8 March 2007
Landguards Bluff near Wanganui will resemble downtown Honiara on Sunday as New Zealand soldiers conduct their final training exercise before deploying to the Solomon Islands later this month.
The exercise, known as Solomon Step, concludes a five week pre-deployment training course the contingent of 43 has undertaken before their deployment to the Pacific nation.
Contingent commander Major Tausia Tarsau said the platoon group was looking forward to putting their training into practice.
“We have been training hard for a long time now and it will be great to see how it all comes together. The Kiwi soldiers serving in the Solomon Islands at the moment have been doing a great job and we want to build on that work.”
Landguards Bluff was an ideal place to hold the exercise because its geography includes rivers and ocean coastline resembling areas of the Solomon Islands.
Major Tarsau’s contingent includes 32 Territorial Force soldiers from the Auckland and Tauranga areas.
They will replace the 10 Regular Force and 34 Territorial Force soldiers from the Canterbury and Otago regions currently serving in the Solomon Islands.
The troops will begin two weeks leave following Exercise Solomon Step to spend time with friends and family before the four month deployment.
Their role in the Solomon Islands includes providing a security presence through patrolling and assisting with external security at Rove prison near Honiara.
ENDS
Media are invited to attend the Solomon Step exercise at Landguards Bluff from 11am - 1pm on Sunday, 11 March.
Media wishing to attend are required to register with James Heffield on (04) 529 148 or 021 569 148 before 1pm on Friday 9 March.
Currently 607 New Zealand Defence Force personnel are deployed on 19 operations, UN missions and defence exercises around the world.