An internal NZDF inquiry has exposed the inside story of a critical deployment to one of the world’s hotspots that went horribly awry. The inquiry report revealed how its commander led junior personnel into a strip club, took part in drinking sessions that ended with skinny-dipping and engaged in heavily sexualised banter. When the dust settled, as David Fisher reports, as many as three female personnel and one male complained of being sexually assaulted.
When Lieutenant Colonel Justin Putze was selected to command almost 60 NZ Defence Force personnel in one of the world’s hottest spots, there was a grimace at headquarters.
Major General Tim Gall, the Commander Joint Forces New Zealand, later told a military inquiry he had “reservations” about Putze being the Senior National Officer (SNO) of NZDF’s mission to the Sinai.
That inquiry would also hear from witnesses who said Putze “had a reputation, particularly around his behaviour with alcohol, sexual relations and integrity”.
Gall, though, was “persuaded” Putze be given a “chance at command”. Also, Putze was the only person put forward by the Army to lead one of New Zealand’s most enduring military commitments.
And so in 2017, Putze became the SNO of New Zealand’s contribution to the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai, tasked with monitoring the 1979 Treaty of Peace between Egypt and Israel.
Putze was married at the time to a fellow officer who, sources say, had for years led her own commands while he stayed home.
The Sinai was intended to be his time to shine. Instead, it ended in ignominy with Putze court-martialled, demoted, his marriage over and guilty of engaging in a sexual relationship with a subordinate officer, Captain Carolyne Read (now Carolyne Cappola).
But that unauthorised relationship was just one of a string of missteps and bad decisions during his year in the Middle East as the deployment devolved into a booze-fuelled, sexualised party.
A Court of Inquiry report into Putze’s year-long deployment found he began his command in the Sinai walking into the junior ranks quarters during “happy hour” where he “ostentatiously drained a beer”.
The inquiry said Putze “appeared to start as he meant to go on”.
A separate military police inquiry launched halfway through Putze’s year in the Sinai would later produce a list of 32 possible charges arrayed against nine service personnel. Many of the incidents did not proceed to court martial with the investigation faltering then failing, amid claims headquarters was interfering in the military police investigation.
Of the 60 people sent to the Sinai over two shifts, there were allegations of sexual assault by as many as three women and one man.
One of those on the deployment told the Herald: “We’ve got processes and guidelines for every conceivable situation that there is. People know and have experienced the absolute lack of accountability when push comes to shove.”
Alcohol is part of the culture
Putze “did not have a good reputation for alcohol or impulse control before he deployed”, the inquiry report said.
And yet, the posting to the Sinai was one in which “alcohol had long been an accepted part of the culture”, NZDF’s Court of Inquiry said.
The NZDF teams of 30 were our six-monthly contribution to the roughly 1200 men and women from as many as 13 countries to monitor the 1979 peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.
It had been based on the border of the countries but in 2016 worsening security saw it moved to “South Camp” near the tourist drawcard Sharm el Sheik on the Red Sea.
Inside South Camp, the different nationalities occupied their own areas with their own rules around alcohol. There were also two authorised bars; the Red Sea Oasis and Italian Bar. The base stores also sold alcohol, including spirits.
At the Kiwi section, junior ranks lived in a shared accommodation area with separate rooms known as “the Woolshed”. Senior non-commissioned officers (SNCOs) lived in Roman Lines while officers - such as Putze, who was in charge for a year - had their own small houses called “hooches”.
During the day, almost all personnel would report to commanders from other nations to do the jobs to which they were assigned. With a day’s work done, those from New Zealand would gather for a cold beer from a padlocked fridge at the Woolshed “happy hour”.
It was there in early May 2017 Putze walked in, having taken command, and swiftly drained a beer in front of his troops.
It was such a display that a departing senior leader said it was “perhaps an inappropriate example” - and a shift from the “quiet moderation” approach to alcohol taken by the outgoing leadership.
Putze, the inquiry said, had gone into the deployment with “a stated intention of being less aloof as a commander”.
The Woolshed became an “unofficial bar” in which the fridge was stocked with drinks and those drinking made a “donation”. A senior NCO closed up at 10pm but the location of the fridge key was widely known.
