New Zealand Army

Because anything that causes these types of conversations to be had is a good thing, the types of conversations where more and more people are willing to say there's actually a difference between ethnicity and worldview, that speaking out about issues within Islam have nothing to do with race and everything to do with r- worldview or religion.

When I was in the New Zealand Army, I did basic training alongside a young guy who claimed to be a Muslim, and he was a great guy, but I also knew more about the Quran than he did.

And so as with many religions, people can just be nominal.

They can just claim a title and not actually live in allegiance to that belief system.

Shout out to, uh, Kiwi.

Steve Ross is a Kiwi who began his military career with the New Zealand Army Territorial Force, the Kiwi equivalent of the Army Reserve, in September 1989.

Steve worked his way through the ranks to acting sergeant before receiving his commission as an officer.

He later transferred into the regular force and ultimately rose to the rank of captain within the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment.

[laughs]

What an, what an incredible fucking way to, uh, to grow up for a young fella.

What, um, what first attracted you to, to the New Zealand Army Territorial Force?

Um, the army was a, sort of came across as a bit of a second choice, really.

...

I mean, m- the Army life was already finished and, and, and, and I, and we, we were living in, uh, myself and Richard, who's my husband now, so we, we were living in London at the time.

And when I was over there, I, I mean, I had amazing experiences over there and amazing opportunities over there.

But, um, I...

It was, um, they, they were lectures that I loved going to.

They were assignments that I loved doing, and I did well in that, so.

And so what was the next step from there then, Mena? Because what there, there is, um, you moved into the New Zealand Army.

Was that before your roles in governance or...?

What? To clear.

I caught the wrong train and the New Zealand army came on and they'd come out of Kosovo and they realised I'd caught the wrong train.

The posts were wrong all the way and then they missed their train stops.

So we got off the train at Glenfield.

Then we got on another train.

We had to sit in the blue lights.

um because there's usually fights and then they got me to liverpool and they said that you have to ring someone your family in new zealand and tell them that we're taking it to the new zealand army banks because as a citizen we are required to look after you so they snuck me in louise

dare i say it not a terrible thing to uh to end up in the company of a bunch of men in uniform Potentially.

But unfortunately for him, the Canadians learnt of his identity and he had to move again and he made his way back home to New Zealand where he signed up again to the armed forces under another name.

So he enlisted in the New Zealand Army in London, but he was discharged shortly afterwards, as they found out that he enlisted under a false name in March 1917.

On the 9th of June 1917 in the Melbourne Argus, broken officer, clever man goes wrong.

The strange vicissitudes of an ex-officer who professed his intention to make good were related at Westminster on the 22nd of March, in the hearing of the charge against Roger Henry Moag Levy, 25, of wearing an officer's uniform and decorations without authority captain shand of the new zealand forces assistant provost marshal said the prisoner had had a remarkable career he was a man of great capacity his military work being of particularly high order Originally, he joined the army as a private in Australia, but very soon he obtained a commission as a lieutenant and saw service in Egypt.

Let's head to the pyramid, eh?

Harris, you were, you were in the Territorial Army, weren't you, back home in New Zealand?

No, I was not, Dan.

The Territorial Army-

[laughs]

... is part-time soldiers.

places?Yes.

Oh.

Um, and helping them to take the front seat and be the voice for, with the team and the team and for the team.

And then on top of that, like for instance, this year we had a really awesome group from the NZ Army come in and run a leadership camp.

And that helped not just leaders lead, but also individuals lead themselves.

And it's been really noticeable that this year and being able to refer back to some of the learnings from that leadership camp, how this has helped this particular team to deal with adversity and pressure and and those tough moments that are always in front of you and hey we had a couple of losses this year but you know how how did they go from those losses to turning those around and putting them into better performances next time around well a lot of that come from those leadership camps as well

Were you traveling internationally at that point?

I did get offered a position to work in the New Zealand Army base in Singapore.

And so I did three years in Singapore with the New Zealand Army and was fortunate enough also while there to be doing exchange with the British military to spend six weeks, I think it was, in Hong Kong.

Most people just dreamed of... what we used to call the OE, the overseas experience.

And with that, you'd think maybe you'll get to one country or two.

And now there's tens of thousands across New Zealand and Australia that are pretty hardcore.

Like, I can call my men together quicker than the New Zealand Army can.

I don't know if we've got one.

I know we haven't got a Navy, so I'm thinking about having a Navy.