31 October 2006
by LTCOL Dan Gawn for Army News
Our vision is “to be a world-class Army that has mana”.
The idea of mana sits comfortably with us and the ethos/culture of Ngati Tumatuenga. But over recent months world class has caused debate in some circles. The debate centres not on whether we should aspire to be world class, but rather who and what determines whether we are world class or not.
Who do we measure ourselves against, and in what environment? Are comparisons with US 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan, or the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) in Iraq appropriate benchmarks for our Army, as some would contend? For a very few contingencies perhaps the answer is yes, but we are not a division or even a MEF. Our Army is small. It is tiny. It is an incomprehensible 4,000 times smaller than the standing army of China, 60 times smaller than Indonesia, six times smaller than Australia and in terms of combat land forces only about one-fifth that of the US 10th Mountain Division. So, in terms of measures, what is realistic and relevant, and how can we determine whether we are or can aspire to be world class?
Part of the key to answering these questions is defining where it is that we must be world class, because we are too small to be at the top of the game across the global spectrum of war fighting. What this means is that if we train and focus on the jungles of South East Asia but are measured against an Army fighting in the deserts of Iraq, we will be found wanting.
Where we must be ready, where we must be prepared, where we must be world class and a world leader, right now, every day when we roll out the front gate, is for operations in our patch: the South-West Pacific, and our neighbourhood South-East Asia. Our government has less discretion in contributing forces to contingencies in these regions. And if we consider degrees of notice for recent deployments to the Solomon Islands (19 hours), or to East Timor (48 hours), it is evident that there will be little or no time for rehearsals. And, sadly, we can look forward to more of the same: future demographic, environmental, and political pressures will exacerbate tensions in a region already impoverished of opportunity.
This focus does not “dumb us down” to peace-keeping forces and policing operations. We have been fortunate enough to have comparative peace in our region but readiness for combined joint combat operations is as relevant here as it is for the war zones of the Middle East or other parts of the world. Our benchmark in East Timor was not NZ Batt 2 through to NZ Batt 6; rather, it was our ability to undertake the initial INTERFET (International Force East Timor) operations and our readiness to conduct combined, joint combat operations within this environment if the local situation in East Timor had so demanded.
The South-West Pacific/South-East Asia environment is particularly demanding. It is a conglomeration of complex physical and human terrain. It is littoral, mountainous and tropical. It has some of the highest population growth rates and densities in the world. Rich in cultural, tribal and religious complexities, it also has issues with health, the environment, crime, and terrorism. To be world class in this region places the highest demands on the New Zealand Defence Force. In some areas we are already there: our reputation in the use of soft power at the lowest tactical level is well known: cultural and social intelligence, empathy, our fit within a coalition.
At the individual and small team level we measure up against any army, and we are already world class at peace support and policing-type operations in our region and further afield. The balance of our recent experience and the current needs of our region dictate the weighting in this area, but the volatility and complexity of our region demands that we must also be able to step up to combined, joint combat operations at short notice. We have some work to do in this area before we can claim the mantle of a world-class army, particularly as we come to grips with the new capabilities coming into service over the next 10 years, but let the focus and the measure be on our patch in the first instance.