Details of Kiwi special operations in the mountains of Afghanistan were revealed yesterday by Defence Minister Phil Goff. 40-65 SAS operators spent a total
of two years deployed in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2005, where they specialised in long-range patrols of more than 20 days. That sort of patrol has been a NZ SAS specialty since the first time the unit saw action in 1950s Malaya, and they went on to perform with skill and endurance in Borneo, Vietnam and East Timor. Their predecessors, the Long Range Desert Group in North Africa, and the Forest Rangers in NZ guerrilla wars of the 1860s, also specialised in long patrols. So the SAS can draw from a long and distinguished heritage of New Zealand special forces.
The bravery and skill of New Zealand soldiers was recognised by a US Navy Presidential Unit Citation in December 2004. For the first time, wording from the citation has been released:
“For extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy in Afghanistan Task Force K-Bar successfully executed its primary mission to conduct special operations in support of the United States efforts to destroy, degrade and neutralise the Taleban and al Qaeda leadership and military.
“These precedent setting and extremely high risk missions included search and rescue, special reconnaissance, sensitive site exploitation, direct action missions, destruction of multiple cave and tunnel complexes, identification and destruction of several known al Qaeda training camps, explosions of thousands of pounds of enemy ordnance.
“They established benchmark standards of professionalism, tenacity, courage, tactical brilliance and operational excellence while demonstrating superb esprit de corps and maintaining the highest measures of combat readiness.”
Members of the SAS risked their lives in impossibly demanding situations, and several of them were wounded in battles that never made headlines. Secrecy is an integral part of their work, but I’m glad that some details of their actions have been made public – recognition of their efforts is long overdue.
I’m glad that you mentioned the LRDG. Not a lot of NZers know that New Zealanders were the first and most prominent members of the group. Good skills in vehicle mechanics and navigation. As you say, the LRDG’s role was very similar to that of the NZSAS today.
Left by The strategist on March 2nd, 2007