General examines Army’s role

Press, 8 December 1976, Page 2

General examines Army’s role

The purpose of the Army today was to be ready to do whatever the Government of the day required of it, said the Chief of the General Staff (Major-General R. D. P. Hassett) in Christchurch yesterday. Although the Army today might seem to be looking for a role and a purpose, General Hassett said, this was almost a traditional attitude. Sometimes the role was clear, sometimes not. “The Army, any army I suppose, always goes through peaks and troughs wondering what its purpose is,” he said. “In spite of the service feeling a little bit sorry for itself right now, it

is fundamentally in good heart.” General Hassett said that today’s Army was highly professional and although under the new open-ended engagement policy there was a loss of manpower, the problem was not of significant proportions. The Army did not need any more men. At 5000 men and women, it could not really be considered as a great drain on New Zealand. Of its overseas training base in Singapore, General Hassett said the news media had been a little hard on the Army. “We are there not for recruiting purposes but for a very good military and political purpose,” he said.

Because of the Army’s high standing in the area—and New Zealand had more soldiers there than airmen or sailors—the “political mileage” New Zealand had got from having a force there for 20 years was out of all proportion to her size in terms of international relations. General Hassett said. When there was no political or military reason for New Zealand to be in Singapore, the force should be brought back home, he said. The decision to remain in Singapore a little longer had been welcomed, while politically it had given the Minister of Defence (Mr McCready) more time to have barracks built at Linton Mili-

tary Camp and to arrange for alternative overseas service opportunities. Of the Territorial Force, General Hassett said its purpose was to provide the Army with a broad base as well as to give Regular soldiers better command experience and training if the force had to be expanded in a hurry. He ruled out the idea of an all-Regular Force Army as being inordinately expensive in terms of cost and manpower, and as possibly isolating the Force from the community. General Hassett is making his first official visit to Army units in Christchurch after six years of being in appointments which have kept

him away from the day-to-day business of the Army. He has been travelling throughout New Zealand talking to the troops—telling them what the Army is about and where it is going. To these ends, General Hassett has a number of ideas for improving morale which he did not wish to discuss yesterday. One, for example, aimed at restoring the national character of the New Zealand soldier, is to restore the wearing of the distinctive “lemon-squeezer” hat on ceremonial occasions. But this head-dress was not intended for other than ceremonial purposes, General Hassett said.