My name is Dr Deidre Anderson and I enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1975. After two years I became the first female physical education officer, (PTI) in any of the military services in the world.
My first muster [job role] was a Royal Australian Air Force Training Instructor. My role was to teach the female recruits about the Air Force. I trained for six months for the role before being promoted to Corporal. It was quite a challenging role. Upon reflection it was a very special time.
Within two years of joining, many of the traditional male roles were opening to women. I had always had a great interest in sport - by then I was playing basketball, softball, and athletics, in fact just about anything that the Air Force offered. I captained the Australian Tri-Services team. It was therefore no surprise that I applied to be a Physical Training Instructor.
Initially, my application wasn’t accepted as they didn’t think I could pass the training and there were concerns for my safety. Eventually, I was accepted into the course, and I quickly realised that if I didn’t pass the course it was going to be impossible for any future females to apply. That thought was my motivation to get me through the most difficult challenge in my life.
The PTI training consisted of six months of gruelling physical pain in Wagga Wagga in the middle of winter and included swimming in a freezing outdoor pool. There were six of us, four males and two females. Sadly, the other female only lasted three days. I was sad because I knew then that I had to finish the training for all the women who would come after me. It was a solid six months! I remember vividly crawling home on my hands and knees because I could not stand up.
After the PTI graduation, I was posted to Laverton but before I could start the role, I had to complete a survival course, which is designed to prepare personnel for when they are shot down behind enemy territory. I remember my boss saying, ‘You can’t do this; people die on this course.’
The course was in Townsville, the first two weeks training was in the classroom. A part of the training was an assimilation exercise designed to show you how to escape a plane that had ditched into the water. I was inside a capsule that sunk to the bottom of a 10-metre pool, it was upside down and so was I. You’ve got to get out and if you don't you either drown or the scuba divers get you out. Fortunately, I survived!
The next week we were dropped out in the middle of the ocean by helicopter and floated in a life raft for two days. We had to distil our own water and survive. At the completion of the sea phase, we were helicoptered into the Atherton Tablelands and we had to evade capture for three days. All I had was a parachute, a flare and a 24-hour ration pack. We met at a check point and then walked about 20km into jungle and there you stayed. You had to set up a safe environment. I was with a Navy seal and an Air Force navigator. The Navy seal broke his ankle on the third day so we had to send a flare up and then he was gone.
It was just the two of us for the rest of the survival course finding our own food, sleeping rough and trying to sustain as much energy as possible. At the end of the week, we had to walk 15km to the collection point. I remember when I got back to the base and had my first shower in three weeks feeling so weak, but I had made it and that was all that mattered.
I wouldn’t say I enjoyed that experience, but I learnt a lot about myself, and it has stayed with me to this day. I learnt that you can really push yourself beyond your wildest imagination, that no matter the situation, there’s always a solution, and all challengers start with a single step.
My first posting was Laverton in Melbourne. The first day in the office was difficult as my presence had changed the dynamics. One of the difficulties I experienced as a female PTI in a predominantly male world was to be taken seriously.
Whenever I had to do something physical, I had to keep up with the males. If ever I had to fix a tennis racket or respool a fishing rod, I had to do it better than them. If I was doing weights in the gym I had to keep up. That was my way of making sure I was taken seriously.
When I was 28 years old, I realised there was a big wide world out there just waiting to be explored. I'd always wanted to serve my country. It was in my family this sense of service; I had achieved my goal, and it was time to move on.
Jump forward to January 2023, I was invited go back and be a keynote speaker at the PTI conference in Amberley. There were about 60 people in the room and close to 25 women PTI’s. Many of the servicewomen thanked me for pathing the way. It was one of the most humbling moments of my life.
In 2022 I was awarded an AM (Member of the Order of Australia) for my contribution to Sport and Tertiary Education and that was in recognition of every person who has played a part in my journey. My only disappointment was that my mum and dad were not with me at the award ceremony, but I know they would be looking down watching.
If nothing ever happens in my life again, that was special.
This is the story of Dee Anderson as told to Carla Edwards.
