2013 USQ International Alumnus of the Year: Wing Commander Martin Smith

USQ International Alumnus of the Year:  Wing Commander Martin Smith

1.       What did you dream of doing as a career when you were a child?

As an 8 year old, I thought I'd be a policeman. While I never quite made it, I
can still connect the dots between the community mindedness and idea of
helping others to what I ended up doing.

2.       What subjects did you study in high school?  Were you academically
driven, sporting, arts etc?
I was a terrible student at high school! While I scrapped through passes in English, Multi-Strand Science, Accounting, Maths 1 and History, studying was an unwelcomed distraction from my passion for sports. I captained the school tennis & golf teams, opened the batting for the cricket team, and my knees still pay testament to playing Brisbane Pennant squash league. I was a textbook case of the misdirected energy of youth. Several years after finishing school, when I joined the Air Force and needed to knuckle down to get through some complex training courses, I was surprised to find that when motivated to apply myself, I was capable of
great results.

3.       What was your first degree/course?  Did you stick to this career
path or interest?  Why or why not?
BBus (Accounting). After working briefly in retail banking, I realized that I didn't want to be stuck behind a desk for my career, and saw the Air Force as a great option for adventure. The BBus aligned with my desire to commission as a Logistics Officer, which still involved lots of desks and paperwork, but also provided plenty of opportunity to work in the field and travel the world. While I never really saw myself becoming an accountant, the skills I gained through the BBus were highly complementary to my Air Force career, and progressing onto the MBA with USQ was a natural evolution both academically and professionally. The price of success?...I get to see more and more time behind a desk!

4.       Why did you choose to study at USQ?
As I was a terrible high school student, the honest answer is that they would have me. When I realized that going to Uni and getting a degree was kind of important, the tertiary bridging course that USQ (then DDIAE) offered was a godsend, and when I was accepted I threw myself into my academics with the same passion that I had for sports, and never looked back. With all that I've achieved, the lifeline thrown to me by USQ was one of the most critical junctions in my life, and I'll be forever appreciative that I was given a chance. There were two other factors that were critical to me attending USQ. First, the Air Force had built up a great relationship with DDIAE over 20 years of sponsoring logistic cadets to attend for their initial degrees, and later the collaborative development of a Project Management Masters that continues to be recognized by Air Force as a critical skillset for managing billion dollar acquisition projects. The other factor was the flexibility that distance learning offered; I recall cramming study guides in foxholes while on exercises, in the back of C130 Hercules aircraft during long flights, at 3am while pulling night shifts...there was no way an attendance degree was going to fit my lifestyle.

5.       What was the next step for you after graduation?  Did you have a plan or fall into something?
Completing the degree allowed me to successfully apply for a commission as an Air Force Officer, and 25 years later, I am still excited to put on the uniform and be a leader in one of the greatest organizations in the country. My wife often tells me that I'm having way too much fun, and someday I'm going to need to grow up and get a real job! A plan? If someone had told me 25 years ago that I would be commanding a multi-national force of 600 members drawn from six countries while securing and sustaining a Forward Operating Base of 6500 personnel in the middle of a war in Afghanistan; or be sitting in The Pentagon presiding over the future operational concepts of the world most potent fighting force; I'm sure I would have laughed...or ran!  

6.       What do you consider is the key to success?
A "never say never" attitude. Being prepared to jump in the deep end and make things work is what I do; motivating others to jump with me is how I do it.

8.       Who has been the biggest influence in your life and why?
Great leaders. Working with and learning from some of the great military leaders of our generation, people as diverse as General Tommy Franks the Commander of US Central Command; Col Akbar from the Afghan Army who had been leading men and fighting wars for 35 years in the most inhospitable terrain in the world; and General John Cantwell, the Commander of Australian Force in the Middle east, are but some of great leaders who have inspired me to want to be the type of leader that I'd want to be led by.

9.       What advice do you have for others in your Faculty about how to attain success in your chosen work field and in an international context?
Talk less; listen more. My experience in working in more than 20 countries as diverse as Mongolia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Cambodia and the SE Asia region, is that Australians are generally respected because we treat people of all backgrounds with respect, and we are keen to learn and absorb their stories, not necessarily just to tell our own. Listening is one of the most important
skills I can think of.

10.   Do you think that you have found your ideal job and what you were born to do or is there still some searching to do?
I love what I do. Leading teams that have evacuated Australians from war torn countries, helping rebuild communities that are devastated by natural disasters or war, and inspiring people to achieve more than they thought possible within an organization that really matters, is what I live for. When the time is right to leave Defence, I look forward to doing more community support work or volunteering my skills for international aid programs.