Warrant Officer Class One J.C. Barclay
WO1 John Barclay is the first Warrant Officer of the New Zealand Defence Force.
WO1John Barclay was born in Hawera, South Taranaki, in 1958. He was raised on a dairy farm and he was educated at Patea District High School. His Army career began in November 1977 when he enlisted into the Territorial Force. On completing his basic training in December that year he immediately enlisted into the Regular Force and was posted to Queen Alexandra’s Waikato/Wellington East Coast Squadron at Waiouru.
Since his time as a crewman at Waiouru, WO1 Barclay has held many regimental and instructional positions within the Army. He has served as an armoured vehicle crew commander, a tank troop sergeant and a squadron sergeant major in the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps. From 1996 to 1998 WO1 Barclay was the Regimental Sergeant Major of Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles.
WO1 Barclay has served on a number of overseas postings, including two operational postings to peace support missions. In December 1994 he was posted as an Instructor to the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Australia. He served three months during 1998 in Bougainville as a Monitoring Team Warrant Officer. In 2001 he was posted for seven months to serve as the Regimental Sergeant Major, Sector West, in East Timor. During this time WO1 Barclay was working to an Australian Brigadier and alongside troops from New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, Singapore, Fiji and Pakistan.
Between postings to Bougainville and East Timor, WO1 Barclay was Regimental Sergeant Major at the Officer Cadet School at Waiouru from January 1999 to December 2000. He was an adviser to the Commandant, staff members and cadets and responsible for ceremonial and discipline.
In April 2001, WO1 Barclay was posted as Formation Sergeant Major of the 2nd Land Force Group in Linton, the Army’s largest operational formation. He served in that position until February 2002 when he was appointed as Sergeant Major of the Army, a position he held until his appointment as the first Warrant Officer of the Defence Force on 1 May 2006.
WO1 Barclay has been the recipient of a number of Army medals and awards. He holds the New Zealand East Timor Medal and the UN East Timor Medal, the New Zealand General Service Medal (Bougainville) and the New Zealand Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. He was also awarded a Meritorious Service Medal in 2001, a prestigious award limited to 45 serving holders across the three armed services. WO1 Barclay’s citation states he was a consistently high achiever who demonstrated the very highest standards expected of a non-commissioned officer and his dedication to the service is exemplary. In addition, it cites him as being unselfish and tirelessly volunteering his personal time to the maintenance of the morale and well being of his soldiers and their families.
WO1 Barclay graduated with a Bachelor of Administrative Leadership from the University of New England in March 2001. He is married to Liz, who is an officer in the Army, and he has a son and a daughter. WO1 Barclay played rugby within Waiouru for about 14 years, mainly for the armoured team. These days he is an avid sports spectator and has a number of wider interests.