Soldier MP to share new skills with House

Act MP Heather Roy says some people who know her might raise their eyebrows to hear she enjoys working with guns.

Act MP Heather Roy returns to Parliament next week safe in the knowledge she won't have to clean the toilets at 6am - or spend a night in a freshly dug hole.

But the newly coined Private Roy, who has done that and more during six weeks of Territorial Force basic training at Waiouru, might find some of her new skills can be transferred to her day job.

"The only grenades I'm launching are metaphorical ones," Mrs Roy noted yesterday.

The Act MP and national security spokeswoman learned to lob live grenades, fire a machine gun, and withstand enemy attacks at night during the demanding training. Far from the comforts of home and mostly without her cellphone, Private Roy adapted to having little more than two minutes to shower in the morning before fulfilling cleaning duties before breakfast.

"It wasn't unusual to find me cleaning the toilets at 6 o'clock in the morning, which is something that you wouldn't do at home," she said.

While throwing a couple of live grenades was "great", it did turn out to be something of an anticlimax.

"You pull the pin, you take off the safety catch, you throw it and it blows up - and you have to duck down so you don't get damaged yourself. You don't even get to see the explosion," Mrs Roy said.

More fun was derived by Private Roy from live-fire manoeuvres, where she worked in a pair to stalk an enemy.

The simulated battle exercise involved a target placed around 200m ahead, and a pair of soldiers stalking it to "deal to it before it deals to you".

Using live ammunition for such an exercise meant that you needed to put a lot of trust in the person you worked with, Mrs Roy said.

"It's pretty scary knowing you've got somebody there and you've got live ammunition, it makes you very careful," she said.

Mrs Roy said some people who know her might raise their eyebrows to hear of her enjoyment working with guns, which it earlier appeared she had an aversion to.

The hardest part of her training was being ordered to complete the assault course just after an overnight battle simulation in which she and a group of about eight others got very little sleep.

Mrs Roy saw little of her colleague Act leader Rodney Hide's dancing exploits on Dancing With The Stars while she was training, but was impressed by the "mission" he had undertaken.

When the pair sit back in their seats in the House, Mrs Roy knows she will have a deeper understanding of the Army, which she says will be invaluable for her role as national security spokesman.

She will continue to train during some weekends with her battalion and move into the field engineering team.