"On Operational Service Around The World"

Photo: NZDF PRT JRT

The entrance to the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) compound at Bamian Afghanistan, the home for the 79 strong NZDF team deployed to this rural province.

Operation Enduring Freedom

In a moving ceremony at Christchurch Airport on 25 August 2003, the Prime Minister Helen Clark, Chief of Defence Force, Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson, the Commander Joint Forces New Zealand, Major General Martyn Dunne, and other defence personnel joined with the families of the 79-strong main party to farewell the contingent.

Most of those deployed will be in theatre for four months, with some staying six months. PRT Commander Colonel Neville Reilly outlined the de- ployment and explained the PRT was a provincial "stabilisation" team rather than a reconstruction team as its name suggests. It would work alongside non-government organisations such as the Red Cross "to see what needs to be done", he said.

Photo: Major Paul Dragicevich		NZDF Photograph
Captain Helen Murphy, a New Zealand Officer working at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, uses a more traditional transport as she moves around the local area. It is understood that the locals were impressed with her riding abilities.		Watched by a New Zealand soldier, an Australian engineer cuts through a surrendered weapon in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Weapons handed in by militia groups ranged from WWII relics to M16's and home-made pistols and rifles.

Operation "Rata" Assistance to the Solomon Islands

NZDF Photograph		NZDF Photograph
Getting to know the locals. A member of No.3 Squadron RNZAF communicates with a bevy of locals at the Honiara Airport.		All four Iroquois deployed to the Solomons, about to take off from Honiara Airport on Guadacanal.