The most rewarding Air Force Gap Year experience this year for Aircraftman Ronan Duff was his deployment to Guam and Tinian for Exercise Cope North 24.
Posted to 383 Contingency Response Squadron (383CRS), Aircraftman Duff travelled to the Mariana Islands, working in the S3 Operations Cell alongside United States Air Force counterparts.
Aircraftman Duff joined RAAF in May 2023 as a personnel capability specialist and originally wanted to be a medical technician, but saw the Gap Year program as a great opportunity to join six months earlier.
“I want to stay in the RAAF after my one-year contract ends because of the like-minded people I’ve met. Everyone has a story to tell and is working towards a common goal together,” Aircraftman Duff said.
“At 383CRS, we’re part of the high-readiness group, so any incident that occurs like a tsunami, earthquake or flood, we’re the first push to help out, no matter where we are.”
Exercise Cope North is an annual multilateral field training exercise between the US Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force and RAAF, as well as partner forces from Canada, France and the Republic of Korea, with the aim to improve integration and shared procedures.
Now deployed to the small island of Tinian, Aircraftman Duff is learning his role as part of the expeditionary force, working within the tactical operations centre as a watchkeeper.
“I’m looking after the radios, managing anyone that arrives or departs, helping direct them to different people, and knowing where all the teams are heading off to in our logbooks so we can do personnel tracking,” Aircraftman Duff said.
“All the tents we have at Tinian, we helped build with our US Air Force buddies and they’re really great to work with; they have similar terminology to us – they’re us in different pyjamas.”
The Air Force Gap Year is a 12-month program designed to give participants the opportunity to experience service life before deciding whether to join full time or part time.
Aircraftman Duff said he was still interested in transferring job roles to be a medical technician and has thoroughly enjoyed his time on Exercise Cope North within his first year of service.
“Sleeping under the stars, it’s the best sleep I’ve had all week,” he said.
