Simone Wilkie

Simone Wilkie
Brigadier Wilkie in Afghanistan, August 2012
Born	1964 Ballarat, Victoria
Allegiance	Australia
Service/branch	Australian Army
Years of service	1983 – present
Rank	Major General
Commands held	Australian Defence College Army Recruit Training Centre Corps of Staff Cadets, Royal Military College, Duntroon 136 Signal Squadron
Battles/wars	Cambodia Iraq War War in Afghanistan
Awards	Officer of the Order of Australia Commendation for Distinguished Service Bronze Star (United States)

Major General Simone Louise Wilkie, AO (née Burt, born 1964) is an Australian Army officer who was the Australian Deputy National Commander in the War in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012. She was Assistant Chief of Staff to General David Petraeus during the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, and was the first female Commanding Officer of the Royal Military College, Duntroon and Commandant at the Army Recruit Training Centre at Kapooka. In March 2013 the Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, announced her promotion to major general to take over as Commander of the Australian Defence College in July 2013.

Simone Louise Burt, was educated at Ballarat Grammar School. She joined the Australian Army in 1983, and attended the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) Officer Cadet School in Georges Heights, New South Wales. There were 32 women in her class. Opportunities for women in the Army were more restricted then, and on graduation she was commissioned and assigned to the Royal Australian Corps of Signals. She later recalled:

I didn’t actually pick signals. That’s what I was allocated. It wasn’t even one of my preferences. But in hindsight it was the best place for me to go and that’s where you know the captain who was my guidance officer said, “You know Simone, I think you should go here”. And I’ve had lots of fantastic opportunities. Would I go there now? Possibly not, because I’m not a particularly technically orientated person. And now that there is other things open like Engineers I would have been interested in that… knowing that also has a technical bent to it!