Warrant Class One Officer Sean McElhinney was recently awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. The 47-year-old father of two now calls Lancefield home, and loves coming back to the area. Georgia Tacey caught up with Sean to hear more about his life and his recent honour.
What is your connection to Lancefield?
My wife (Shannon) and I met when I was playing football for Diggers Rest. I was posted to Puckapunyal, but my parents lived in Diggers Rest so I sort of commuted in between to play football. Shannon and I moved to Darwin on posting in 2006 and during this posting I deployed to Afghanistan. We got married in Lancefield at Cleveland Winery in 2007 and we decided when I got posted back to Puckapunyal to the School of Armour that we would buy a house in Lancefield.
What do you like about where you live?
It’s a very nice little country town. Everyone’s really accommodating. It’s got everything you need locally, and the local community has been great to us. We come and go and we always seem to return to Lancefield. My wife works locally here and the kids enjoy their sport and we have got a good bunch of friends around them.
What do you like to do in your spare time in the area?
For the last two years, I’ve coached under-15s cricket at the Lancefield Cricket Club, and I’ve also coached under-15 football at the Junior Lancefield Football Netball Club. I’m a very active parent, and so is my wife. So the kids are playing or training, and we’re always down there anyway so we decided to get involved. I played a little bit of footy and cricket in my life, so that was an easy transition for me and my wife’s also involved in the cricket club committee as well.
What do you do for work and what do you enjoy about your job?
My current role is the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps. So I manage trade, and I’m the senior advisor to the Head of Corps. That’s my current role, previous roles I’ve been Regimental Sergeant Major of Armoured Units. I joined straight out of year 12. I didn’t really have an idea of what I wanted to do with my life out of school. I just decided to join the army for four years, and here I am 30 years later, still in. It’s very similar to Lancefield, as it’s a great community to be part of. The friendships I’ve made have been life changing and the experiences that we’ve had are second to none. It’s given me great grounding in my life and given me great opportunities as well.
How did it feel to receive the Medal of the Order of Australia?
It was a big surprise. I have always strived to be the best soldier that I can be, both through the example that I set and the way that I lead. I obviously didn’t join seeking recognition, but I am incredibly proud and so is my family to be acknowledged in this way.
What was the reaction from friends, family and colleagues on the recognition?
The family was shocked and incredibly proud. They’ve seen first-hand how hard I’ve worked and the countless sacrifices they have made to support the career that I love. This recognition is as much theirs as it is mine. And obviously a lot of congratulations from my friends and colleagues and the chain of command as well.
