Hamilton man happy to help at Camp Taji in Iraq

Lance Corporal Simon Buck was a member of the ninth New Zealand Defence Force contingent to be deployed to Camp Taji in Iraq. Photo / Supplied

Hamilton man Simon Buck joined the New Zealand Army because he had a strong interest in all things military and he has just experienced something new, deployment to the Middle East, working with personnel from other countries in Camp Taji in Iraq.

Lance Corporal Buck was a member of the ninth New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent to be deployed to Camp Taji, where they worked with Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel to mentor Iraqi soldiers.

The contingent returned to New Zealand in November.

About 46,000 Iraqi Security Forces personnel have been trained by the NZDF/ADF Building Partner Capacity mission since 2015 and over time the focus has shifted from training soldiers to mentoring trainers in the Iraqi Security Forces.

With a father who was a Territorial soldier and a keen interest in military history and military life, it was probably inevitable that Lance Corporal Buck would end up in uniform.

"So when the Army accepted my application I decided to leave halfway through my final year at Hamilton Boys' High School to start my All Arms Recruit Course," he said.

That was in 2012 and he trained as a Communications Systems Operator, gaining skills and knowledge in satellite installation, radio and antenna theory, and working safely at heights.

In 2013, 2015 and 2017 he took part in Exercise Southern Katipo, New Zealand's largest military exercise, which is held every two years in different parts of the country.

"Probably the most memorable moment of my career so far came on the exercise in 2017, when I was tasked with leading a detachment to provide retransmission communications on the top of a mountain," he said.

"We were dropped off by Royal New Zealand Air Force NH90 helicopter and climbed to the top of the mountain, then the next morning had to head back down quickly as a storm rolled in.

"There was also a pretty exciting moment in 2015, when I was at a forward operating base during a riot exercise and the rioters almost broke through the gate into the base."

He was also deployed in 2018 to Exercise Bersama Lima, a military exercise held each year involving forces from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

"A memorable part of the exercise was landing on a beach by landing craft from a Singaporean tank carrier," he said.

In Camp Taji, he was the operator in the Communication Information Systems helpdesk, assisting members of the Task Group with any issues that might arise with computer systems.

"This is exactly the sort of thing I joined up to do," he said.

"Being part of an NZDF contingent working with members of other militaries to improve the situation in a volatile part of the world – it doesn't get better than this."