For Lieutenant Commander Andrea Argirides, there is nothing in life that comes without effort. In her vocabulary, there is no such term as ‘I can’t’- it’s all about giving it a go and giving 110 per cent of your best.
With the numerous university degrees that she holds, and 15 months spent in war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, you can only agree that she knows what she is talking about.
The story of Andrea Argirides, the only child of a Greek Cypriot family, starts in Cyprus. It took her determined parents four years in the tumultuous – for their island – decade of 1970 to secure their visa for Australia.
It was for the better life of the family, and for the better education of their six-year-old daughter, as Lieutenant Commander Argirides recognises today.
From a young age, Andrea liked the order, the beautiful and unusual objects that today adorn her perfectly tidied home library.
It was her father’s affection for collecting that was passed on to her – a daughter raised like a boy, she says with a laugh.
“I like things that have a history. It’s not only about buying it – it has to have a history. The material came from somewhere, someone made it, it had a purpose. For me it holds a history and information about civilisation and ancient civilisation.”
In her late 20s, Andrea spent seven years as an army medic before leaving to pursue civilian qualifications, furthering her skills in psychology and working in the health program evaluation and occupational health and safety area.
“I decided to give the military a go; I wanted to do something different. To be honest – I was always a bit of a tomboy, my father brought me up more as a boy than a girl. I loved the challenge of physical and mental training that the military gave you. For me I think it was a personal achievement.
“I believe things like this are innate, internal; it comes down to personality. My father was much of a military man himself in terms of how he lived his life, how he fought for his country. Always organised, measured, a survivor.
“He taught me to be a strong person, to fight for what I believe in.”
Having held her last civilian job in 2000 with the Victorian Work Cover Authority, and undeterred even by her fear of water, Andrea joined the Australian Navy as a Staff Officer at the age of 39.
“I was keen to come back to the Australian Defence Force. I always enjoyed the discipline and the challenge of it – opportunities you would not get in civilian life.
“I felt I was in a position to give a lot more back. I was more experienced with more skills. It was very challenging –
I hated water, I couldn’t swim, I was sea sick. But for me it was a personal challenge, to overcome difficulties in life rather than saying ‘oh, we have a problem’, but not dealing with it.”
It is not hard to recognise that LCDR Andrea Argirides never puts her head in the sand. She deals with the problem if there is one. And she deals with it with military precision.
Now already 12 years into her career with the Royal Australian Navy, Lieutenant Commander Andrea Argirides is living proof that gender, age or ethnicity is no obstacle to a successful career in the Australian Defence Force.
It all comes down to your mental approach, she says.
“I was prepared to put in 110 per cent. You give it your all always in life, and you always see the glass half full, never half empty.
“It was a good opportunity to learn a lot of skills, to be strong, to work in a team. And now in my later military career more than ever – that’s important. I served in Iraq for seven months, in Afghanistan nearly eight months. It’s all about team work and survival, people depend on you to be able to help them out in certain situations.”
You join the military knowing that you could be sent anywhere, Andrea explains. You sign up and you volunteer to deploy and to serve overseas.
“I applied. It’s an excellent opportunity to do the real thing, to put things that you trained for into practice in a real situation.
“Of course you are worried – there are threats, people die; but you can’t let fear overcome you, you accept what’s ahead. Otherwise, it affects your mental capacity to be able to work properly and to think logically.”
The evolving tragedy of humanitarian dimensions that Andrea and her colleagues witnessed in war zones is also a cultural one, that strips its people of their cultural and historical heritage, of their identity.
Passionate about preserving these treasures, LCDR Andrea Argirides is now a PhD candidate at the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, Centre for Classics and Archaeology at the University of Melbourne.
“I was embedded with Americans in Iraq, I was in charge of a particular cell looking after tribes and religions. We looked at information that could assist General Petraeus to make decisions in terms of military operations in Iraq.”
Being shot at, with rocket attacks echoing while you are trying to do your job properly, and without knowing where they are going to land – it was faith in
Andrea’s case that helped her persevere and maintain her inner strength.
“I had to remain positive, give myself the inner strength. You are always on high alert. Your senses are heightened. When I returned to Australia, it took me three months to return to ‘normality’.
“You come back a changed person, for good, and with less tolerance for small talk.”
After her deployment in Iraq 2007/08, embedded with the 18th Airborne Corp, Multi National Corp Iraq, US Central Command, it took Andrea five years to go back to the war zone – this time of Afghanistan, in February 2013.
“I was keen to go back, there was a lot to do in Afghanistan, a lot to contribute. It was an amazing experience. It was tough, it was a different war.
“The idea is always to make the significant contribution – to make a better life, to improve security, and we’ve done a lot in last 10-12 years we’ve been there.”
From the moment LCDR Argirides volunteered to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, she was faced with a whole new set of challenges. Her work was commended by coalition commanders and she received her campaign medals in the presence of Australian and US personnel.
In the breaks – if any – between bombs and attacks, she was concentrating on her PhD.
Specialising in historical archaeology of the Ancient Near East and a PhD looking at the protection of cultural and archaeological sites in conflict zones, she gave a number of presentations to Australian troops on awareness of Afghan culture and history. That includes the message that it’s not OK to buy looted
antiquities – a topic Andrea is deeply passionate about.
“Our Commander knew my academics, that I was historian and archaeologist, and he thought it was important for the soldiers for the Australian Defence Force to be briefed about it.
I gave a number of lectures – about Afghan history, culture, archaeology, and treasures in Afghanistan – like the ancient Bactria province that Alexander the Great travelled through.
“It was important to say to soldiers that if you see an ancient artefact it could be 3000-4000 years old. You don’t just buy that and bring it home.
“That’s Afghan history and that stays in Afghanistan. It’s different buying an antique item, and then buying something that has a historical significance for the country. It’s about protecting the culture, understanding the people, because that’s how you win the war. And showing that you respect the culture – you are not there to destroy the people, but to provide a safe environment for them,” Andrea says passionately.
Despite her many career successes, LCDR Argirides says none of her achievements have come easily or are out of the reach of anyone who is prepared to rise to the challenge. She believes perseverance, determination and passion are the keys to success in most areas of life.
“A career in the military is fantastic, especially for young people. It teaches you a lot – discipline, organisation, skills – that you wouldn’t get otherwise.
“You never stop learning, till the day you die.”
From her position as both a researcher and a military officer, LCDR Andrea Argirides is uniquely placed to discuss the importance of protecting archaeological and cultural heritage in war torn nations such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and the key issues the archaeological community and Coalition Forces face in protecting it.
As part of the GOCMV Greek History and Culture Seminars, Lieutenant Commander Andrea Argirides will give the lecture ‘Protecting Greek Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Sites in Conflict Zones: The case for Iraq and Afghanistan’.
With a wealth of cultural landscapes in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a complex array of indigenous societies – including the Greeks – that have passed through these amazing lands from antiquity to contemporary times, Andrea’s lecture at the GOCMV will focus on two Hellenistic sites in Iraq – Seleucia and Opis, and Aï Khanum and Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The lecture will be held on Thursday 14 August at 7.00 pm, at the Ithacan Philanthropic Society Building, Level 2, 329 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. For more information, visit www.greekcommunity.com.au or contact (03) 9662 2722