On the front line - Kiwi soldiers test their mettle before heading offshore

Saturday, 20 June 2026

The explosion tears through the barrier in flash of light that means obliteration for anything around it.

In this case though, nothing is nearby — the barrier is a few metres of hessian sacking, designed to represent an obstacle amid the stark landscape of Waiouru Military Training Area.

Soldiers are carrying out biggest exercise of the year so far, in the lead up to an international exercise set for next year.

This comes amid the Government’s $1.58 billion up-tick in defence force spending, a move the Chief Of Army said was a turn around on “decades of underinvestment” in the military.

At a windy spot in the army training area — a description that could probably apply anywhere in the sprawling 63,000 ha zone — hundreds of soldiers are involved in Exercise Crete.

Many are out of sight when the explosion occurs, spread out across the area in various positions.

Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Caleb Berry said it was a combat team level exercise. The goal was to reach an enemy-held target, overcoming all the obstacles put in their way.

“We have observer trainers in with all of the different elements evaluating them against certain criteria in order to provide them feedback on their performance and how they can get better in the future.”

“This is the first exercise for us at this level this year, so there is definitely a lot of learning to go on.”

All up, about 500 people were involved in the two-week exercise, and there were about 300 people in the field at any given time.

When the Waikato Times attended on Wednesday, they were carrying out an attack on a makeshift airfield out in the desert training area, overcoming an enemy anti-armour position with snipers and artillery.

The mood among the soldiers was good as the action unfolded, Berry said — it was what a lot of them joined to do.

“I enjoy being in the field more than I do in camp, personally.”

The biggest challenges of the exercise was bringing a new team together, getting vehicles stuck in the mud, operating at night and the notoriously cold Waiouru weather.

“When we join the army, we get taught how to live in the elements, and, generally it’s pretty good. Every so often, yeah, people have challenges with the cold and the wet, but we have our medical process to support people and deal with that as required.”

Showing were the action occurred on a map after the explosion, using a knife as a pointer, Berry said the commander had been forced to make decisions on the fly with a last-minute curve-ball.

“I gave him a situation change and essentially said that the enemy has put a minefield out here, which blocked his approach and then forced him to then come around here and assault onto this end of the airfield.”

“I told him that information at about 11:30, so he had about 10 minutes to change his plan, give radio orders, and, pivot from doing a right flanking assault to a left flanking assault.”

The purpose of the exercise, led by 1 st Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, was to test decision making, as well as the integration of the different groups, including infantry, armoured vehicles, artillery and engineers.

It was a lead up to a bigger exercise next month, as well as to the biennial Exercise Talisman Sabre next winter.

“Talisman Sabre is a multinational joint exercise based out of Australia where we work alongside Australia, our ally, and also our other defence partners like America and Japan and numerous others,” Berry said.

Chief Of Army Major General Rose King was also at Waiouru, and said the exercise was a fundamental part of what the army did.

“The whole intent for us as a defence force…is to be able to deliver operational outputs for our government. Without being able to exercise, we can't deliver those outputs.”

Last month, the Government set out a boost to New Zealand Defence Force funding in Budget 2026.

The armed forces are set for more than $3b in funding for things such as fleet upgrades, cost increases for operations and pay rises for defence force staff.

Defence Minister Chris Penk said the Government planned to raise defence spending to 2 percent of GDP within eight years.

King said it was “fantastic” to have the the Government address what she described as decades of under-investment in the military.

“We very much welcome the funding that's been allocated to us in this Budget round.”

There were all sorts of equipment the army would like to spend the money on, although the army procurement process was to say what effect they needed, rather than the item they wanted — for example a key focus area was “lethality in regard to strike capability“.