25 Years of Army Officer Training in New Zealand

Last Friday I was invited to be the Reviewing Officer at the Territorial Force Commissioning Course Graduation Parade in Waiouru. It is always a pleasure to congratulate those who have reached such milestones. It was also an opportunity to recognise and congratulate the Army on 25 years of training Officers – the Corps of Officer Cadets and Officer Cadet School (OCS) of New Zealand was established in 1985. Historically a significant number of officers were trained abroad and the establishment of OCS at Waiouru Army Camp reversed this trend.

The officers I met and congratulated on Friday have achieved much. From around 1000 applicants, 115 officer cadets from every corps, regiment, ethnicity, province, age and walk of life came together at the start January, just seven weeks ago. 29 graduated on Friday as Officers of the Territorial Force of the New Zealand Army. For a further 80 the parade marked the end of their initial officer training and many will progress to more advanced study this year which will culminate in graduation at the end of 2010.

My speech to the parade can be found at http://www.roy.org.nz/speechs/territorial-force-commissioning-course-and...

The ethnic diversity of our military personnel continues to grow. On parade on Friday were Kiwis with ethnic backgrounds from NZ European, Maori, the Cook Islands, Chile, China, Germany, India, Korea, the Netherlands, Samoa, and the US. These officers proudly stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Cadets from Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga. Some will return after graduation to their own Defence Forces. Many more will take up newfound responsibilities in defence in their adopted homeland, New Zealand.