Navy Veteran, Submariner

My name is Matthew Cole and this is my story: I joined the Royal Australian Navy on 8th February 2010 as a direct entry Maritime Logistic Chef Submariner aged 22.
I completed my recruit training as all young sailors do at HMAS Cerberus Recruit School later that year.
I completed my core category training as a Chef at HMAS Cerberus School of Catering along with attending Tafe in nearby Frankston on the Mornington Peninsula by midyear 2011.
Soon after completing my category training I was posted to HMAS Stirling main Galley for consolidation training and completion of my apprenticeship as a qualified Chef during this time I served on HMAS Choules which at the time was the biggest asset that the Navy had.
In 2012 I started my Initial training course to become a Submariner which was my dream at the Submarine Training and Systems Center onboard HMAS Stirling and upon completion was posted to a submarine HMAS Sheean to complete my Training but in early April of 2013 I sustained an injury to my lower back and right leg and by May I was under the knife having several things repaired.
After the healing process I was lucky I got my chance to qualify as a competent and proud Submariner within Her Majesties Navy which is the Nations most capable force and it’s something that less than 1% Australians have had the chance to do.
I was soon Posted to sea on HMAS Farncomb in 2013 and then onto HMAS Rankin in 2014 but that was unfortunately short lived as the injury to my back that I sustained in 2013 came back to haunt me and resulted in further surgery.
I once again recovered from surgery (well at least I thought I had) and was posted to HMAS Farncomb once again in Mid-2017 and Operationally Deployed in the first half of 2018.
But yet again my back gave in and once we returned to Perth Western Australia in Mid-June 2018 I was under the knife again to try and fix my back but has ended up having several more surgery’s during 2019 and inevitably I was given my notice of my medical discharge with the end date of 28th Feb 2020.
I had the privilege of meeting Karyn Hinder the Founder of Working Spirit and listen to her story and everything she has to offer to ex-serving members of the ADF.
Later in 2019 – early 2020 Karen has started a volunteer program focusing on the medical discharging serving members and within the program I have had the opportunity to access a number of programs that Working Spirit has on offer and just a couple of these opportunity’s are things like a full LinkedIn coaching session with 1 on 1 training and a mental wellbeing and resilience workshop with a company called the Mill Gym which is founded and run by Ex-special forces and commando members.
So thankfully post discharge Karyn and her wonderful business has supported me through the very daunting time of my medical discharge and my transition to civilian life but more importantly that I still have support and opportunities to look forward to.
Life isn’t over once we leave the Defense force even if we are life members and have never had a thought of leaving so thank you Karyn and Working Spirit.