You don't have to be a school-leaver to train with the army. Stan Ogrizek, also a vehicle maintenance trainee at ALTC, was 31 when he joined. All I'd really wanted to do as a teenager was an automotive apprenticeship, but I didn't get in. Never having been exposed to military life, he found it a totally different world from the public perception of the army. The richness of experience and variety of opportunity from field phase training to highly specialised technical work will, he believes, provide him with a bright future at last.
Security comes into it.
If you do decide to leave the army, your qualifications and experience are widely recognised. The Army Logistics Training Centre spreads out around the nation. Bonegilla caters for vehicle mechanics and fitters and turners. Nearby Bandiana takes electrical trades trainees. Instructors are both military and civilian, classes are small and the courses are self-paced.