Two generations respond to their country's call to arms

By Greg Ansley

DARWIN - "Soldiering's in your blood," Dave Benfell's mum, Eliza, told him, choking back the tears as she saw the 21-year-old off to war. "You were meant to be a soldier."

Dave's dad, Gordon, had done it before him: Regular Force cadet at 16, section commander in Vietnam in 1969-70, sniper, and back in service now as a major on a three-year specialist contract and manager of the Army shooting team.

Gordon Benfell went to Vietnam with Victor Company.

Now Victor Company is taking his son to East Timor, where militia leaders are planning a guerrilla war from across the border in Indonesian West Timor.

The big difference for the Benfells is the mood of the New Zealand people.

Gordon went to Vietnam against a background of protests in the streets and vilification when the troops returned; Dave is training in Darwin for a mission that has the unreserved support of the nation.

Until Parade 98, when New Zealand's Vietnam veterans gathered in Wellington last year, Gordon Benfell had never talked to his son about his war in Southeast Asia.

But Dave had grown up with the Army - two years in Singapore as a child, several years in Waiouru until Gordon quit in 1987 and the family moved to Rotorua, then to Tauranga.

His older brother, Andy, served in the Bougainville peace monitoring force, as an engineer.

"The lifestyle appealed to me," Dave said.

Timor is now the test.

"Anyone who's not nervous or apprehensive, you would have to be a bit worried about them," Dave said.

"But I've been in the Army three years and I've trained all that time towards this sort of thing.

"There's a lot of excitement - a lot of the guys think it's a bit of an adventure."

But there is more than adventure in Timor.

"I believe that in an average person's life the potential to do good things is limited by their situation.

"Here, something's been put in our lap.

"It's awesome going over there to help these people.

"It's something that over the span of my life I can be proud of."

Back at the family home in Tauranga last night, Major Gordon Benfell said he had no qualms about his son's mission, even though Dave had been still asking him for shooting tips as he boarded the plane for Darwin.

"He is a good lad with the very best motivation and he is very well equipped to go to Timor," Gordon said.

"It is nice to see the new generation, who so often get all sorts of criticisms levelled at them, show this sort of social responsibility."

Asked if he foresaw any similarities between the Vietnam War and what was unfolding in Timor, he said: "I hope not."

Now aged 51 and a former Army shooting champion, he recalled turning 21 in Vietnam and said it was "quite uncanny" that his son was also serving in Victor Company.

And while content to make way for his son's generation, he noted that he remained medically fit for overseas service and saw no reason he should not join Dave in Timor if called on.

While conceding this was unlikely, he said it was a possibility for which his wife was mentally bracing herself.