Lieutenant Justine

Justine. Photo credit: personal photo

You see that under Justine's name it says "Navy"; if I’d interviewed her a few years ago, it would have read “Air Force”. She smiles, acknowledging that "it's very rare" to change force but that, in her particular case, it made sense.

She explains that she migrated to the Navy four years after joining the Air Force.

But that doesn't mean she's no longer interested in things that fly! Quite the opposite. Today she’s the deputy head of the Operational Support Division on the Hyères naval air base, just east of Toulon on the Mediterranean coast, where a branch of the AIA aeronautical industrial workshop of Cuers-Pierrefeu ensures the in-service support of the blades, rotating assemblies, airframes, etc. of the Caïman Marine, Dauphin and Panther helicopters in five specialised workshops where nearly 70 civilian and military personnel provide expertise.

““One really doesn’t need to worry about being distanced from one’s family””

One might therefore assume that Justine had studied mechanics or electronics. Not at all!! She has undergraduate degrees in Spanish and business tourism/events. She worked in the latter sector for four years before opting for a career in the military. "I managed budgets and customer relations, I negotiated with suppliers and I had to guarantee costs and deadlines," she explains. "So ultimately it's the same skill sets that are used in a lot of different sectors. Having explored all aspects of this job and wanting both to travel and to work in technology – but it could have been cars —, I was inspired by my husband who’s in the Navy and I thought the armed forces might be able to offer me the training and support I was looking for.”

She admits that “I did not at all have the right profile or background". But the recruiting officer she spoke to at the CIRFA armed forces recruitment and information centre in Nice very quickly found her a job in the Air Force, advising her that if she passed the tests and evaluations she could be hired as an officer under contract.

Justine keeping an eye on the loading of an A400M transport aircraft at the Hyères naval air base. Photo credit: French Navy

For her "the civilian world could not offer me" the same opportunities as the military one. Moving from tourism to Mirage 2000 radomes didn't phase her. “You just have to be very curious, show a lot of humility; you look and learn,” she remarks.

So she joined the Air Force, working at the Cuers-Pierrefeu aeronautical industrial workshop and the SIAE industrial aeronautics service where she managed a very wide spectrum of aeronautical maintenance services not only for the Air Force but also for the Navy and the Army, as well as for private industry. Except that these industrial type jobs did not completely satisfy her. Rubbing shoulders with the sailors on site, she glimpsed a potential new direction for her career. “By changing jobs every two years one racks up a lot of knowledge and I wanted to grow […] On the one hand I needed something more operational, on the other my husband was with the Navy," she smiles. "So I took the opportunity of merging the two." With the support and guidance of her superiors, she migrated to the Navy.

“I signed for 10 years with the aim of becoming a career officer.”

What she enjoys today is "doing things that are out of the ordinary", managing the men and women entrusted to her and experiencing things that are not given to everyone.

“Naval aviation really broadened my horizons,” she explains. “Playing a direct role in the operational availability of the aircraft that undertake rescue missions, wage anti-submarine warfare or fight drug trafficking is what drives me every day.”

She coordinates detachments of specialists on the ships deployed across the world in order to repair the helicopters on board so they can continue their missions. She manages offshore shipments of spares for aircraft or helicopters aboard aircraft such as the A400M. Deployed at sea she is the main technical-logistics contact between the Army and the Navy during major joint operations.

Justine scuba diving. Photo credit: personal photo

She doesn’t consider herself particularly sporty! However, with a little persistent questioning she reveals that she’s been scuba diving since she was nine, even if she grew up far from the sea around Paris, and that, yes, she also horse rides, swims and hikes.

Justine is the first in her family since her grandfather to embark on this military path. “My family is delighted, they see me well-balanced, fulfilled. I know why I get up in the mornings.”

Discreet, she never names her spouse, referring to him simply as "monsieur", explaining that each of them is evolving in their career symmetrically. "We’re advancing in parallel," she says and is clearly a little shocked at the idea that one of them might have to step aside to allow the other to move forwards. “We support each other. He’s just passed a competitive exam and we worked on it together,” she remarks.

Justine also sweeps away the notion that a sailor at sea is cut off from his loved ones. “I talk to my spouse every day when he’s at sea. One really doesn’t need to worry about being distanced from one’s family.”

But she concedes that “the mission is much bigger than oneself. It's not just one’s relatives, there's the crew...”