Defence Force Member - Other Ranks
What the work is
Provides specialised military services to the Australian Defence Force.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Guards airfields and other Defence Force bases as directed by superiors
- Serves as an infantry soldier
- Erects bridges, builds field defences, constructs temporary roads, clears minefields, repairs airfields, and demolishes targets using explosives
- Crews armoured fighting vehicles
- Operates artillery, ground and surface-based defence systems, shipboard weapons, and other advanced specialist military weapons and equipment
- Provides firepower and ground-based air defence
- Establishes and maintains command, control and communications equipment and facilities
- Conducts surveillance, reconnaissance and boarding operations
- Maintains personal arms and ammunition
- Provides support in combat and non-combat operations such as peacekeeping and disaster recovery
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in an army engineering troop supporting a flood recovery in a fictional river town. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A town gets its road back because your section worked through the night
- A team exercise runs so smoothly that nobody has to say a word
- A local thanks the troop for helping them return to their home
Hard days
- Weeks away from family with little say over where you are posted
- Cold, wet, tired work that has to be done properly anyway
- An order you would handle differently, but that you must follow and then raise
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 451131, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.