Award for keeping the fleet in flight

Eleven years ago, SQNLDR Emily Hartley took a leap of faith, leaving her corporate career to join the RAAF in search of more challenging and meaningful work.

At the time, she was inspired by news stories of Australian military aircraft delivering humanitarian aid around the world, yet she never imagined she would one day receive a Conspicuous Service Cross (CSC) in the King’s Birthday military honours list for her outstanding achievement in helping keep those aircraft operational.

The recognition stems from a three-year posting to the US between 2022 and 2025, where she represented Australia as part of the Heavy Air Lift Systems Program Office detachment within the United States Air Force’s (USAF) C-17A Program Office at Robins Air Force Base.

During her US posting as the platform’s logistics and sustainment manager, she played a key role in ensuring the ongoing capability development of the RAAF’s fleet of eight C-17A Globemaster III.

SQNLDR Hartley focused on balancing the need to install new capabilities for RAAF’s C-17A fleet with the need to keep aircraft available for operations.

Many capability upgrades could only be installed by Boeing at its facility in Texas, requiring Australian aircraft to be flown to the US and temporarily removed from operational service.

“So we looked closely at what future capabilities were coming online and tried to fit as much work as possible into those six-yearly visits,” SQNLDR Hartley said.

One of the team’s achievements was using those scheduled maintenance periods to prepare aircraft for upgrades that were still under development.

“A big win for us was taking the opportunity to install hardware for capabilities that were still in development,” SQNLDR Hartley said.

“That meant when the software became available in the future, we could complete the installation in Australia rather than sending the aircraft back to the US.”

Another key aspect of SQNLDR Hartley’s work focused on engine preservation. Working alongside RAAF engineers, she helped drive initiatives with Boeing to address corrosion risks across spare engines.

“So when we brought in new engines, we knew they were safe, we knew we’d get the maximum flying hours out of them, and we were also reducing the burden on our maintenance crews to complete technical work,” she said.

SQNLDR Hartley also focused on the broader question of logistics preparedness.

Following the Australian 2024 Defence Strategic Review, she worked with US Air Mobility Command and other partners to examine how that system would function in a crisis or conflict environment, and how Australia could ensure it remained adequately prepared.

“The goal was to make sure Australia was not only participating in that system, but that we were properly prepared for how it would operate under pressure,” SQNLDR Hartley said.

Her advocacy helped drive the development of more formalised policies for international logistics support in contingency scenarios, as well as new multinational planning exercises designed to strengthen cooperation between C-17A operators.

SQNLDR Hartley said she was humbled by being recognised with a CSC, though she stressed the award reflected the work of a broader team rather than any individual effort.

“We worked with a very big team. To me, it’s a sign of how well the team worked,” she said.

SQNLDR Hartley said one of the key lessons from her posting was the extent of influence Australian personnel can have in international roles, even at relatively junior ranks.

“I think the fact that our allies and partners genuinely want to hear our insights, and seeing the direct influence that my team and I were able to have on USAF policy and the future of the platform internationally, was really amazing,” she said.