The Federation Star for 40 years of service is a great achievement for any Defence member, but to receive it alongside your spouse is rare.
Last month at Army Logistic Training Centre, Major Wendi McAdie and her husband Warrant Officer Class One (WO1) Andrew McAdie did just this.
Surrounded by their family, friends and colleagues, Major General Michael Krause made a special trip to present their medals in what he described as “one of the greatest honours anyone has ever given me”.
The couple who met, married and raised their daughter while serving, looked back with pride and gratitude.
WO1 McAdie accepted his medal acknowledging his daughter, Clancy.
“For missing me when I was away and putting up with me when I was home,” he said.
“I would also like to thank my wife, Wendi, who has been my consult and my conscience.”
WO1 McAdie joined Army at 15 as a vehicle mechanic apprentice because he wanted an adventure. For him, being out bush, getting seemingly doomed vehicles up and going with “nothing but fencing wire and chewing gum” was the icing on his cake.
Meanwhile, at a base not far away, his future wife joined the Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC), where pivotal change was afoot.
“In my career I have gone from being at WRAC school, where women were not allowed to carry or use weapons, to being deployed to Afghanistan where I carried two weapons – a pistol on the side and a Steyr on the back,” Major McAdie said.
It was some years before they crossed paths, though their first meeting would prove unforgettable.
‘In my career I have gone from being at WRAC school, where women were not allowed to carry or use weapons, to being deployed to Afghanistan where I carried two weapons – a pistol on the side and a Steyr on the back.’
At 106 Field Workshop, Enoggera, a then young Corporal Andrew McAdie marched in and met a young Sergeant Wendi Pannowitz – the chief clerk. As an unsuspecting Corporal McAdie filled out paperwork and said a brief hello to the officer commanding, Sergeant Pannowitz took aim.
“I walked up to him and I said, ‘first, stop leaning all over the bloody counter, stand up straight’!” Major McAdie said.
“And I said, ‘and that was the OC of the workshop, you’re supposed to pay him compliments’. And he went, ‘Well, yeah, okay’. Then he went back to the workshops and I found out later that he said, ‘who’s the cranky old thing in there?'”
The next time they met was rappelling down a lighthouse, when Major McAdie challenged WO1 McAdie to a race that would be contested to this day.
“We rappelled, raced each other to the ground and I won,” Major McAdie said.
“He said it was because he had to dodge the windows, but he’ll tell you he won.”
But 32 years on, WO1 McAdie won’t concede.
“I still believe – and there’s always two sides to a story – I beat her butt,” he said.
Both looked back on their career highlights. WO1 McAdie’s best times were being posted to 5th/7th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, in Holsworthy, supporting the crew commander’s course, and his posting to 2nd Cavalry Regiment as artificer sergeant major.
“We drove our ASLAVs from Darwin to Shoalwater Bay one year – there and back,” he said.
“Then we did it the next year to High Range. So, that was really good.”
Major McAdie cited taking her first chief clerk role, deploying to Afghanistan and commissioning to major to become the Army personnel coordination detachment commander. Her role as section commander at Kapooka (inadvertently starring in the 1990 documentary Ladies in the Line), however, was Major McAdie’s first milestone.
“It is a tough gig, but really rewarding,” she said.
“As soon as the band starts, you will see the recruits – they grow three inches, they just stand up so straight. It’s a really great feeling.”
‘I get to work with fine young Australians and I get to work on the big toys. So why would I stop?’
Of course, work and family is always a balance, one the McAdie’s worked hard at. Having Clancy in 1996, the priority was keeping a solid home base for her, though this meant lots of time spent with just one parent at home.
Though Clancy may have joked her parents were so used to being apart they would get divorced when they had to live together again, the McAdie’s soldier on. They lean on the values and behaviours that have brought them success in service and marriage – a deep empathy for the unique way of life that is Army, speaking the same language (yes, RATEL), sacrifice and, sometimes … a little yelling.
“When I was an apprentice, there were two classes of apprentices that didn’t have to do subject one for corporal. I was one of them,” WO1 McAdie said.
“So I was really worried when I did my subject one for sergeant about giving a drill lesson and all those things that you should have got taught on sub-one for corporal.
“Wendi was a recruit instructor and she taught me everything I needed to know – this is how you give a drill lesson, this is how you do fault correction, shouting at me in the backyard … And then I got student of merit.”
The pair will not be giving up service any time soon. Major McAdie will hit compulsory full-time work retirement next year, reducing her hours to part time to continue working in the welfare space and see changes from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide come to fruition. She will also further her integration into ex-service organisations locally, already being a Legatee and Wodonga Returned and Services League committee member.
WO1 McAdie has four years before compulsory retirement, though he has no plans to leave. Wearing both an Australian Public Service hat and an Army hat, WO1 McAdie will only need to retire the latter.
“I get to work with fine young Australians and I get to work on the big toys,” he said.
“So why would I stop?”
