Photos New Zealand Defence Force Photos

[gafkiwi]

I have heard about NZ military conducting visual tracking course, similar to what Aussies conduct in Tully and Brits on Brunei. Anyone has been through or at least knows some general info? Thanks on advance...

NZ Army has what is known as the Unit Visual Trackers course within the Infantry Bn's with the Instructors course run by the SAS. As above it has a similar format as the UK and Australian courses. It was one of the few if only cases of others copying our training manuals, rather than us copying or just adopting theirs. The UK tracking manual used to have track and incident reports with NZ/Maori (native NZ) names and places. NZ Infantry Bn's have ISD (Infantry Support Dogs) patrols within in their Reconnaissance Platoon that can form combat tracking teams with the VT's in the Recon patrols or wider Bn.

 

[BravoZulu]

HMNZS Te Kaha at CFB Esquimalt in Victoria, B.C. Sept 2020

 

[gafkiwi]

I forgot our only 2 frigates are both currently in Canada for refits/modernization

 

[BravoZulu]

I forgot our only 2 frigates are both currently in Canada for refits/modernization

Navy originally wished hard for 3 ships to replace the old frigates to allow 1 always in commission but ended up with 2, meaning that sometimes there are no ships in commission due to refits/dockings. And unfortunately the refits are not going to help them fit in too well operationally/capability wise. She will have Link 16 to mesh operationally but doesn't add any offensive ability that I can see. Could have got much more for over $500mil

 

[gafkiwi]

HMNZS Te Kaha at CFB Esquimalt in Victoria, B.C. Sept 2020

Navy originally wished hard for 3 ships to replace the old frigates to allow 1 always in commission but ended up with 2, meaning that sometimes there are no ships in commission due to refits/dockings. And unfortunately the refits are not going to help them fit in too well operationally/capability wise. She will have Link 16 to mesh operationally but doesn't add any offensive ability that I can see. Could have got much more for over $500mil

Yup, the rule of 3 should always apply at a minimum. At some point they will have to stop sticking band aides on them and look at what they need to replace them with.

 

[BravoZulu]

Reservists from 5/7 Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment at Waiouru anti armour range

Reservists from 5/7 Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment completing annual weapons qualifications.

 

[tomthounaojam]

 

[ao_sepia]

Reservists from 5/7 Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment at Waiouru anti armour range

nz use real m-72 now?

 

[Conhoon]

Looking at the photos of New Zealand soldiers - how is the introduction of new uniforms and individual weapons (LMT) going?

 

[BravoZulu]

nz use real m-72 now?

The blue band indicates these are "inert" training tubes

 

[Royal]

The SI on my course had done the Kiwi course and was very complementary on how they went about it. I don't think they did anything different to us, but had been better at maintaining the skill set.

Things may have changed but in my day the Kiwi course was regraded as the gold standard - even by UKSF - ours was very much the silver medal level...

 

[ao_sepia]

View attachment 254822

maori haka dance,tradition of polynesian dance

 

[nobitadaidamvn]

Navy originally wished hard for 3 ships to replace the old frigates to allow 1 always in commission but ended up with 2, meaning that sometimes there are no ships in commission due to refits/dockings. And unfortunately the refits are not going to help them fit in too well operationally/capability wise. She will have Link 16 to mesh operationally but doesn't add any offensive ability that I can see. Could have got much more for over $500mil

wow that is one hell expensive minor upgrade + why didn't new Zealand send the frigate to Australia for upgrade ?

 

[Conhoon]

Soldiers from Fire Support Group (FSG) 2nd/1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment have been in Tekapo on Exercise Kleidi Pass, familiarising themselves with the new M107A1 Anti-Materiel Rifle (AMR).

 

[gafkiwi]

The blue band indicates these are "inert" training tubes

Those ones look to be sub caliber versions that fire a 21mm training projectile ballistically matched to the M-72 A6 HEAT round. The original M-72 body has the 21mm barrel sleeved into it that allows it to be reloaded with the sub cal round using the same mechanism to fire it.

 

[Flagg]

Things may have changed but in my day the Kiwi course was regraded as the gold standard - even by UKSF - ours was very much the silver medal level...

