Happily soldiering on

Sergaent Rebecca Savage is heading for a big career in the New Zealand Army

Being able to make a difference - and having an enjoyable and exciting career at the same time - is what motivates New Zealand Army Sergeant Rebecca Savage.

She has been a soldier for eight years and is adept at multi-tasking. When she is not manning a gun in Afghanistan, she is helping to feed more than 100 New Zealanders at base camp, as well as the Americans and locals who work with the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team (NZPRT) in the war-torn country.

Afghanistan is her second overseas deployment - she has also served in East Timor.

After she left school with University Entrance, Sergeant Savage worked as a cook in her hometown Takaka for a short time. At 18 she made inquiries about joining the army, and within a few months had sat and passed the pre-entry requirements and was doing her basic training course in Waiouru.

The course teaches the skills that soldiers need, such as self-discipline, how to get along with others, basic first aid, and military skills like weapon-handling, survival skills and drill.

Educational qualifications to join New Zealand Army differ for various trades, applicants need to be mentally and physically fit, a New Zealand citizen and aged 17 or older.

27-year-old Sergeant Savage is a keen sportswoman who particularly enjoys water sports such as kayaking. An army career attracted her because it meant she could continue playing sport, have a career based partly outdoors and achieve more academically.

 "I found basic training quite difficult, as I had to leave an eight-month-old baby at home who I had never left overnight before joining the army. But three months later she was back with me and I was working as a cook in Waiouru. My immediate bosses within the army were quite understanding about me being a solo mother and a shift worker," she says.

"I stayed in Waiouru for the first four years of my career, by which time I was a fully qualified chef with a diploma in culinary arts.

"I also did my assistant physical trainer's course in 1999. I did a certificate in open-water diving, then my advanced diver certificate, while cooking for the British Contingent up in the Bay of Islands. It was one of the most amazing trips of my career and it was in sunny New Zealand."

Sergeant Savage also spent a few months in Methven and Wanaka, cooking for Lord of the Rings extras, which she rated an awesome experience. 

For the past four years she was at Burnham camp, south of Christchurch, before being deployed to Afghanistan.

"I've found an army career gives you the life experience that you would not normally get in a civilian job. I've done so much since I joined the army - I've even cooked for the Queen. I don't think I would have done any of these if I hadn't joined the army."

Sergeant Savage, who is kitchen manager in Afghanistan, plans to stay in the army for several years yet.

"When I return from Afghanistan I will be posted to Joint Services Catering Schools in Waiouru, as an instructor, which I am really looking forward to. I'm also currently doing a certificate in management through the army and will hopefully go on to obtain a diploma in management."

As a member of the NZPRT in Bamyan, a town in the central highlands of Afghanistan, Sergeant Savage and her colleagues do a variety of tasks to encourage stability and reconstruction in a country that until last year had not known peace for several decades.

The New Zealanders provided a security presence in Bamyan during presidential elections and conducted an information campaign to encourage people to vote.