After Private Michael Ross went missing during an Army training exercise, his family clung to the hope he was playing with them and would turn up and surprise them.

Unauthorised film from the aftermath of the "Battle of Baghak" has emerged showing Kiwi troops handing over a blindfolded enemy insurgent to a US helicopter gunship.

Unedited footage of the "Battle of Baghak" has emerged that reveals the confusion and danger facing New Zealand troops during a fierce firefight that killed two Kiwi soldiers.

The New Zealand commander of the "Battle of Baghak", in which two Kiwi soldiers were killed, has been allowed to interview witnesses for a book he is writing.

At least one soldier involved in the "Battle of Baghak" has backed up claims that Kiwis were involved in a friendly fire incident with Afghan forces just before two Kiwi soldiers were fatally shot.

Details of a Defence Force inquiry into fatal attacks in Afghanistan have been released this afternoon, along with footage of one of the incidents.

The Defence Force will today present the findings of a Court of Inquiry into two incidents which resulted in the deaths of five New Zealand soldiers in Afghanistan last year.

An army trainee died when a vehicle he was travelling in crashed with an "almighty bang" into a power pole near Dargaville on Friday night.

Weapons and military equipment worth more than $330,000 have been stolen over four years from the Defence Force.

A former soldier caught with a loaded rifle during a police domestic call out the day after he was discharged from the Army for disciplinary breaches has been convicted today.

Six translators who helped elite NZ troops in Afghanistan and who fear for their lives are demanding to know why they haven't been granted asylum like other interpreters.

Human error is likely to have contributed to the death of soldier Private Michael Ross who died during a training exercise near Waiouru, according to a former Army chief.

The Labour Party has paid tribute to New Zealand military personnel serving around the world and has remembered those who died on battlefields at Gallipoli nearly a century ago.

Private Corey Twamley was fighting to give Afghan children the kind of human rights his daughter was born into.

It's every soldier's greatest fear - the unseen enemy. The improvised explosive device (IED) buried beneath the road, which is detonated by Afghanistan insurgents who lie and wait for Coalition soldiers to pass.

The United States has flown highly sophisticated Global Hawk drones through New Zealand airspace, official papers reveal.

A soldier who died after falling into a Waiouru lake during a training exercise should have been able to release a 20kg gun easily, the former Chief of Army says.

A 25-year-old soldier was injured after falling 5 metres into a dry riverbed near Dannevirke.

When a handful of surviving veterans of the legendary 28th Maori Battalion rose yesterday, they knew they had one more special mission.

Some family members of Corporal Douglas Hughes say they want an open inquest to satisfy their questions over the soldier's death.

The coroner who declined a full inquest into the suicide of a gay soldier is a Mormon church elder who attacked same-sex marriage in a submission to Parliament, saying it was an unnecessary "social experiment".

New Zealand's new Chief of Army has been appointed, it was announced today.

Army chiefs and the Defence Minister have hit back at claims that ill-prepared soldiers were sent into combat in Afghanistan.

A leaked report has strongly criticised the training given to an army contingent sent to Afghanistan which lost five of its members in combat.

Two wounded soldiers were put at risk by Defence bosses who decided to fly them back to New Zealand with their killed comrade.

Sol Te Whata, 95 today, reckons his uncle's blessing before he left for World War II was one of the things that brought him home safely.

A senior Taliban leader thought to be behind a roadside bombing in which three New Zealand soldiers died has reportedly been killed by coalition forces.