Kim, a former Navy serviceperson, has

followed in the footsteps of her grandfather and like her sister joined the force to help protect our country.

“Both my sister and I were in Iraq together, which scared mum, but we were able to communicate and were both doing what we loved.”

Kim was doing a routine jump out of a

helicopter, but a combination of the swell,

rocking of the ship and not enough rope, resulted in her landing and breaking both her knees.

“I was out for six weeks before I started training again. I loved my job and just wanted to get back into it.”

With the knee operations out of the way, Kim was back in the clear, but she has had to retire from the service because in total she says she has had seven knee reconstructions.

“It ended up every two years I was getting my knees done. I have had five on my right and two on my left. The last time I had both done at the same time. I had both my legs in plaster, an 18 month old baby and found out I was

pregnant again.”

Kim always wanted to join the Defence Force and in 2000 after she finished school she was accepted into the Navy.

“It was a male dominated world, but I was used to that, growing up in the country. The job was new to me but working with men was just the same.”

Kim has been to the Solomon Islands and Iraq three times. Kim’s sister, who served on the Newcastle while Kim was in Iraq has now left the service and is a police woman.

“Our dad was a police officer, so she has followed in our grandfather’s

footsteps and now in dad’s,” Kim said.

Kim and her husband are part of the 21 members of the Canowindra RSL and she would like to promote that people get hurt in peace and war and people are fighting to uphold what the diggers did in World War I and World War II.

“We have to practice fighting and training to keep Australia how it is. That is what the diggers did and for that to be relevant we need to keep going.”