Shoalhaven veteran Selena Clancy reflected on what ANZAC Day meant to her

"For me, it's definitely not a celebration, it's a reflection, and it's also about making sure I remember in a way that makes us grow forward," Ms Clancy said.

"And I talk to younger generations and civilians who may not understand what Anzac Day is, It's not just a day of two up and drinking.

"For a lot of the guys that come back, it's a really good decompression day, I feel as though I can decompress and be free to have a cry if I want, be free to go through the pain I went through and think about the things that happened.

"I can have a drink, see my friends and wear my medals proudly."

Ms Clancy was in the medical corp, she was a graduate of the Royal Military College in Duntroon and spent most of her career working with ill and wounded soldiers, and assisting with family welfare.

She had postings to Lavarack Barracks in Townsville, the Sydney Military Hospital, The 1st Health Support Battalion, the The 2nd Commando Regiment special forces, worked as a mortuary affairs officer in Timor and with the United Nations in South Sudan.

"So I was the senior female in the special forces commander regiment and I was in executive working as the personnel office," Ms Clancy said.

"My portfolio encompassed wounded soldiers from the Blackhawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan all the way through to battle casualties that were being repatriated and many people who were ill, there could be people who had cancer and others with injuries, it all came under my welfare portfolio, including work with the families.

During her deployment to South Sudan she worked along side humanitarian groups and was stationed as an unarmed military observer, with a United Nations beret and Australian military uniform on.

"One of my roles was going on missions in a UN aircraft doing flight safety assurance, the day before we would send United Nations members or medical assistance, myself and a team with an interpreter would fly into that area and negotiate with the warlords or belligerents to ensure they would sign a piece of paper and give reassurance they wouldn't shoot down the helicopter the next day," she said.

"We would literally be flying in and we'd have RPG's pointed at us, my job was to liaise with the military that was there to get assurance that they wouldn't harm us and the UN could come and provide support to the community.

Awarded for a gold commendation for her work, she implemented human rights agendas that the mission commander set out to achieve.

She worked with women protection groups, set up gender advisory groups, ensured young girls were attending to school, volunteered with malnourished babies and ensured the right people were receiving the right support and supplies.

Now back on home soil, she said the first few years out of the service felt freeing, but felt a need to give back to her community, now she spends time as a wildlife rescue volunteer and Disaster Relief Australia.

"That keeps me quite engaged but not enough, it's really important when you leave that there's a solid plan in place to stay connected," Ms Clancy said.