Whilst Rick originally enlisted in the Australian Army as a soldier in 1988, he was selected for officer training in 1992. He graduated to the Australian Intelligence Corps and commenced a period of regimental service with Royal Australian Engineers. From here he was appointed a Detachment Commander with 1st Reconnaissance Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition Regiment and then as a Brigade Intelligence Officer.
In 1999, Rick was posted as Intelligence Officer, 6th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (6 RAR). He saw operational service with the Battalion as part of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor.
From 2001 until 2002, Rick served as an instructor with the RMC formation and developed an ongoing passion for training and education. He was then posted on promotion to the Army Aviation Training Centre as a Training Development Officer and Corps transferred to the Australian Army Aviation Corps.
He has since served as the Executive Officer for the ARH Tiger School, SO1 Capability Development AAvnTC, CO Aviation Support Group, Commanding Officer AASPO, and as an Inquiry Officer with the Directorate of Army Administrative Inquiries (DAAI) at AHQ.
In 2019, he was appointed a Research Officer whilst studying full time at the Queensland University of Technology, completing a PhD with a focus on quality of life enhancements for veterans with trauma based mental health injuries. In 2022, Rick attended Duke University in North Carolina as a visiting scholar to their Arts and Health in the Military symposium. Rick completed his PhD in 2024 and now runs the Dance for Veterans’ program at Queensland Ballet and works for the Mental Health and Wellbeing Branch of the ADF as a Health and Wellbeing research manager.
Outside of his regular duties, Rick was also selected in 2007 as a participant to the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program and was assigned as a Defence Member to the Australian Senate. Rick was also Vice-President of Cricket ADF between 2015 and 2021. In October 2021, Rick was appointed the inaugural Vice-President of the ADF Creative Arts Association.
