you are here:
Unseen Forces: The Way of the New Zealand Warrior
11 September 2007
To be a soldier, a warrior, a comrade in the New Zealand Army means much more than wearing a uniform and performing routine tasks.
What is the real spirit of a New Zealand soldier?
We’re aware our soldiers possess many distinct Kiwi inner qualities which mark them as unique and make them the envy of many military groups around the world.
So critical are these unseen forces within every soldier that renewed attention is being given to them in a significant booklet and accompanying posters available now.
The Army’s core values are courage, commitment, comradeship and integrity and are explained in ‘The Way of the New Zealand Warrior’, written by Major Lindsay Amner.
To accompany the booklet a series of ten posters, designed by Duncan Allan and Sarah Courtney of the Defence Public Relations Unit in Wellington, will be sent to all units.
The Army attaches huge importance to values and characteristics such as adaptability and initiative. Such powerful elements are within all of us – how are they to be understood and taught to raw recruits? Often the best way to teach is through story telling. In the booklet, the examples given demonstrate actions that illustrate these particular values by telling true stories of New Zealand soldiers who showed admirable behaviour in times of crisis.
“Currently younger people have a vague idea of what the words mean but they don’t necessarily know how integrity relates to the Army way of doing things,” MAJ Amner says.
He conducted market research with recruits who were asked to comment on early drafts. He wanted to make sure that the words were right and if the recruits found it useful. Comments were nearly all positive.
Ten-thousand copies of the booklet will be printed. Every new recruit will be given their own copy to keep. During new intakes, the booklets will be used as a training resource.
TAD instructors will employ the booklets as a classroom text.
A Power Point presentation and a special website will also be available for leaders who will give lessons on the values to their soldiers.
For serving soldiers, it’s important that section and unit commanders hand out the booklets individually, and soldiers are to keep them as a personal reminder of the Army’s code of conduct.
MAJ Amner says the key is getting the individual soldiers to accept the values as real to them and part of their own personal belief system.
“It’s about making each individual measure up to what the Army expects, but it’s up to each individual to accept the values for themselves,” he says.
The booklet simply and clearly clarifies the code by which the Army lives.
Army ethos and values are the unseen foundation upon which all the blocks of Army life and activity are built.
The Way of the New Zealand Warrior attempts to formally make concepts, such as ‘ethos’ easier to understand.
Ethos is a word you don’t hear every day. It means “the distinctive character and attitudes of a community or culture.” For a soldier, it means the living, breathing spirit of being a soldier.
Ethos is the Army’s character. The Army’s ethos is to serve New Zealand loyally and honourably and by living the Army’s values, soldiers will fulfil this ethos.
Research studies on former soldiers who become heroes through sheer bravery of action show one fascinating fact, says Maj Amner.
Men and women who have done unbelievable acts all considered that their actions were nothing out of the ordinary. They did simply what had to be done at the time. Nothing more, nothing less.
Before these great acts took place, those people had lived their own style of integrity just as an everyday part of who they were. Courage, commitment, comradeship and integrity were embedded in them.
When circumstances turned dire and critical, and extraordinary action was required to get through, these people were uniquely placed to perform the incredible.
“Their behaviour showed the values in every respect,” says Maj Amner.
However, remarkable acts of courage, initiative and bravery are not only assigned to past soldiers. Some of the actions in the booklet were carried out by soldiers still serving today.
New Zealand soldiers are trained to be useful and effective - even if resources are depleted and their backs are against the wall.
‘The Way of the New Zealand Warrior’ shows that our soldiers in the past have lived by the Army’s values and shows the way for today’s soldiers to also live those values and follow the way of the New Zealand warrior.
This page was last reviewed on 14 September 2007 and is current.
