Constable Murray Stretch was relaxing at home on the couch watching rugby league in front of the fire when he got the call that led to his death.

A former air force sergeant and several former volunteer firefighters are among 78 new police constables about to hit the beat.

The Four Nations Maritime Rugby Cup kicked off when the Royal New Zealand Navy took on the United States Marine Corps at the Devonport Naval Base yesterday.

Scottish soldiers based in England will not be able to take part in the historic referendum on independence.

A re-elected National Government would keep all current military bases open and operational, Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman says.

First he was decorated for valour after carrying a critically wounded comrade to safety through enemy fire in Afghanistan.

A young soldier killed in a firefight with Hamas gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip was born in New Zealand.

When an armour-piercing bullet hit Private Dion Taka, he rolled underneath his Humvee and wondered if he would die.

The future of New Zealand peacekeeping is under increasing scrutiny as it bids for a seat on the United Nations Security Council.

A Kiwi sniper fighting in Afghanistan was killed by friendly fire after a US fighter pilot failed to enter attack co-ordinates into his onboard computer, an inquest has heard.

Former corporal Willie Apiata, holder of the Victoria Cross, admits he still finds it hard to think of himself as a hero and is quick to bump off the title to someone else he thinks is worthy of it - his mother.

It will go down in the annals of China's Communist Party as The Glorious Fourth of June when the army turned on the unarmed citizens of Peking.

Two army recruits who braved a drunk and aggressive crowd to help a man king-hit at an Auckland bar have been recognised for their "selfless act of bravery".

A prolonged and increasingly vicious confrontation in eastern Ukraine turned into armed conflict yesterday.

Poland has asked Nato to station 10,000 troops on its territory as a visible demonstration of the alliance's resolve to defend all its members after Russia's seizure of Crimea.

New Zealand and Australia yesterday simultaneously lifted all travel sanctions on key members of the Fiji military and its regime.

A eulogy in support of a shamed detective was enough to make a senior police officer unfit for the job of commissioner, according to 31 per cent of Herald-DigiPoll respondents.

Six Afghan interpreters who worked alongside Victoria Cross holder Willie Apiata and other New Zealand SAS soldiers will be resettled in New Zealand.

Bryan Gould asks, "Is the Govt acting on advice from another authority and if so which? Does our Govt claim the right to tell us which causes we are allowed to support and which not?

High-tech spy drones and sophisticated seabed mines are being developed in New Zealand and sold to global military superpowers.

Downing St has intervened to quell the the latest row over WWI centenary commemorations amid claims the role of Australian and NZ troops is being ignored.