When Lieutenant Colonel Darryl Tong flew into Afghanistan in a darkened Hercules alongside 50 fully armed Canadian soldiers, he had to remind himself: “Darryl, this is not an exercise … we are not going to Tekapo.”
LTCOL Tong, a member of the New Zealand Defence Force Reserve Force for eight years, has an exceptional set of civilian skills which the NZDF requested he use to help victims of bomb blasts in the combat zones around Kandahar.
LTCOL Tong didn’t have to be asked twice. “I saw this as a chance to give back to society, and to New Zealand.”
He is a dentist, a doctor, and a surgeon with expertise in facial reconstruction. His highly specialised skill-set was put to use on a six-week tour with the 2nd Health Support Battalion (NZ), for which he was awarded the New Zealand Operational Service Medal and the New Zealand General Service Medal, Afghanistan.
At the ceremony where his medals were presented, Major Tong – as he was known during his service in Afghanistan — was also promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
LTCOL Tong spent seven years in Seattle training as a maxillofacial (face and jaw) surgeon. While many of his contemporaries focused on wisdom teeth and dental implants, LTCOL Tong continued to specialise in trauma and reconstructive surgery. He gained specific expertise in the treatment of ballistics injuries at Harborview Hospital, rebuilding the faces and jaws of gunshot and car crash victims and people beaten in vicious assaults. Back in New Zealand, there isn’t much call for LTCOL Tong’s ballistics experience, but he is kept busy as a senior lecturer in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Otago University’s School of Dentistry, and as a consultant at Dunedin Hospital. He is on-call every second week, responding to trauma surgery needs across the Otago region. “As long as there’s alcohol, sports and motor vehicles, there’ll always be a need for maxillofacial surgery.”
With this schedule, not to mention a bustling family life built around four children aged five to 14, LTCOL Tong’s desire to serve in Afghanistan required the support of his wife Catherine, and colleagues who covered for him.
LTCOL Tong performed his first operation at the NATO hospital in Kandahar within 36 hours of landing. During long days operating on coalition soldiers, Afghan soldiers, police and civilians, he often had to reduce the time normally spent on a procedure, even if it meant the patient would require a second operation, as there were always other specialists needing the operating theatre, and other patients requiring life-saving treatment.
For six weeks, LTCOL Tong was the only maxillofacial surgeon assigned to care for casualties of war in all of southern Afghanistan. He treated countless people hurt by the roadside bombs, blast injuries and gun shot wounds, but his fondest memories are of treating an 18-month-old boy who fell into a charcoal pit-fire and suffered second and third-degree burns to his face and scalp. His head looked like leather and he wasn’t expected to survive, but the little boy has since had skin grafts and been discharged.
On Anzac Day, LTCOL Tong and two other Kiwi medical specialists were invited to commemorations at the Australian base in Kandahar. The New Zealand contribution at Gallipoli was mentioned several times, as was the presence of the three Kiwi reservists representing their country at the ceremony.
As the dawn parade was dismissed, there was a brief lull, then two helicopter gunships passed overhead on their morning patrol. LTCOL Tong says he stood tall in his uniform, serving alongside Regular Force soldiers, proud that his specialised medical skills had been called upon. “I was fit to burst with pride.”
LTCOL Tong says, as a child, he was "the little Asian kid working behind the counter” at his parents’ restaurant in downtown Wellington. He worked weekends and after school, but when he had time, loved to make kitset models, a passion which he continues with today. Just like any other boy, he read Commando comics, played with toy soldiers, and, as he got older, read about the strategy and tactics of war and learned the design features of weaponry and equipment. LTCOL Tong says the Reserve Force offers civilians with an unfulfilled appeal for the military the opportunity to use their specialised skills in a challenging environment, to experience a world away from their usual lives, and to contribute on behalf of their country.
Nine medical specialists in the New Zealand Reserve Force have served in Kandahar; LTCOL Tong was the first doctor and the first surgeon. The opportunity was been a rare occasion to combine his civilian and military careers.
“All your civilian training, all your military training, comes to this one point in time,” LTCOL Tong says. “I’ve caught the bug now.”
This article was contributed to One Force by Keri Welham, a freelance journalist based in Wellington.
Reserve Service Recognised with Royal Honours
Two soldiers, Brigadier Trengrove and Major Strombom, members of the Territorial Force (TF) of the New Zealand Army, were among the recipients of Royal Honours at an investiture ceremony in Wellington in September. Brig Sean Trengrove said TF personnel deploying on operational missions face unique challenges in managing relationships with both family and employers.
“The absence of TF personnel away on a deployment can place serious strain on a workplace — so support from employers is important. The Army deploys TF soldiers on a wide variety of operations around the world,” said BRIG Trengrove.
“Sympathetic, supportive families and employers make a big difference to deployed personnel. Knowing that things on the job and the home fronts are stable and taken care of means Reserve personnel can focus on the job at hand and perform to the highest standard when they are deployed.
“The awards we’ve received recognise our work but we would never have been able to do that work without family and employers, standing behind us, said Brigadier Trengrove. Brigadier Trengrove lives in Nelson where he runs his own business. MAJ Simon Strombom, above right, lives in Titahi Bay and works for the Ministry of Health.
What’s a Reservist?
As part-time volunteers, members of the Reserve Forces are often said to have “the best of both worlds”; a normal civilian life, along with the challenges of military life.
Reservists commit a minimum of 20 days each year to training and are expected to maintain a good standard of fitness. Reservists help the NZDF meet its operational commitments at home and abroad. There are more than 2,000 Reservists, made up of New Zealanders from a range of occupations including students, trades people and medical specialists. They currently make up about 21per cent of the NZDF’s deployed personnel and have been active on peacekeeping missions to Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Lebanon and the Sinai.
Find out more about the Reserve Forces at the new website www.reserves.mil.nz.