AN Albury High School student turned Navy member has been among the hundreds of sailors and soldiers helping Fiji recover from the deadly cyclone Winston.
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Leading Seaman Katie Clohesy spent a month in the island nation after joining fellow service personnel on HMAS Canberra which left Brisbane in response to the disaster which struck in February.
A defence force photographer captured the appreciation of Fijians for the Australians' efforts with a snap of a woman hugging Leading Seaman Clohesy.
The image ran on the cover of a supplement printed in the Navy News outlining how the republic was helped through Operation Fiji Assist.
"That was on International Women's Day, a bunch of us went over there (from HMAS Canberra) to give out aid packages to the women and children," Leading Seaman Clohesy said.
"The people, even though they had lost everything, were very happy and beautiful and welcoming.
"One of the women said a whole family of 15 were hiding under one table when the cyclone hit.
"It was weird because in Australia if you hear something like that you think 'oh no', but they were so happy that people were coming and didn't have anything negative to say, they were just straight into fixing things."
Leading Seaman Clohesy was based around the islands of Taveuni and Koro which were ravaged by the cyclone which killed 44 people.
Her speciality is communications with her role centring on assisting with links between a command post on HMAS Canberra and on-shore helpers.
The Sydney-based sailor had little preparation for what was her first recovery mission with the Navy.
"We had 12 hours notice to go, I left work at 8 o'clock that night and was on a flight at 5am the next morning from Sydney to Brisbane to meet the Canberra," Leading Seaman Clohesy said.
Having joined the Navy at 17, Leading Seaman Clohesy served on ships until her first shore posting at Garden Island in Sydney Harbour in January.
Her work has involved patrolling waters for asylum seeker boats and a counter terrorism operation in the Middle East.
"I like the travel, I've travelled half the world and I get paid to do it," Leading Seaman Clohesy said.