Ex Starlight Avenger

10 March 2009

Medical staff from the Army’s Regular force as well as Army Reserve forces converged on Linton Camp to conduct a week’s intensive medical training recently.

Exercise Starlight Avenger enabled medical staff from around New Zealand to work together to ensure that should the need arrive they are familiar with the equipment and aware of the constraints of working in a deployed environment.

To make the training as realistic as possible the dentists worked independently from a tent at the rear of the dental surgery, seeing a number patients and easing the backlog of patients who required dental treatment.

Day two of the exercise saw a dramatic change in the weather that had water flowing through tents adding an unplanned element to the exercise and to the camp as a whole.

"This week everyone has had to contend with heat and rain that tended to ignore tents and dripped down or ran under them," says Maj Paul Kendall. "Aside from the rain and heat the exercise has been very successful and everyone has enjoyed themselves."

The exercise provided an opportunity for St John to present the Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps with a Vote of Thanks.

The award is to recognise exceptional support from organisations or individuals who have aided in furthering the objectives of St John. Nominations approved by the National Honours Committee are submitted to Chapter before ultimate sanction by The Queen as Sovereign Head of the Order of St John.

The award was made by Mrs Betty Simpson and the St John Central Region CEO Phil Rankin and was accepted by the out going Director General of Defence Health Services Brigadier Anne Campbell.