As a college student Lance Corporal Craig Terry was always takings things apart and putting them back together again, "just to see how they worked."

Now, he gets to indulge his passion for electronics daily - he's an electronics technician in the New Zealand Army.

Lance Corporal Terry, 23 and in the Army for four years, says when he was at school, he considered either joining the Army, or studying electronics at university as a civilian.

He chose to join the Army and study electronics.

"I decided I could join the Army, receive my training here, and then I would be equipped with a civilian qualification I could use later in my life, should I choose to leave (the Army). And, I don't have to take out a student loan!"

He is studying for a National Diploma in Engineering, which also includes some telecommunication papers. He is completing most of his block course training at Wellington Institute of Technology (WELTEC), but also learns on the job where he is based at 3 Workshop Company in Burnham Camp.

Lance Corporal Terry admits there is a lot of study and hard work involved in the course he has chosen.

"I get homework pretty much every night, but that's all right. It would probably be much the same at university. I'll be coming out of it with a qualification. As you progress through the study, it all starts to fall into place, and everything meshes together. The classes at WELTEC are small - about 10 students to one teacher - so help is always available.We can also ask other people in the Army who have done the course if we need a hand with something."

He has just completed the first of two courses which will enable him to work on the Army's new light armoured vehicles. When he is at Burnham Camp, much of his time is spent maintaining or repairing electronic equipment from the Army's various units. While he is training to work on a variety of equipment, he most enjoys working on optics.

He hasn't deployed overseas yet, but expects to when he is qualified to Band Five towards the end of this year.

"I'm looking forward to that. The Army is kind of like being at school in that you always have your mates around, but you're working and training at the same time."