Bravery of NZ special forces in Afghanistan commemorated in new book

Thursday, 9 April 2026

Blenheim author Ron Crosby’s latest book Keep Calm - We Are Coming aims to commemorate the selfless sacrifices of New Zealand’s secretive Special Air Service (NZSAS) and the work they do, often far from home.

The book, released this month, detailed NZSAS operations in Afghanistan over a 12-year period, focusing on several high-risk engagements, such as Operation Kōkako, in which special forces soldiers evacuated hundreds of New Zealanders from Kabul Airport as the Taliban stormed back to power in 2021.

The book was a fast-paced, illustrated account based on extensive interviews and research, with the action and experiences told largely in the soldiers’ own words.

Crosby said he decided to write the book for “a host of reasons”, but mainly his appreciation of the work the regiment did, to help encourage recruitment, and to honour those who had served.

“I’ve been involved with the NZSAS Trust for quite some time to capture memories of the regiment’s personnel who had served in Afghanistan, and I was aware from that process that they’d been involved in a number of operations where large numbers of civilians were saved,” he said.

“I wrote up three of those response operations to what were called ‘Spectacular Terrorist Attacks’ and while I was aware of those details, the public generally weren’t.

“So I thought, in terms of the social licence that an organisation like the regiment needs, people needed to have some appreciation of what they’re capable of and what they’ve endured when serving the nation.”

Crosby said he had learned a lot about the people and the dynamics of the NZSAS while researching the book and hoped to pass this knowledge onto the readers.

“They’re an outstanding bunch of individuals – they have to be, to get through the selection and the year-long training process that they undergo, and then maintain those levels of capability,” he said.

“The readers will certainly learn about the courage that’s required to undertake responses to terrorist attacks, but they’ll also learn about the capability of these people and their adaptability, to be able to operate in very small units facing direct threats from terrorist attacks and, in terms of Operation Kōkako, just the colossal challenge of trying to identify and recover people who held New Zealand documents from a seething mass of tens of thousands of people.

“That required a whole range of different skills of innovation and adaptability, to be able to achieve that without firing a shot.”

Crosby, a former lawyer who had written several other books on military history, said he had a long-held interest in the genre.

“Like a lot of blokes of my generation, we did a lot of hunting when we were young, and we were also brought up doing compulsory military cadets at school, and I’ve always been a keen student of history, any history, but particularly military history and New Zealand’s military history.”

Crosby said he believed people’s ongoing fascination with military history stemmed from the fact that many came from generations who hadn’t been called on to serve in armed conflicts.

“There’s a level of admiration of what people endure — have to endure — when serving your country,” he said.

A hometown book launch was held at Blenheim’s Kaiaka cafe on Wednesday, with guest speaker John Boswell, the Marlborough District Council chief executive and former Chief of Army.

Three quarters of Crosby’s royalties from Keep Calm - We Are Coming would go to the NZSAS Trust.