kirsten funston

Invictus Australia Sports Festival 2026 
 
ADF Service:   
I joined the Army Reserve in November 1991 as a 17-year-old , and by October 1992 I was in the Regular Army as a RAEME B1 Storeman. Prior to that, in 1989, I was an Army Cadet at 52 RCU. Throughout my years of service and promotions, I spent the majority of my time in resource management and stocktaking. I deployed on Op Slipper in 2012 and spent my deployment in Tarin Kot, Afghanistan.   
 
Throughout my career, we had four different accounting software changes where, in typical defence fashion, none of the programs could talk to each other to be directly transferred and needed manual transactions of all equipment, with 100% stocktakes both before and after transactions. When the Medical Battalions were restructured, I was tasked with managing the equipment accounting and movements from 1 HSB to 1 CHB and 2 GHB. In 2016, during my second posting to 1 CHB, I assisted with the MILIS district restructure for the absorption of L1FD. 
    
In 2015, I took 12 months' long service leave and worked full-time for Rolls-Royce, supplying advice and guidance to the Navy within the LHDSPO.   
 
My final posting was by far my most rewarding when I was posted to SASR in 2018 and assumed the role of SQMS in 1 SQN. The reason it was the most rewarding was the international engagements and the ability to do my whole job description from beginning to end, which is rare when deployed, as most contracts are already in place.  
 
Other information:   
Now, after service, I spend most of my time at medical appointments and volunteering with Serpentine-Jarrahdale Emergency Support Brigade, SWORD SES (State Wide Operational Response Division, Logistics), and as a Justice of the Peace in Western Australia.  
 
My close family are my son, Joshua, his wife Jessica, and my granddaughter Grace aswell as my daughter, Emily, and her husband, Elliot.   
 
I have an amazing assistance dog, Koa, from Defence Community Dogs, who manages to keep me somewhat sane… and two cats, Diesel and Spirit.  
 
Age: 52  
 
Hometown: Mundijong, Western Australia  
 
Current Town: Whitby, Western Australia  
 
What is the Nature of your injury or illness?   
I have a range of musculoskeletal injuries related to service, and mental health injuries related to both childhood and service.  
 
What role has sport played in your rehabilitation?  
Growing up, I was actively involved in equestrian riding and competition, as well as Little Athletics.   
 As an adult, I competed in triathlons and played representative soccer, premier cricket, and AFL. I also umpired premier cricket in New South Wales and Western Australia and held three contracts with Cricket Australia for Underage National Championships.
 
In my later years, I played AFL Masters for WA at four National Championships and in 2021, we won the title of premiers. I now play Wheelchair AFL for Peel Thunder in Western Australia. At National Championships, I played for the RSL Active team. In the Army, I competed in triathlons, played both soccer and cricket for the Army and ADF teams and was an umpire in ADF Cricket.  I also coached both my kids in soccer and coached my daughter's cricket team in NSW.  
  
Sport continues to have a profound impact on my physical, mental and social wellbeing. It has allowed me to interact with others, lose weight, get fitter, and forget everything in my head and just be in the moment when I am playing sports. Even if I am having a bad moment, as soon as I am on the court or field playing, I no longer have to hide, and I am able to refocus on the game at hand. 
 
How have you stayed connected to sport? 
I continue to play wheelchair AFL.

How did it feel being told you will compete for Team Australia?  
Happy and proud to have the opportunity to represent Australia again. 
 
What will 'winning' look like for you at the Invictus Australia Sports Festival 2026? 
Walking out with my teammates.