The story I heard from a few Unit greybeard trackers a while back is that a fella visiting from 22 pretty much published the NZSAS tracking course materials available on Amazon. ?

I don’t have the course qual, but a good mate was course manager and I got to audit it. And I had the chance to spend a lot of 1 on 1 time in the bush with tracking SMEs.

Track Pursuit Drill is super useful and should be taught to all.

Tracker training reminds me of pistol training. Going much beyond the fundamentals(like Track Pursuit Drill) to become world class can be very time consuming and with high perishability of skill.

Patrolling in the bush can be really mentally draining, tracking even more so.

 

[Flagg]

Those ones look to be sub caliber versions that fire a 21mm training projectile ballistically matched to the M-72 A6 HEAT round. The original M-72 body has the 21mm barrel sleeved into it that allows it to be reloaded with the sub cal round using the same mechanism to fire it.

One of my favourite days was shooting soon to expire sub-cal non stop for hours.

The assembly line starting slowing down though, they can get all gunked up pretty quickly!

But that was a lot of fun.

 

[gafkiwi]

The story I heard from a few Unit greybeard trackers a while back is that a fella visiting from 22 pretty much published the NZSAS tracking course materials available on Amazon. ?

I don’t have the course qual, but a good mate was course manager and I got to audit it. And I had the chance to spend a lot of 1 on 1 time in the bush with tracking SMEs.

Track Pursuit Drill is super useful and should be taught to all.

Tracker training reminds me of pistol training. Going much beyond the fundamentals(like Track Pursuit Drill) to become world class can be very time consuming and with high perishability of skill.

Patrolling in the bush can be really mentally draining, tracking even more so.

I never did the trackers cse since I had already picked up a support specialty. By default in Timor I ended up in a tracking team since each recce Patrol did a month long stint in the role as part of the IRF/QRF for both my tours. Every Patrol had a mix of Unit or Adv tracker qual'd guys who provided the on the job training for the rest who weren't, hard but rewarding work. Every day you would either be out practicing or deploying on live tracks as well as reviewing the age stands. Like you mention, very perishable skill, within a week or two of getting home my eyes had reverted and tuned out. I wish we had the dogs that Recce have now, that was the only thing missing from the teams at the time.
I find it funny even our Army managed to effectively copy and re name a lot of the recce or basic infantry drills or TTP's to make them sound new or special. I had an MP SSGT try to tell me about TSE (Tactical Site Exploitation) till I pointed out it was a new name on an old drill and the process was little different to battlefield clearance drills or the incident drill carried out by trackers and proven since Malaya.

 

[gafkiwi]

One of my favourite days was shooting soon to expire sub-cal non stop for hours.

The assembly line starting slowing down though, they can get all gunked up pretty quickly!

But that was a lot of fun.

Yup BTDT, first rule of sub cals is hot soapy water and lots of it.

 

[Flagg]

I never did the trackers cse since I had already picked up a support specialty. By default in Timor I ended up in a tracking team since each recce Patrol did a month long stint in the role as part of the IRF/QRF for both my tours. Every Patrol had a mix of Unit or Adv tracker qual'd guys who provided the on the job training for the rest who weren't, hard but rewarding work. Every day you would either be out practicing or deploying on live tracks as well as reviewing the age stands. Like you mention, very perishable skill, within a week or two of getting home my eyes had reverted and tuned out. I wish we had the dogs that Recce have now, that was the only thing missing from the teams at the time.
I find it funny even our Army managed to effectively copy and re name a lot of the recce or basic infantry drills or TTP's to make them sound new or special. I had an MP SSGT try to tell me about TSE (Tactical Site Exploitation) till I pointed out it was a new name on an old drill and the process was little different to battlefield clearance drills or the incident drill carried out by trackers and proven since Malaya.

We had one super elaborate tracking stand that included TSE, this was a decade ago right about the time TSE/SSE became buzzwords from the industrial scale night raids going on elsewhere. So it was interesting to learn how far back those kinds of drills went, just adapted to different environments(urban).

I learned just enough to be dangerous to myself and other friendlies around me. It's definitely one of the most mentally exhausting things I've ever done in training.

Did you ever meet Scott Donelan when he came down to visit? I saw a photo of him with a few of the guys back in the DPM days.