Our People in QLD
Andrew Nichols - Passion about region drives Mitchelton soldier
Mitchelton’s Andrew Nichols has a passion for the Southeast Asia and Pacific region.
He has learnt five languages, has studied and lived in Indonesia, and as a soldier in the Australian Army, has trained in Papua New Guinea and Fiji and deployed to Bougainville.
Andrew, a Warrant Officer, is also currently on his second deployment to East Timor, where he is enjoying the opportunity to engage with regional issues as an information officer with the International Stabilisation Force (ISF).
Andrew, 46, recently transferred to the Army Reserve after many years as a full-time soldier, and says that he more recently chose civil and military liaison and regional capability development as his career stream.
“I am very accustomed to these environments and with my language skills can connect with the people and accept the varying environmental conditions with ease,” he said.
“As a defence linguist I have conducted a number of study tours to Indonesia for further language training and familiarisation.
“My career highlight would probably be my first trip to East Timor, where I was an intelligence warrant officer and a principal interpreter for the peace-keeping force,” he said.
Andrew is married to a fellow Defence member and his new baby daughter was born just before he left
for Dili.
“At 46 years, I left my parenting till relatively late, so it was a big decision to be away from my wife, Maggie and new baby Erin. My wife and I are used to being apart tagging on respective deployments but this is the first time away from our daughter.
“I love being a Dad, so thank goodness for webcams,” he said.
In addition to dedicating himself to his wife and child, Andrew is looking forward to reconnecting with his local BMW Car Club when he returns home.
“I’ve been driving BMWs for 25 years, although I have accepted the future need for a (BMW) station wagon,” he says.
Andrew is one of many Army Reservists who transfer to or re-enter full-time service for a period of time to deploy on domestic and international operations with the Australian Defence Force.
Overall, there are some 650 Australian Defence Force personnel now serving in East Timor with Operation Astute.