Eli Schmeider climbed into the big military vehicle, all painted in Army green, as the soldier standing nearby handed him a slouch hat. He was beaming.
Hi dad, Clint said his five-year-old son had been fascinated by the vehicles, but it was important for him to understand the work that they - and the people who operated them - did to keep his community safe.
"What these people do for the community and the country, not just in the sense of the Army soldiers, but the fire brigade and Ambulance, and rescue services, the police, they are all out there to help us and protect us," Mr Schmeider of Belmont North said.
Mr Schmeider was among countless local families at Speers Point on Saturday afternoon, where the various rescue and emergency services had joined together for an expo in the park coordinated by Lake Macquarie Police.
Local inspector Lisa Jones, who had headed up the operation that included Polair, the RFS, SES, Marine Rescue and others, said the first emergency services expo was about the community seeing and interacting with the faces of the people who help them.
"When there is an emergency, (locals) can see that it is their own community that is coming to help them," Inspector Jones said. "That can be so comforting in a time of crises."
"Quite often, we see people on the very worst day of their lives, but if it were my family member who was having the worst day of their life, I would hope that someone with a big heart and compassionate mind would be the one that is going to them. That's why I do it."
Across the park, where the NSW Poliar and RFS helicopters had landed with an army of children climbing through their cabins in awe, Steve Sowter - the deputy captain of the Wallarah RFS Brigade, was leaning on the back of one of his trucks.
Mr Sowter had spent more than 50 years in the RFS as a driver and professional capacity firefighter. He tried to retire once, but he says it didn't take, and after two years, he returned to the service.
"I lived out of the western side of the lake when I was a little bit younger, and I used to see the truck drive up the toad. One day, they came knocking on the door and said they could use members, and that started almost a lifetime's involvement."
He remembers the devastating 2013 bushfires that scorched the Blue Mountains, Port Stephens, Central Coast, Hawkesbury, and Southern Highlands, destroying more than 200 homes. He remembers exhausted firefighters in his brigade, having battled the blaze for more than 24 hours, collapsing into sleep on the fire ground.
He says the coming summer could prove a softened open for the local area, tempered by the coastal climate, but as the weather warms up, he expects his brigade to be called into action wherever they are needed most.
Luke Jenkins, a member of the Wallarah unit, recalled trekking to Queensland to fight fires, only to find one of his trucks had been called up there, too. Amid the fray, it was a welcome sight.
"Quite a few of us flew up there," he said. "It was good, being in a different state and not knowing where you were, but being in your own appliances. That was an eye-opener."
"You see people here, in the community, in a non-life threatening capacity, and then you go to the foreground, and that same camaraderie that you have here, you also have there in that totally different situation."
As the Polair helicopter readied to leave, members of various services seemed to snap into a well-practised action, guiding the onlookers back to a safe distance.
"I had gone through university and finished my degree and wondered whether this was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life," Inspector Jones said. "I spoke to Tony Tamplin, and he said, if you're not happy, then do something about it. They were the wisest words. Within a week, I was at the Academy. I have never looked back."
"If you want something out of this world that will give you a sense of satisfaction and humanity, letting you know that you have done a good job, there's no better job for it."
