Kiwi war hero aiming to stay at the front line

James McKie says frustration at the lack of operational opportunities with the New Zealand Army drove him to apply to serve with the British. Photo / Supplied

"The man on the ground is the most important thing out here ... you can't win a war from far away."

These are the words of New Zealand's latest war hero, British Army rifleman James McKie, who stared death in the face when he threw a Taleban grenade away from his comrades last week.

He has has no intention of leaving the Afghan frontline.

The 29-year-old Wellingtonian has been hailed a hero by the British and New Zealand armies and is in line for a medal.

Speaking to the Weekend Herald from the British Army's Camp Bastion, Mr McKie said he had never wanted glory, just to get back out in the field.

One week on - his shrapnel cuts stitched and healed - that is just what he's doing.

"I want to do this as long as I can," said Mr McKie, who been with the 3rd Battalion The Rifles for five months.

"I'm realistic, I've probably got another five years of good soldiering left."

It was the lack of operational opportunity that drove him to apply to the British Army After seven years in the New Zealand Army,.

"I was just frustrated with all the things going on in the world and I didn't feel like I was participating."

The young rifleman - who grew up playing with GI Joes and Transformers in Army bases around New Zealand and Singapore and topped all his medic training courses - said he hoped to be a junior leader within years.

"That's the best job in the Army as far as I'm concerned.

"After that you move away from tactics on the ground and become more involved in administrating."

His actions bode well for promotion.

Standing on a tiny roof under a hail of gunfire in the Afghan province of Helmand, he dived to pick up and throw a hand grenade when it ricocheted off his unit commander and landed at his feet.

Grenades were part of the rigorous British Army training, but throwing them back was not.

"It's the complete opposite," he said. "But I had to do it ... In the circumstances there wasn't any other option.

"The first thing I thought was 'I hope it doesn't hurt too much', the second thing was that I had to get it away from us and to throw it correctly."

This week his leader paid tribute to him.

"Rifleman McKie has exemplified the finest attributes any soldier can have; unimaginable personal courage and selflessness," said 3rd battalion The Rifles commanding officer Nick Kitson.

But the incident is now only a memory to Mr McKie, who said he didn't think about it any more.

But he's always been tough.

During his time in the New Zealand Army Mr McKie badly injured his shoulder on a training exercise and carried on for a year, despite the pain.

"I didn't realise at the time but I had done quite severe damage. I had pretty much the most shoulder surgery you can have in one go, five different procedures, to stabilise it."

His ex-girlfriend Raphaelle Montefiore, who lives in Paris and has remained his "best friend" after their distance-triggered split, said that was why she worried about him.

"When he was in hospital [last week] half his face could have burnt off and he still might have wanted to carry on working," she wrote to the Weekend Herald.

His father Andrew McKie - a former Army medic now working for the Red Cross - was looking forward to having his son home at the end of his Afghanistan deployment.

"It will be a long three weeks."