![Wagga naval officer Chris Hagedoorn with wife Rachel and daughter Keely who is also in the navy. Picture contributed Wagga naval officer Chris Hagedoorn with wife Rachel and daughter Keely who is also in the navy. Picture contributed](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/172474527/60969242-7caa-4b48-8b1b-7814fbde8772.jpeg/r0_647_1536_1639_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Imagine serving in the army, navy and the airforce? Well one Wagga naval officer has just about done that and more.
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Royal Australian Navy warrant officer Chris Hagedoorn began his mixed and varied career in Wagga as an army cadet and has since served across Australia and beyond.
During that time, he has seen a wide variety of experience including exhuming bodies from the Korean War in the demilitarised zone in South Korea.
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He also recently marked 30 years since his peacemaking deployment to Somalia while under the command of David Hurley, now Australia's governor general.
Growing up near an army base in southeast Queensland, Mr Hagedoorn chose to pursue a career in the defence forces after completing school.
"I always remember seeing soldiers when I was a kid and I decided that's what I wanted to do when I left school," he said.
Mr Hagedoorn first came to Wagga when he joined the army in 1991.
"I did my core training through recruit school [at Kapooka]," he said.
In 1993, he went on his first operational deployment to Somalia under the command of lieutenant colonel Hurley.
"Our unit was activated as a First Royal Australian Battalion group, a support element for the Infantry Battalion that went to Somalia," he said.
"At the time there was a huge famine in the country and the government and democracy had broken down to a point where the country was in anarchy.
"Militia groups, warlords and gangs had taken over control of the country, so they were dictating and forcing military rule on people.
"It was basically classed as genociode, and as a result the United States stepped in under the guise of the United Nations."
Arriving in the capital Mogadishu on HMAS Tobruk, they were immediately confronted with violence.
![Chris Hagedoorn pictured during his deployment to South Korea's demilitarised zone in 2019. Picture contributed Chris Hagedoorn pictured during his deployment to South Korea's demilitarised zone in 2019. Picture contributed](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/172474527/bc54f6b5-017f-4635-9077-3dcf82f30002.jpg/r0_37_1280_796_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We could hear small arms fire, see tracer rounds at night and hear explosions and rockets going off," he said.
Mr Hagedoorn recounted horrific scenes as they travelled the ensuing 300 kilometre journey to their area of operations in Biadoa.
"We saw dead bodies and animals along the way," he said.
"We were there to stop the warlords, prevent the gang-related violence and genocide going on the towns and villages."
Mr Hagedoorn said the meaning of Biadoa is "city of death" and that that was a true reflection of his experience on deployment.
"It was quite confronting when we arrived. While we were all soldiers, you can't really prepare yourselves for all the sights and smells you come across in a situation like that," he said.
"All of society had broken down there. The buildings were like Swiss cheese, there was no sanitation or running water.
"Everything was in turmoil. The whole place was like a write-off."
During the deployment which lasted several months, the soldiers helped to restore some sense of normalcy to Biadoa.
"We very much took a heart and mind approach to the locals there," Mr Hagedoorn said.
"Even though we found ourselves in gun fights around the town, by the time we left, the people were more visible, the markets were up and running again and we had established a quasi-police force again.
"So things were improving and returning to what they would class as some sort of normalcy."
After his time in the army, Mr Hagedoorn opted for a change, moving to Western Australia where he served in the police force for some years.
"I wasn't really sure what else was out there, so I thought a different uniform would be as good as the one I had and I thought a change was as good as a holiday," he said.
After some years he decided it was time to return to the defence forces and joined the navy.
"In 2000, I completed my naval aviation training in Wagga," he said.
Fast forward to 2019 and Mr Hagedoorn was posted on a six-month deployment to the demilitarised zone in South Korea.
While there, he worked with a Korean unit exhuming remains and removing mines from a 1952 battlefield.
"It was considerably dangerous, but also very rewarding because while I was there we managed to return two bodies to their families.
"Their families had been told they were missing in action but we actually found them and returned them to their relatives."
Mr Hagedoorn said memories of meeting with those families will probably stick with him for the rest of his life.
"One gentleman well into his 90s was the brother of one of the people we found and he was ecstatic," he said.
"Seeing the happiness on that old man's face when we brought his brother's remains back to him would have to be the highlight of anything I've ever done."
In early 2023, Mr Hagedoorn was again posted to Wagga, where he currently serves as a warrant officer at RAAF Base Wagga.
"All those years ago, little did I know that I would be posted back to the region," he said.
He also recently celebrated 30 years since his posting to Somalia and said the now governor general also took part.
"About 430 soldiers had a reunion in Canberra, hosted by the governor general," he said.
Mr Hagedoorn said the governor general marched with them in the Anzac Day commemorations in Canberra.
"He then had to leave the front of the parade and go up to take the salute from all the people marching past," he said.
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