Housing the Army a stressful job

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 567, 20 December 1994, Page 2

Housing the Army a stressful job

By

Michele

Monaghan

After eight years in Waiouru, accommodation officer Yvonne Smith is on the move to Trentham. "I've moved 150,000 people and now I don't know what to do," she laughs. Most people in Waiouru would have met Mrs Smith at one stage or another as her job involved housing the many soldiers and families posted to Waiouru. "It is a stressful job," says Mrs Smith. "It's a stressful place because the only time people come to you is in the two most stressful times,

when they're arriving or leaving, and in the middle of that is when they need something." "It' s okay if you can do it for them, which I like to think is about 95 percent of the time. People think we just don't want to do it, but it's not that, it's that we can't." Mrs Smith said that at one stage she stopped going out, because she couldn't socialise without people coming to her with their problems. She laughs that one of the boys at work was going to give her a Tshirt that said 'Do I look

like I'm bloody working?' "It's not all negative. There's a lot of really good people out there. It's really personal to them. Their own personal lives, their homes, their families. That' s really important." Mrs Smith says she is leaving behind a good team at the Housing Office. "It's just such an incredible team that work there. I think it's the stress that really binds them together. They're all army wives in there, and there's no one that knows better because they're living it and experi-

encing it." As for her memories of Waiouru, Mrs Smith said that she doubts she will fit as much in to the next eight years. She laughs about the times her own husband got one of 'those letters' about the section. She says it is a great place tobringupkids. As for the move, Mrs Smith said she is looking forward to the 'retail therapy' (otherwise known as shopping). She is also looking forward to carrying on her hobbies which include pottery, leadlighting and decoupage

(pictures on wood). Mrs Smith had some advice for people dealing with the Housing Office. "If they just remember that they are really trying to help them and that they do understand and they are on their side, because their main goal is to provide a service. And the simple word 'thankyou' goes a long way." Mrs Smith along with her two sons Joshua (15) and Eli ( 1 1 ) have moved to Trentham tojoin John who has been there since May.