Inside the Air Force Recruit training experience
Air Force instructor Corporal Mikhayla Kiem shares insights on guiding recruits at No. 1 Recruit Training Unit.
What’s happening?
Military Skills Instructor Corporal Mikhayla Kiem is helping guide new recruits through training at No. 1 Recruit Training Unit.
Instructors support recruits as they move from civilian life into service in the Australian Defence Force.
Corporal Kiem said the responsibility requires humility and constant self-reflection.
“You’ve got 70 people listening to everything you say with no questions; it can be quite a dangerous thing,” she said.
“It’s important to be humble and self-reflect so you can give your best to the recruits.
“We’re really demonstrating to them what we need from them,” she said.
Military Skills Instructors oversee daily training and mentor recruits during the early stages of their Air Force career.
Training includes weapons handling, defence strategy, physical fitness testing and drill practice.
Corporal Kiem said instructors work with people facing a completely new environment.
“We’re in a very privileged position here with very vulnerable people,” she said.
“It’s a new environment, it’s scary, they’re away from home, and they have home lives we know nothing about.”
“It’s being able to check yourself and say, ‘I need to be humble, I need to be respectful, I was once in their shoes.’”
Why it matters
Military Skills Instructors play a central role in preparing recruits for life in the Australian Defence Force.
They guide discipline, leadership and teamwork during the earliest stage of a recruit’s career.
Corporal Kiem said the role is about setting the right example for those entering service.
“If you come to 1RTU expecting to yell, scream, and have people obey what you’re saying, you’re here for the wrong reasons,” she said.
“We are the exemplar, our behaviour, our values, our uniform.”
Local impact
The work of instructors is often reflected in the growth of the recruits they train.
Corporal Kiem recalled one recruit who initially struggled to speak in front of a group.
“There was one recruit who went from not being able to speak in front of a group to yelling drill commands for the whole course in just eight weeks,” she said.
“She earned the Chief Instructor Award, and now she’s out there in the Air Force.
“I helped her become a good aviator. She put the effort in, but I laid the stones for her to get there, that was pretty special,” Corporal Kiem said.
By the numbers
Recruit training runs for nine weeks at No. 1 Recruit Training Unit, where instructors guide recruits through their first stage of service preparation.
An instructor can have around 70 recruits listening to every instruction, which Corporal Kiem said requires careful leadership and humility.
Corporal Kiem first arrived at the training unit more than six years ago when she began her own journey as a recruit.
Zoom in
Corporal Kiem clearly remembers her own first moments at the training unit.
It was past midnight when she stepped off the bus as a new recruit.
Within moments, she drew the attention of a Military Skills Instructor.
“He yelled at me to get my hands out of my pockets,” she said.
Rather than feeling discouraged, the moment inspired her.
“They were just awesome. They were exactly what I wanted to be,” she said.
Zoom out
Military service has strong roots in Corporal Kiem’s family.
Her grandfather served in the Air Force during World War Two.
Her father worked as a Military Skills Instructor in the 1980s, while her mother served as a medic.
Despite this background, her father avoided shaping her experience too closely.
“He made me watch An Officer and a Gentleman before I enlisted, and that was kind of it,” she said.
“He just really wanted me to go through it myself and make it my own thing.
“But he was pretty happy when I became an MSI.”
What to look for next
New groups of recruits will continue arriving at No. 1 Recruit Training Unit as they begin their journey into Air Force service.
Military Skills Instructors will guide them through the demanding training that prepares them for life in the Australian Defence Force.