I set myself a goal of buying a home by 25 and I went unconditional on my first house
exactly a month before I turned 22, so I was like 21 bought a house, did it.
I've always had this self doubting thing. I would always think "oh my gosh, I'm not tall enough, fast
enough, or strong enough," but then you never know until you try something. Just give it
go and see what happens. I always thought something in tourism was where I wanted to
go. I wanted to be a flight attendant and travel the world, but then I also had a friend
that joined the Army. It took him explaining to me that it's a regular job, but you get
to do so much more and that kind of intrigued me. I was like "this is a dream job. Who wouldn't
want to do this?" It's crazy for the first week, but as soon as you get used to it you
get into a routine. It becomes normal. You definitely work as a team more than as an
individual. That's where you make some of your best friends is on basic training, because
you're all going through the same stuff. When we were looking how to use weapons we were
out in the training fields. You're doing this and you're having so much fun and you're like
"who else is doing this in the world?" It was really cool. Everyone wants you to do
well and that's pretty much the Army in a nutshell. It's really cool. We're all here
for the same purpose, so differences like your gender, ethnic background, it doesn't
really matter you can just be yourself.
Currently, I work at NZCTC, which is New Zealand Collective Training Centre. My job is to source and procure all the stores for all the training that's
coming up. I get to try out a lot of technology that's coming into service.
Within all the trades there are many opportunities, so for me I work in lots of roles in supply.
There's also positions for supply technicians and other countries as well.
Our leadership is pushing further education and people that are interested.
They feel like that the more educated our younger soldiers are, the better decisions that they're making, the better
leaders they become. We have a lot of courses too that don't just focus on Army stuff, we've
got courses that will give you management qualifications. I think the pay is very decent
especially when you look at the flexibility and stability the job has - makes kind of
no sense not to join. I didn't think you could have a normal life before I joined, but it's
just like a normal life. You go home and you switch off. You put in the hard work, but
you also have so much flexibility. I'm just looking for the future. Being a homeowner
I've been doing my own renovations and I also want skills that I can use in my own house.
My goal is to have a property investment portfolio for my retirement and I would like to have
a few houses and a passive income for my future and that's the ultimate dream for me. I would
love that. I think just the person I've become is what I'm most proud of. Honestly, I couldn't
tell you where I would be if I didn't join the Army. I would have no idea what I'd be doing.
Actually I don't even like to think about it, because I'm happy with what I'm doing.
My name is Sigourney Sumich and I'm a supply technician in the New Zealand Army.