Army trial in tropics

Press, 12 November 1977, Page 6

Army trial in tropics

From MARC BENSEMANN, in Fiji

Five young women have spent the last week in the > Fiiian jungle helping to prove | the New Zealand Army’s first attempt at training regular officers without recourse to a spell in Australia. They are among nine (officer cadets about to graduate from the first commissioning course from New Zealand. Prospective Army officers have traditionally undergone a six - month course in New Zealand before attending either of the two Australian military colleges: Duntroon or Portsea. Run by the existing officer- i cadet training unit, the new ; year-long course is based on that at Portsea, but has been modified to suit New Zea- ; land conditions. Participation of female cadets preceded the abolition : of the Women’s Royal Army ( Corps this year, and the subsequent assimilation of 1 female soldiers into the regular Army. Now the nine cadet girls are working in the Fijian ( jungle as the final field exercise of the year’s train- i mg. • . . 1 Each woman is expected , to perform as well as her male counterpart in the 1 tropical conditions and is i iudged on the same basis. ’

After three days to get used to the intense humid heat on the isolated highlands of Viti-Levu, the cadets have begun to exercise in earnest. Augmented by regular soldiers from 2/1 infantry regiment, based at Burnham Military Camp,, near Christchurch, they form virtually a platoon. The 10-day exercise being conducted under rigorous field conditions, as if a New Zealand battalion had been called in by an Island nation to counter'“subversive” elements infiltrating from a neighbouring island. The O.C.T.U. platoon’s task is to oppose these elements by preventing the “enemy” from making contact with local villagers and from establishing arms caches. Patrols are made daily through the dense jungle surrounding the remote ridge on which the platoon is based. According to the officer commanding the exercise (Captain C. J. Pugsley), the nine cadets are a crosssection of about 30 prospective officers selected annually, and were not specially chosen for the new course. The rest of this year’s officers

intake is being trained in Australia. Although the number in- ( volved in the O.C.T.U. course is expected to rise to about • 30 a year, New Zealand r cadets will still attend i Duntroon and Portsea. Women appear to enjoy ' competing on the same basis as male cadets, Captain ; Pugsley believes. ; “We expect them to reach ' the same standards in every i skill, from tactics to field ; training. They share the ■ same facilities and the same accommodation — the first time this has been done in the Army.” While he feels it is too early to predict what part women officers will play in . the future of the New Zealand Army, Captain Pugsley says that the new course’s very existence illustrates the dramatic change in defence policy. Women cadets will graduate as second lieutenants alongside the men, and will be eligible to command troops of both sexes. Five cadets have dropped out during the year’s training. Nevertheless women are still expected to comprise about one-third of next year’s intake.