Five uniforms, eight boots, four packs and five rifles - Major Deta Kerschat has seen a lot of change in his more than 40 years of service to the Army.
In that time, he's enjoyed 17 postings, deployed on three operations and received 11 honours and awards for his long and illustrious service, including the Federation Star clasp to the Defence Long Service Medal, presented by Commander 1st (Australian) Division Major General Ash Collingburn in February.
His journey to this point began as a schoolboy, and a firm opinion about what his future was, or perhaps more pertinently, wasn't to look like.
"It's a bit of a funny story. I was in high school doing Year 12 and my father was a baker," Major Kerschat said.
"The expectation was that I was going to take over the business, but being a baker didn't particularly excite me.
"The Army guys come around to give their spiel at the school and I jumped onto the process, and low and behold I got accepted."
Enlisting as an apprentice vehicle mechanic on January 10, 1983, Major Kerschat was posted to the Army Apprentices School, which at the time was still under construction at Latchford Barracks, Victoria.
He describes his first 'real' posting - having completed his apprenticeship - as 9th Transport Squadron in Townsville.
"It was a different Army back then and 3rd Brigade was always online so we were training to be always ready," he said.
"We spent a fair bit of time away, but that was enjoyable."
'The Army guys come around to give their spiel at the school and I jumped onto the process, and low and behold I got accepted.'
Despite relishing the lifestyle, then-Craftsman Kerschat had a family to prioritise. With ever-supportive wife Kerry by his side, and his young son Kieran struggling with the weather, he made the move down to Brisbane and posted into 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry).
In 1993, the year he posted to 49th Battalion, the Royal Queensland Regiment, and promoted from Lance Corporal to Corporal, he took on his first major extracurricular activity within Defence - volunteering to become the South Queensland coordinator for the newly founded Defence Special Needs Support Group.
"Both of my boys have their own special needs, as does my wife, so I was probably a bit unique in that all of my dependents have special needs and back then there was nothing in place to accommodate that," Major Kerschat said.
"It made life a little more difficult but that was the case, and I wanted to keep serving and keep supporting my family."
He continued to do both of those things admirably for the next 10 years, promoting to Sergeant within that time. That was when one of the highlights of his career came along.
Posted to what was now 25th/49th Battalion, the Royal Queensland Regiment, he spent six months in Bougainville as part of the peacekeeping operation, Operation Bel-Isi
"Experiencing the different culture and learning about how people in the South Pacific lived, and how that whole incident occurred; that was really satisfying," Major Kerschat said.
Over the next six years he deployed on two more operations - Operation Acolyte providing security to the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, and Operation Astute in Timor-Leste.
'Stay happy, get out of bed in the morning and enjoy your work.'
Returning to Australia from Timor-Leste in June 2009, then-Warrant Officer Class One Kerschat, who was posted to 5th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, had a decision to make.
The unit was backing up Operation Astute with Operation Slipper in Afghanistan, but having spent so much time away from Kerry and his two boys, he decided to step away from full-time service - sort of.
On July 4, 2010, he transitioned from full-time service to the Army Reserves and on July 5, Major Kerschat began his first day as an Australian Public Service member within the logistics branch at Headquarters 1st (Australian) Division.
He showed his excellence in that role too, being awarded the Australia Day Medal in 2019 for his work in management of the Pre-deployment Training Fleet and support to the upgrade of protected mobility vehicles in the Middle East region.
Still serving in the Army Reserves during that time, he showed his commitment to Defence remained strong. He commissioned to Captain in 2019 and promoted to Major in 2023.
After a Major's position became available in the logistics branch in December 2023, Major Kerschat decided to put his uniform back on full-time, 14 years after transitioning to the Army Reserves and becoming an APS member.
When asked what his secret was to serving for so long, both in and out of uniform, he said it came down to a simple mindset.
"Stay happy, get out of bed in the morning and enjoy your work," Major Kerschat said.
