Our elite NZSAS special forces regiment is “vulnerable to collapse”, military leaders have been told. Senior journalist David Fisher reports.
A special payment aimed at stemming the loss of experienced troopers is expected to be made in the coming weeks, with up to $30,000 offered to those who agree to stay until the end of June next year.
The NZSAS retention payment - like payments to other units - will come out of existing NZ Defence Force funding.
It shows that even the highest-profile Defence Force roles have not escaped the damage wrought by the high volume of experienced military personnel leaving in recent years.
Since 2021, about a third of uniformed personnel have left, with most citing poor pay as a reason for leaving.
The situation is so dire it has led to ships being tied up at port, aircraft that cannot fly and fewer soldiers to send on disaster relief or military missions.
The Herald has learned that military leaders up to and including Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short have been told the NZSAS was “near collapse”.
As a result, the NZSAS was one of two units targeted for a special retention payment. The other was the Navy’s marine engineer and mechanics unit, with documents showing almost two-thirds of personnel had left.
Marine engineers are referred to as “ship stoppers” because ships can’t leave port without them.
Both units have been described to military leaders as “endangered” and “vulnerable”.
The loss of expertise traditionally found in these units could have enormous repercussions for the NZDF and New Zealand’s ability to exert force and participate internationally.
The NZSAS is considered one of New Zealand’s three strategic capabilities - the others being the frigates Te Mana and Te Kaha, and the P-8A surveillance aircraft.
While military leaders have been told the NZSAS is “vulnerable to collapse”, the Herald understands it has been able to maintain its required level of operational capability.
It is understood this was made possible by personnel shouldering increasing levels of responsibility across multiple roles to compensate for those who had left.
The people capable of filling those roles have become increasingly scarce as highly experienced Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) have left the regiment. Departures have increased since 2021. The time to train incoming recruits into leaders was estimated to be 5-7 years.
NZDF and Minister of Defence Judith Collins offered almost no comment specifically on the NZSAS. When asked for comment, NZDF’s response included a pointer to its right to withhold information that impacted on New Zealand’s national security.
Collins has yet to outline what the new Government will do to help NZDF stem the tide of departures and rebuild its capabilities.
Asked for an interview, she provided a statement in which she repeated earlier comments about being “extremely concerned … while remaining immensely proud of the Defence Force and the men and women who serve in it”.
Collins said she had received advice from the NZDF about attrition and retention issues. “I will not be commenting on specifics of Special Forces matters you raise.”
A NZDF statement said there had been general retention payments across the three services but also targeted payments to “critical trades”.
“These payments have been largely funded from unspent personnel expenditure.”
The statement said “prioritisation has been given to critical areas of need across the NZDF”.
“Despite the challenges the NZDF is facing with attrition and retention, it remains able to provide multiple military response options for the Government.
“The New Zealand Army is able to maintain readiness for Special Forces domestic, regional and global responses.”
It said providing further information sought by the Herald - including whether departures from the NZSAS affected its ability to function - “would be likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand”.
Security analyst Dr Paul Buchanan of 36th Parallel Assessments said it was likely the loss of experienced personnel would impact on the jobs the NZSAS could do. If the NZSAS was the tip of the spear, he said: “It does blunt the spear.”
Buchanan said money wasn’t the only answer to NZDF issues. He said the issue of rebuilding should prompt the question of what New Zealand’s military should be used to do.
He said that raised questions about whether having three separate services was appropriate when New Zealand’s security duties and needs would be more completely served by a marine-style force.
A former officer who had previously serviced with the NZSAS said “minimal funding by successive governments” had created the current situation, along with the lack of faith in recent leadership, as shown in NZDF satisfaction surveys.
“I’m not at all surprised to hear the parlous state of the NZSAS because it reflects the wider army.”
The NZSAS was formed in the 1950s to contribute to the United Kingdom’s efforts to suppress a communist insurgency in what is now Malaysia. Its official history described the deployment as awakening politicians to the “strategic value … out of all proportion” to the cost of “a small Special Forces contribution”.
It saw a period of regular offshore deployments through to the Vietnam war, during which combat skills were honed alongside a hard-won reputation for long-range reconnaissance and tracking.
Its future was in some jeopardy after Vietnam until a rise in concerns about international terrorism led to it developing a counter-terrorist capability, should an incident in New Zealand require that specialisation.
After a long quiet period, the NZSAS swung into years of high-tempo deployments ranging from Timor to repeated postings to Afghanistan. It was this in 2006 that led to an urgent pay boost for troopers able to earn more enlisting with allied nations and many times their basic rate as private military contractors.
The additional pay and extended Afghanistan deployments created a strong cohort of highly experienced NCOs, who had departed in recent years as operations dried up and pay fell short, failing to balance the loss to family life caused by requirements of service.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards. He has been named twice as Reporter of the Year and been selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to study at Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004.
The New Zealand Defence force has a budget shortfall of $130 million.