While multisport endurance athletes competed in the Coast to Coast today – crossing the South Island from one side to the other in a 140km cycle, 36km run and 67km kayak race - I opted for a slightly less arduous activity, joining the 4 Otago Southland Army Reserve Unit on the last day of their Annual Field Exercise.

The Army Reserve units conduct their Annual Field Exercise for 7-10 days in February. This year the North Island units have combined in Waiouru and the South Island units joined to exercise in forest near Riverton in Southland. The start of the exercise involved weapon handling skills and firing activities and finished with a 4 day ‘in field’ phase with sections patrolling through the forest area and culminating in today’s contact with the enemy and VIP extraction. I was happy to oblige and be the VIP.

I always enjoy visiting our troops in the field. It is a great opportunity to see their skills in action and to talk to them about their training and plans for their future military activities. More and more of those I meet have been on deployment and this is reflected in the level of training I see.