My name is Felix.
I joined the Australian Army in 1996
as a Storeman Tech Ord.
Later on, I transferred
into the regular army as a Birdie,
which is a helicopter mechanic,
and I served as a Craftsman.
And then I got a little bit bored
and joined
the Navy and served as a Birdie
there as an ABATA [Able Seaman Aviation Technician Aircraft].
I still serve for Defence
as an APS [Australian Public Service] engineer, which I quite enjoy.
I really love my job.
I just don't have to wear uniform
anymore, which is rather fun.
I joined the Defence Force to,
I suppose, get away from home.
And a whole lot of other things.
It was an escape. I ran away.
A friend told me
that if you joined the Defence Force,
nobody could stop you because
once you'd signed on the dotted line,
the military police would come
and take you away if you didn't turn up.
So, I thought that was a great idea.
It's like, let's sign here, no one
can stop me now, I'm going.
I grew up in a very conservative family.
Queer people weren't even visible.
And I think for me, I just kind of
wanted to be able to be myself
out of the eyes of everyone
in the community and stuff.
So, running away and joining
the Defence Force was a pretty cool idea.
So, I joined the Defence Force in 1996,
just after Paul,
probably about four years after
Paul Keating had removed the ban on
Queer people serving in the Defence
Force, they still hadn't removed the,
I suppose, the barriers
for trans people serving.
But I could say definitely
the culture hadn't changed. The rules
had changed, but not the culture.
And so, everyone I knew that was Queer
wasn't out.
You know, when I first joined
the Defence Force, there was often
a lot of homophobia and transphobia,
and then people get to know you and
they're like, Oh, you're a Queer person.
I was like, ‘Yeah’.
And they're like, ‘Oh, you know’...
I don't get that so much now.
But, you know, earlier on
it was like that.
And I think it's just... we're just people.
We turn up, we do our job,
we go home.
You know,
there's nothing really scary about us.
I wouldn't be where I am
without the Defence Force.
It gave me an opportunity
to leave home and be myself,
you know, it was really suffocating.
And so, joining the Defence Force,
even though it, like seems, very strict
and everything.
It was a lot of freedom for me.
I wouldn't be an engineer.
I wouldn't have met my partner.
I wouldn't have all the things that I do
now without joining the Defence Force.
There’s still moments where
I get upset about things.
You know, equality
isn't where it needs to be, but
it is nice being a visible person.
You can't be what you can't see.
The nicest thing is to see that it's
changing. It’s still not where
it needs to be, but it's definitely a hell
of a lot better than it was.
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