All-rounder tackles career change with purpose

Looking down at his pencil case, notebook, and thick paramedicine textbook, Lincoln Trainor began questioning his latest career pivot.

More than 25 years after commencing his first degree, the former naval mariner, meteorologist and tech startup entrepreneur sat, momentarily overawed, in a lecture room at ACU’s Melbourne Campus.

His lengthy experience as a Maritime Warfare Officer in the Royal Australian Navy meant little in this context. Lincoln was a sailor out of water.

“I turned up and felt vulnerable. Jumping back into study was a real shock,” he said.

“Education has changed a lot in 25 years. It’s driven by technology; half the classes are online and it requires you to be more self-directed than ever before.

“You feel isolated, unequipped and challenged by the rigours of study.”

Lincoln need not have felt daunted.

Just as he had done on numerous occasions across various career changes, his inclination towards service ensured a wildly successful switch to academic life.

Within the first year of commencing his degree in 2023, Lincoln had reinvigorated both the Melbourne Student Veteran Society and the St Patrick’s (Melbourne Campus) Student Paramedics Society.

Next came a position on ACU’s Academic Board, and by the end of 2024 he had earned a Student Veteran Impact Award for his service to the university and wider community.

“The moments I felt most fulfilled were when I was helping others,” Lincoln said in his acceptance speech.

Exploring the world

Studying for a Bachelor of Paramedicine was a world away from Lincoln’s inspiration to follow his late dad Franklyn ‘Bo’ Trainor, who deployed on three tours of Vietnam as a Petty Officer Air Crewman and Diver in the sixties.

He joined the navy in 1996 and studied at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra where he earned a Bachelor of Science with a double major in oceanography and chemistry.

Over 18 years he sailed 40,000 nautical miles in various roles, including Maritime Warfare Officer, navigator, meteorologist and oceanographer.

He left the navy in 2014 to partner with his brother Ryan, and together they built an education company with five vocational schools.

Next came a global software platform that linked international students with education agents and universities. Their network of partnerships spread across 20 countries and connected more than 1,500 universities with 8,000 agents.

The tech crunch of 2022 forced the pair to sell 90 per cent of their shares but lessons were learned.

“That big financial reward never came for me. But life has a remarkable way of steering us back to our true path if we are willing to listen,” he said.

Finding purpose

Having realised that serving others through healthcare was his purpose, Lincoln landed at ACU.

It was another unnerving switch. Once there he stumbled across the Student Veteran Services team who helped him “power up”.

ACU’s Student Veteran Services coordinate various programs that support current and former members of the military community throughout their study journey.

The Veteran Entry Program enables current and former members of the Australian Defence Force to be granted a selection rank for entry to university based on their military training achievements.

In 2024 ACU developed and launched Five2Study, an innovative web application developed with RSL Queensland that provides interactive resources aimed at leveraging the strengths veterans bring to foster their wellbeing and success. 

Once acquainted with the suite of services available for student veterans, Lincoln had found his tribe.

“Lincoln scoped out the societies he wanted to join and where one didn’t exist, such as the Melbourne Student Veteran Society, he took the initiative to establish it,” Student Veteran Services liaison Elaine Rotor said.

“He encouraged his peers to become involved and showed them that the mateship they would grow is essential to succeeding in study and supporting a sense of wellbeing.”

Lincoln is not finished with learning. He is approaching the pointy end of his paramedicine degree and has recently been appointed as the sole student representative for Victoria to the newly formed Victorian Paramedicine Council, re-elected to ACU’s Academic Board and remains deeply involved with student veterans as a Senior Student Veteran Peer Facilitator and President of the Melbourne Student Veteran Society.

Even further study in the medical field is on the table as he considers a future career as a doctor.

If so, you’d back him to continue and thrive. 

“My belief is you never retire,” he said. “You get curious, you learn and you grow.”

Learn more about ACU’s Student Veteran Support Program.