DSD for BRIG Shapland

ISSUE 513 JUNE 2020

PEOPLE

DSD for BRIG 02

Shapland

CA’s writing 03 competition

Welcoming our 05 new SMA Emergency 16 responders in lockdown Helping out during Level 4

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TRAINING

Train Safe 06

Steel Talon

Nemesis

Venom

07

10

12

Journey to the Red Diamond

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CAPABILITY

New Polaris arrive 09

Cover: An officer cadet during Exercise Nemesis. Photo: LAC Rachel Pugh

NZArmy

NZDefenceForce

The Army News is published for the Regular and Territorial Force and civilian staff of the New Zealand Army.

Editor: Judith Martin Ph: 021 240 8578 E: armynews@nzdf.mil.nz

www.army.mil.nz

Printing: Bluestar, Petone. Design: Vanessa Edridge, DPA, NZDF Editorial contributions and letters are welcomed. They may be sent directly to Army News and do not need to be forwarded through normal command channels. Submit them to The Editor, Army News, DPA, HQ NZDF, Private Bag 39997, Wellington, or by email. Deadline instructions: Army News is published on the third Tuesday of each month, except January. Please have all contributions to the editor by the first of the month. Nothing in the Army News should be taken as overriding any New Zealand Defence Force regulation. Readers should refer to the relevant service publication before acting on any information given in this newspaper. ISSN 1170-4411 All material is copyright, and permission to reproduce must be sought from the editor.

‘Re-Org!’

As we return to work it’s a good time to pause, think and check that all team-mates are with us.

I want to join the Chief of Army and many others who will be recognising your outstanding work over the pandemic response. The period of shut-down was felt in all areas of Army. Some worked through, others supported Op PROTECT, importantly our C2, emergency and key training elements remained on duty. It’s fitting to acknowledge the many enablers such as our NZDF civilian staff, civil contractors, communities and Defence vendors who kept us secure and supplied when they could have stayed home. Every family shared in the disruption – so thanks for your efforts no matter how big or small.

Now that we’ve lived through Covid, we must now operate with

Brigadier Mike Shapland received a Distinguished Service Decoration in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his 35 years of service to the New Zealand Defence Force.

Brigadier Shapland has served in a variety of appointments in New Zealand and overseas during his lengthy career, notably in South Sudan from May 2018 to May 2019.

He was the Force Chief of Staff to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), responsible for the planning, conduct and oversight of peacekeeping operations for more than 14,000 military staff from more than 60 countries.

His citation said in the role he demonstrated interpersonal and political expertise, military strategy and leadership in support of the mission, which became instrumental in protecting the people of South Sudan. This involved dealing with human rights violations and other atrocities in one of the most dangerous and demanding peacekeeping missions in the world.

“He instigated a number of key initiatives within the UNMISS Force to improve operational efficiency of the military component,” the citation said. “He also championed the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security by supporting greater roles for women in command, staff and force roles.

“Brigadier Shapland’s contributions were recognised by both the Force Commander and Deputy Force Commander of UNMISS as exceeding reasonable expectations. He sets an inspiring example of selfless service for New Zealanders. its effects. In a sense it’s time to ‘reorganise’ using that period between action and inactivity to pause and reassess what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. Like closing off an attack, commanders and 2IC’s need to rally the troops, check our human ammo, fuel and ‘comms’ states, and assess motivation and health states to ensure we can pivot to the next objectives. The Land Component has done a fantastic job of resetting the force. This has been done to ensure our capabilities, annual training and your career milestones continue – but it’s no ordinary year and we should acknowledge that. You will need to adopt the new schedules and be adaptive when called upon to reconfigure, gap activities or reinforce other formations. Most importantly, having reorganised teams and ourselves we’ll need to be cautious about pace. Working

BRIG Shapland “His latest United Nations deployment represents the culmination of his loyal and dedicated service over the last 35 years, and has enhanced the reputation of the New Zealand Defence Force and of New Zealanders in the United Nations organisation and internationally.”

Brigadier Shapland said he was honoured to receive the decoration.

“I am very proud to get this recognition,” he said. “It also reflects on the sacrifices my family has had to make while I have been away on deployment.”

Brigadier Shapland, who grew up in Christchurch, joined the Army almost by accident in 1984, having started to study law at Canterbury University. However, a chat after a rugby game with then Captain Ants Howie, an Army recruiting officer, convinced him of the opportunities available in the military.

And he hasn’t been disappointed.

“The experiences, challenges and opportunities that I have had smart and doing what’s needed is the right thing here.

Visiting Camps with CA this week brought about questions regarding my objectives as SMA. When interviewing for the role in 2019 I encouraged two aspects: warrior development and sustained force wellbeing. To achieve this I’ve set four drivers that keep SMA’s appointment focused and networked along the right lines of Army effort. The first of four ‘P’s is Profession, doing what we must to achieve the roles of an Army (Competence). P2 is Passion, empowering what we must do – with a desire or love of doing it better (Mastery). P3 is People, helping create a balance of energy and choice within Army whānau (Tapa Whā). And the last P4 – Preference; setting conditions that support a soldier’s or an officer’s choice to select Army as a career and commit to throughout my military career have been amazing,” he said.

“I am still excited about getting out of bed every morning and going to the office. The difference from a military perspective is that that office could be anywhere in the world.”

He found the South Sudan posting long and testing, but extremely rewarding because of professionalism (Learn & Educate). I look forward to talking about each of these in more depth next month. Til then – get after it!

WO1 Wiremu Moffitt

DEFENCE FORCE OFFICER RECEIVES DISTINGUISHED SERVICE DECORATION

Waiting to board a UN helicopter in South Sudan.

16 th Sergeant Major of the Army the opportunities to contribute and make a difference in that country.

“The deployment hinged significantly on relationships and being able to work across the multi-national military, police, and civilian sectors assisted greatly,” he said.