DEFENCE Home from Iraq: A job well done With the last Taji deployment returning home to Covid quarantine, Defence Minister Hon Ron Mark pays tribute to the role of NZDF personnel in maintaining an international reputation of which New Zealand can be proud. While we were all living in Level 4 lockdown to protect our people and our way of life from Covid-19 in recent weeks, the last rotation of New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel deployed on our joint training mission with Australia to the Taji Military Complex in Iraq returned home, to serve their time in quarantine and finally be reunited with their families. In Iraq they were also on a mission to protect our people and our communities and our way of life, in this case from the violent extremist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has committed horrific atrocities and human rights abuses in the Middle East.
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As on so many Defence Force missions, unlike the support provided at times of domestic and Pacific disasters, this one has taken place far from home and for the most part well out of the public eye – to some extent necessarily so, for the protection of our service people and their families. It is important to acknowledge what the NZDF has achieved over the five years and 10 rotations - and to remember why we do what we do on such overseas missions, often under difficult and uncertain conditions. Nowhere are those conditions more complex and challenging than in the Middle East – and in the 21st century there is no more important theatre for Defence. Events there affect the
safety and security of New Zealanders both here and abroad as well as our economic prosperity. Side by side with our partners, New Zealand has worked hard for many years to help create and maintain stability in the Middle East by peacekeeping and by joining the fight against piracy, terrorism and transnational crime. I saw this first as a young Army officer in 1982, when I was deployed to the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in Sinai Peninsula. My service there opened my eyes to the bigger picture. I saw the value of our commitment and contribution to the rules-based order at first hand - how we deliver “above and beyond” and
Line of Defence
