New Chief of Defence Appointed

[Dave Homewood]

Did you see that Jerry Mataparae will become the new Chief of Defence Force, taking over the job in May. He seems a good soldier and I hink he'll do a great job.

[hairy]

I'm slightly worried for the Air Force, he is a gound-pounder after all, and surely his heart lies with that service over the others.

......This is just a spur-of-the-moment opinion, feel free to disagree with me.

[Dave Homewood]

Well, it's the Army's turn in the turnabout system. They';re usually better than the Navy when they're in charge as far as the RNZAF is concerned.

I remember in the early 1990's when Admiral Sir Somerford Teagle was the CDF in power he closed Te Rapa, Shelly Bay and Wigram, Papakura and Hopu Hopu. But the Navy got new ships. What does that tell you?

[phil82]

Sorry Dave, but it tells you that a sound decision was made to rationalise Defence expenditure on assets which should have been dumped years prior! Somerford Teagle didn't make the decisions, they were made by the respective services. At that time, there was absolutely no need for a Stores Depot at Te Rapa; everything there could have, and should have,and eventually was, held on the units that operated the aircraft, and in the end that''s exactly what happened! I could never, logically, understand why Te Rapa held Orion and Herc parts when the aircraft were all on one base a 100 miles away! Papakura and Hopu Hopu were the same; surplus to requirements and chewing up the Defence budget. Shelly Bay was simply a residential and administration unit for people working in Wellington and while it was a great site [and still is!] it was an economic millstone. Wigram was facing severe restrictions on flying, particularly on height limits, so if flying training had to move, it was sensible to move all training to Woodbourne which not only had the room but a better climate! Ohakea is under-utilised, has been for decades, so moving flying training there was a sound business decision. Having spent a few years in Defence HQ, or "Disneyland" as it is commonly known, I can say that any funding from any government has to be spent at the sharp end, so the cloth has to be cut accordingly or you end up with lots of useless assets but no actual aircraft or equipment.

Incidentally, no CDF has any direct effect on changes in policy or equipment, for the simple reason that these tend to be long term decisions which have gone through a long-drawn out process, and CDF isn't there long enought to do anything other than nod his head!

[phil82]

Sorry Hairy, but I do disagree. Regardless of which Service CDF is from, his effect on the direction of any particular service is minimal. By all accounts the new guy is a pretty good bloke.

[Dave Homewood]

Colin,

Thanks for that. A lot of what you're saying I totally agree with. Like the Prime Minister is to a Government, the CDF is merely the top figurehead in a network of people who together formulate the policy and implement changes, etc. It doesn't matter much who that is, they'll either be loved or loathed for the work of the many.

My comment was more about the fact that the Army and RNZAF suffered a huge amount of cuts in a short space of time, each being announced aroung the time when Teagle was that man at the top. The man himself came across as a completely pompous prig, and I know from experience he was hated by those at the bottom of the chain who'd lives and work was affected, whether it was his fault or not directly. The main point was, the Navy suffered no cuts at this time and were instead awarded new boats - which were seen by many as a total waste of money, money coming from RNZAF and Army coffers if you see what I mean.

Regarding your other pojnts, yes Te Rapa and Shelly Bay were unnecessary by the time I was in the services. And I guess Hopu Hopu was too. The two stores depots were overspill from WWII which had somehow survived till the 1990's.

Papakura was however indeed wanted and needed by the Army despite what the brass and politicians thought, hence the reason they gradually returned a lot of their units there which had been shifted to Hobsobnville (I base this purely on what I've been told by serving RNZAF and Army people in the know, not my own experience I must add). I'm told that despite it's 'closure' it's still an active base.

I still maintain and will always do so that the closure of Wigram was a growse mistake by Defence Headquarters and the National Government. The place was much better suited for training than Ohakea, and was also strategic for South Island operations.

The upcoming closure of Auckland (Whenuapai and Hobsonville) will be another huge mistake.

Still, when the Government policy makers and the top brass at "Disneyland" (clearly a Mickey Mouse outfit ) is finished with this, there'll only be the one base to close, before their mission is fulfilled...

[phil]

admin said:

Well, it's the Army's turn in the turnabout system. They';re usually better than the Navy when they're in charge as far as the RNZAF is concerned.

Actua;;y Dave it's the navy's turn, but it no longer works that way anyway.

We have had since Teagle:

Burks (Army)
Adamson (Air)
Ferguson (Air)

So we are kind of overdue for a navy CDF.

[Dave Homewood]

Hmm, interesting.

I wonder what Bruce Ferguson is moving onto in the future.