New Zealand's involvement in Iraq starts around about 2014 when ISIS started pushing south
and started seizing towns like Ramadi, Fallujah and Tikrit and started to encroach on Baghdad.
They had swept through western Iraq and had pretty much defeated the Iraqi security forces in
the major cities to the west and driven them out. Throughout that year international condemnation of
ISIS itself gained momentum. (V/O) "I'm announcing that the government has decided
to take further steps to help the fight against ISIL (ISIS)". So ISIS were moving towards Baghdad
on two fronts coming down both the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys. So at that point in time
Iraq was in risk of failing as a state with the advance of ISIS. So as a consequence there was
a U.S. lead coalition to support Iraq through their troubled time with our contribution being
supporting training of the Iraqi forces. So in 2015 the New Zealand Defence Force partnered
with the Australian Defence Force and deployed to camp Taji just outside of Baghdad. This was
part of the U.S. lead alliance Operation Inherent Resolve at the request of the Iraqi government to
fight ISIS. This mission was somewhat different, not only we're required to train Iraqi soldiers,
but also to train the trainers and leave the training institution in a better state.
We arrived in Taji in the middle of the night because that's when our C-130 flew in there
because that's when the threat was least. So we didn't actually know what it was like when
we first arrived because when we arrived off the aircraft there was lots of yelling at us,
we got on buses and then were taken to the Taji compound itself.
Waking up the next morning I was taken aback by how austere it was. There was lots of sand,
a lot of mud because it had been raining the night before, and lots and lots of T-wall which is 4m
high reinforced concrete walls that surrounded the base and also a lot of the structures.
The environment in Taji is challenging. Taji is 50 shades of brown. Brown dust, brown concrete,
brown roads, everything. And there's only a few scattered patches of green where
grass grew around some of the air conditioning leaks where people were dedicated enough to water
their little patch of lawn, and there are a few patches of trees that people would also water to
keep alive through summer. I was fortunate while I was in camp Taji that even through
the heat of summer I had a nice air-conditioned office, but the New Zealand/ Australian trainers
and the force protection teams, their job was to go out every day in the heat of up to 50 degrees
for up to half a day to train the Iraqi army, which is a lot of respect.
We were talking to this gentleman and at several points during that conversation he was...
tapping his rifle and pointing towards the west there and (saying)
"ISIS..." and he would point and keep on pointing, and through that conversation we learnt that
he had had four brothers killed by the Islamic State during the fights in Fallujah and places
like that. So his sole focus was to come here, get the training and then head back, obviously
after the training concluded with the brigade to get back into the fight against Islamic State.
It's life or death for them. Knowing that these guys were going to head straight to Mosul
after we'd finished training with them, you really you put everything into it, you put everything
into your training, you really wanted them to succeed in their mission in Mosul. And knowing
that they could go up there and die, you don't want that to be on you for teaching them something
bad so you really wanted to cover the ins and outs of all your urban whether it be shooting,
troop movements,
casualty under fire,
so medical training (v/o) "you have to take off the armour, get the place where he's bleeding and
put the bandage on so it's secure". Just so they could survive in the battlefield
When task group Taji first went in the mission was to train soldiers directly, so it was New Zealand
and Australian army trainers directly training Iraqi soldiers so the Iraqi soldiers could have
the ability to take those skills back to the fight to defeat Daesh. This then transitioned
as the Iraqi instructors' capability and knowledge grew, so the Iraqi instructors started training
more and more of the training package we were delivering to each Iraqi army brigade.
So that was when we shifted to a 'train the trainer' model where we would slowly increase
the capability of the Iraqi army instructors at the school of infantry NCO academy. Task
group Taji 9 saw the transition from training instructors, to be able to step back to mentors,
so we went from training school to mentoring school that trained the force to defeat ISIS.
And this was accomplished when the Iraqi army school of infantry was able to deliver
100% of the brigade reset training program which was a 12-week training package to the Iraqi army.
Every deployment has risks and in Camp Taji there were considerable risks outside our perimeter.
One of the biggest risks we had was indirect fire from people firing into Camp Taji
itself. (V/O) "jesus..." The security situation in Iraq began to deteriorate in late December of
2019. So on the night of the 11th of March I knew almost straight away that that this was
different, that this was a more significant incident than we had previously experienced.
After the 17th or 18th explosion I just lost count
as I was frantically getting my kit together to get up to the operations centre,
and as I moved up, the severity of the situation was underlined to me because I could hear screams
in the distance and people calling for help and I could see the flames from some of the
buildings that were on fire so I knew straight away that personnel were going to be hurt.
Tragically some coalition personnel were killed and there were many wounded as well.
One of the key important things that people often overlook is that we actually had a pretty capable
surgical facility that was Australian and New Zealand run. If someone got hurt we had to have
the ability to stabilize our injured people and then get them out of theatre if necessary, so
having a good primary healthcare facility helped to keep the force sustained and going forward.
On deployment as a nursing officer or a medic who are always on call, we're there to provide that
emergency cover and to help out our fellow members when they go down. Yes it can be stressful but
you're there to do your job. You'd have people that you know come through and there's been an
emergency, but I think you just put a different hat on, you don't see it as a stressful thing
you're there in your role you've practiced so much, and this is where you put your skills to use
and where you have to adapt and learn from other coalitions. There's no other place that
you can do that apart from on deployment. And the magic of seeing the helo come in
and then you would take your patient out as a group, all hands on the stretcher,
pass them on to the medics on the helo and they would fly off, and you knew that because
of your team that person had an increased chance of survival. That was really special.
It was actually really sad to leave because you work so hard in this environment and you make
such meaningful connections with different people and
you kind of like leave a little bit of yourself behind when you go, and you kind of know that
you might not come back. Yeah I definitely left a different person.
I'm genuinely proud of being able to participate in going over there.
When you think like the grand scheme of things there is you know ISIS,
I have been able to have an indirect effect on them, that was really good. It was
probably one of my favourite deployments that I've been on, and knowing
putting everything I could into the training of the security forces meant that they defeat ISIS
so it's the next best step then actually being on the ground, and doing the fighting.
It was really rewarding to be able to go from somewhere where we had a really hands-on approach
to essentially standing back and watching them deliver training to going to a full
mentoring role where we were playing essentially a school mentoring team, and could pull right back,
and it was the ability of the school to deliver the entire training program themselves without
any assistance from the coalition trainers, it was the real defining moment of the mission success.
The thing I'm most proud of is the fact that the New Zealanders that went there they all gave
a very good account of themselves as part of the wider New Zealand task group. The logisticians,
medical staff, intelligence staff, headquarter staff,
our force protection soldiers, all those people had a key role to play in making
sure the mission succeeded. Our trainers are some of the best in the world in
terms of individual training what they can deliver is often second to none. I do reflect upon,
I think the difference that you saw in the Iraqi security forces arriving having gone through that
training and then departing, to what would eventually be the fight against this Islamic
State in a dire situation for their country. And I have no doubt in my mind that the mission
directly enabled them to be successful in defeating the Islamic State in Iraq.
And for that I think both Australia and New Zealand should be incredibly proud of their
successes and their professional conduct on the operation overall.