A Long Tradition of Service

10 February 2009

By John Archer

Zane Burdett , 52, is completing his Territorial Force (TF) training so that, in his words, “I’ll never have to ask myself, ‘What if?’”

Zane and 94 other Territorial Force recruits started their RIT 2 (Recruit Initial Training) fieldcraft course at Waiouru in November.

Some TF soldiers can only fit in one training module a year, during their annual holidays, but the boss of the underground rafting company where Zane is a guide has given him three months’ leave to complete all the training.

“Army service has been a tradition in my family,” said Zane. “My grandfather fought in WW1 and my son is in Kapyong Battery. My father served in Malaya: he was attacked by a tiger one night when he was asleep in a hammock made out of his parachute. Fortunately all the parachute cords got tangled up and stopped the tiger from carrying him away.”

Army service is also a strong tradition in the family of 18-year-old Alex Ahuriri from Hawkes Bay. His father and uncle were both Territorials in 7 WnHB Battalion, and both his grandfathers were Regular Force soldiers. He said he had enjoyed every part of the training and found the skills he was learning very valuable. He hopes to be deployed to Solomon Islands.

Although it was evening and they had been training all day, our interview had to end because One Platoon was preparing for a night exercise. Information had been received that insurgents were meeting just before midnight near a “village hall” (the Waiouru Play centre) and were to be apprehended. I went along after dark and waited nearby under a tree.

For over an hour nothing moved; no soldiers could be seen, no voices heard. Then three young men appeared from different directions and met at the Play centre car park. Suddenly figures arose from everywhere. The insurgents were caught, carefully interviewed and searched, and the insurgents, with evidence obtained from them carefully documented, were handed over to the military police.

Several women took part in the exercise. One, Rachael Kirk, 31, is from Christchurch. Her dad had been in 2 Cant NMWC Battalion and she had followed his example. She was also looking forward to being deployed to Solomon Islands. Her civilian job is hand-binding valuable books.