase career opportunities with the Royal Australian Navy and now carries the rank of Able Seaman.
Its her first overseas operational deployment Able Seaman Kittel has one of the most important jobs of the entire operation. As second in charge of the Q store at the Force Logistic Base, it's her responsibility to hand out weapons and body armour to everyone of the 1,400 ADF personnel in the region.
"I'm very particular about checking and rechecking any of this equipment before I hand it over and ask a soldier to trust his life with it."
"When soldiers first arrive for acclimatisation training they're generally pretty talkative and energised, but when you start handing out body armour with all sorts of additions to counter changing threats the mood can become pretty sobering. The realisation for them that this could be the difference between being injured or walking away is fairly daunting."
The Q store is also responsible for handing out a variety of military supplies and even basics like pens and insect repellent.
"We can have up to 1,500 ADF personnel pass through the base in a month. They all need somewhere to sleep and unfortunately one day after a large group stayed overnight I was left with 50 loads of bedlinen and blankets to wash. Thankfully the desert is perfect for drying laundry and we had it ready to be reissued that night."
At the end of her deployment later this year Able Seaman Kittel says she'll be heading straight for Rockingham to relax and enjoy her leave. "I'll spend plenty of time in the foreshore park with my new pup Jess who was just 6 weeks old when I left."