New Year Honours: Serving from East Timor to Kabul

By SCOTT MacLEOD

Afghan rebels chose the evening after this year's Anzac Day to fire a salvo of rockets at Wayne Small and the other soldiers at Kabul Airport.

One rocket landed just 70m from the the tent where Mr Small had settled for the night.

"I heard a sound like on the old war movies," he said yesterday while speaking of being made an Additional Member of The New Zealand Order of Merit.

"I said to my mate, 'was that what I thought it was', and he said 'yep'."

Mr Small leapt out of bed, grabbed his helmet, rifle and webbing, and took cover.

Luckily, the Chinese-made 108mm rockets were unarmed, and did not explode. But the impact was still powerful enough to send shrapnel through a fireman's tent 200m away.

Mr Small, a Warrant Officer first class for the New Zealand Army, was in Afghanistan from April to July this year as an air transport liaison officer with the International Security Assistance Force.

If an army marches on its stomach, then it is up to Mr Small and his ilk to ensure that those stomachs are full. In Afghanistan, he helped organise supplies and logistics for 21 nations.

According to one British officer, the Aucklander's eye for detail and ability to see "the bigger picture" helped his team set a standard "that became a benchmark" for the force.

The 36-year-old had been overseas before during his 18 years of service.

The highlight of his early years was a three-month stint in Antarctica, during which he spent a few chilly minutes outside a Hercules aircraft at the South Pole.

Antarctica was "an awesome place, bloody good once you get used to the full-time daylight. I'd go back tomorrow".

Then there was Bosnia, where he and three or four others were the first New Zealanders to be deployed as part of the United Nations Protection Force. They worked flat out to organise kit for about 280 soldiers.

"The security risk was low. But you see so many refugees, homeless people without 10 cents to rub together," he said.

Logistics staff such as Mr Small are among the first soldiers deployed to a hot-spot. In East Timor, he found himself leaping from an Australian landing craft on to a Suai beach with a rifle and flak-jacket.

"It was like Saving Private Ryan - but there was no-one firing back, thank Christ."

Mr Small's job keeps him away from home. Between times he has had two daughters with his wife - one aged two weeks "as a result of Afghanistan" and one two years "as a result of East Timor".

He believes New Zealand peacekeepers mingle well with civilians and troops from all nations.

"We have a hearts-and-minds strategy," Mr Small said. "We're Kiwi soldiers and we're bloody good soldiers."

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