Paramedic reflects on Army deployment this ANZAC Day

Before starting his career as an Ambulance Victoria (AV) paramedic four years ago, Ken Genat was in Afghanistan clearing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and in Papua New Guinea building bridges for small villages with the Australian Army.

This ANZAC Day (25 April), Ken reflected on his service, which was the culmination of a boyhood dream.

“Growing up, all I ever wanted to do was join the Army, so it was the best time. It was a sense of being in something bigger than yourself,” Ken said.

“You feel like you make a real impact and you have all these friends that you know would do anything for you and you’d do anything for them.

“ANZAC Day is about anyone who’s served and has dedicated their time to something bigger than themselves. It’s about remembering everyone who’s put on the uniform and done their bit for the country.”

Ken was 20 when he joined the Army as a combat engineer. The role saw him become a jack-of-all-trades, with tasks ranging from water purification to bridge building to bomb disposal to dog handling.

The Victorian spent most of his career posted in Townsville as part of the Third Combat Engineer Regiment.

He was involved in the clean-up from Cyclone Yasi in 2011 and deployed overseas on multiple occasions, including a few trips to Papua New Guinea and deployment to Afghanistan for about eight months from 2011 to 2012.

“In Afghanistan, I was part of the Australian Army’s Mentoring Task Force and my main job was route clearance, so removing IEDs. At that time, IEDs were the greatest threat to Australian soldiers,” Ken explained.

“My job was to go out with my team ahead of everyone else, either in a vehicle or on foot, and go find the IEDs. As a regular soldier at that time, it was one of the most dangerous jobs.”

Three soldiers on Ken’s deployment were killed in an insider attack, and another was lost in an IED explosion.

“I didn’t know those guys well, but the IED explosion hit home to us as combat engineers because he died doing what our whole job was,” Ken said.

In preparation for deployment, Ken and the other soldiers had undertaken trauma training led by intensive care paramedics in Queensland. It was the start of Ken’s interest in one day moving into the medical field.

Overseas, Ken also got to know some of the Army’s medics and was inspired by their work.

“They weren’t just helping us soldiers, but they would use their skills to help the locals in the villages we went to,” Ken said.

“I remember asking one of the medics what they were going to do after the Army and they said they were going to become a paramedic. I thought that sounded cool.”

Ken later looked into transferring to becoming a medic in the Army himself, but at the time it wasn’t possible. With his mind made up, he decided he would study paramedicine outside the Army.

Ken was discharged from the full-time Army in 2015 and spent a couple more years in the Army Reserve back in Victoria while he studied.

“I did the degree part-time over five or six years and I found it quite hard, particularly adjusting to life out of the Army at the same time. But I was loving paramedicine and thought it replicated some of the things I loved about the Army,” he said.

Now, Ken is a paramedic based at AV’s Warragul branch, after completing his graduate program across Traralgon, Drouin and Yarra Junction branches.

“I love going to work. I’m always excited because you never know what the day’s going to bring,” Ken said.

“Recently, I got to reconnect with a patient I’d treated which was a great experience. We don’t always get the opportunity to see the impact of our work.”

Three things stick out most to Ken when he thinks of skills he’s brought across from the Army to his work at AV – discipline, accountability and being a team player.

And when it comes to similarities, it’s the sense of impact and the camaraderie that Ken loves most.

“One of the best times for me in the Army was when we were in Papua New Guinea and spent three months living in the jungle, building a bridge over a creek for the local village,” he said.

“We lived with the Papua New Guinea Army, we chopped down trees, we prepared the timber to be used for construction, and we had to get it across the creek but there was an issue, so we ended up floating the timber down the creek to each other to get it across.

“It was really physically demanding work but sharing it with your mates, it was not only bearable but enjoyable.

“It’s very much like work at AV – you’re not in it for yourself and you work really closely with people from all walks of life, who you really gel with.”

Lest we forget.