In all that followed, the inquiry later identified the “watershed” moment as a decision by junior ranks to pay for a camel-ride excursion and Bedouin dinner. Having done so, they then sought permission. Twice they were told they did not have it - and went ahead anyway.
Gossip across the wider camp led one NZDF leader, called Service Person 12 (SP12) in the inquiry report, to quiz those rumoured to have gone. She was told it hadn’t happened. Further inquiries by the regimental sergeant major (RSM) and the deployment second-in-command (2IC) also received denials.
Putze described the potential breach of orders as unacceptable, saying those involved would be sent back to New Zealand. Yet when the truth came out and seven people involved in the trip went on trial, the inquiry was told Putze ruled “no one would be sent home or fined”.
All seven pleaded guilty and were confined to barracks. The most culpable got extra work duties. The worst offenders also had to complete and present a book review.
The senior NCOs “did not perceive that the punishments given were severe enough”, the inquiry said, and they were not what Putze had signalled. One of the seven, a woman called Service Person 14 (SP14) who worked closely with Putze, was sent to North Camp the day the other six had their case heard. It led to claims Putze was “favouring” her with a separate trial and a “lenient punishment”.
An informal “sergeant major’s hour” of senior NCOs was planned to “clear the air” with Putze - a military practice encouraging frank conversation under “Chatham House rules”.
It led to “entrenched” division with Putze taking it as “appearing to question his handling of the (junior ranks) ... and the disciplinary issues specifically”. The senior NCOs believed they were now “targeted and marginalised”.
From this point, the inquiry found, senior NCOs who would usually act as role models and enforcers withdrew from the wider contingent.
And it was around this time the Woolshed parties really started to ramp up.
The party runs wild
At the Woolshed, “happy hour” started running for hours. While the bar was meant to be closed at 10pm, witnesses spoke of Putze and other senior commanders insisting the party go on. Spirits became a common feature, as did visitors from other nations’ militaries.
The inquiry report said it led to an “alcohol-fuelled atmosphere” at a place meant to be accommodation for junior ranks. Men knocked on women’s doors after they went to bed. Two incidents relating to the unisex toilet block had details redacted on the basis of a clause about preserving international relations.
The inquiry found junior staff “exposed to senior personnel … whose behaviour under the influence of alcohol was not above reproach”.
When the 2IC raised issues about drinking and socialising, Putze told her to “chill out”. On one occasion, the 2IC told the inquiry, she believed her drinks were spiked “in order to induce less controlled behaviour”.
Putze was often at the Woolshed but also hosted others “to drinks at his accommodation”. On that basis, he began campaigning for an NZDF-funded fridge and barbecue and, at one stage, “hijacked” a barbecue.
The party shifted to Tel Aviv in Israel when Putze, senior leaders and junior ranks attended a Multinational Force & Observers cocktail party. After the event, the group dressed in civilian clothes and gathered at a strip club with Putze among the first to arrive.
When one officer “queried the optics” with Putze he was told to relax. During the course of the evening, all attending “received a lap dance”. The visit became the talk of South Camp.
In November, as the first deployment prepared to return to New Zealand, there were allegations Service Person 7 had “drunkenly stalked” SP14 throughout the afternoon.
That evening at the Red Sea Oasis bar, SP7 declared he was going to “give (her) a hug”, the report said, but “she rebuffed his movements”. “After ruffling her hair, he left”.
Some who witnessed the exchange believed he had assaulted her. Others disagreed. The 2IC investigated, recommending charges against the soldier, and “became increasingly aggravated by the alcohol-driven behaviours”.
She wrote a report that included concerns about the “drinking culture”, left a copy on Putze’s desk and sent an email “specifically warning him about the alcohol behaviours, sexualised banter, and the risk of personnel driving within 12 hours of drinking”.
But she also emailed a copy to NZDF headquarters, shortly before concerns were also raised in New Zealand after a senior psychologist debriefed the outgoing contingent in Dubai and found the majority “identified as having potential issues”.
The psychologist’s superior in New Zealand met with Gall to outline emerging themes of “drinking, fraternisation and leadership”. This, and the 2IC’s report, led to Gall sending a letter to Putze in which he set out expectations on alcohol use. He followed with a phone call to express verbally “concerns about alcohol use”.
With a new contingent of 30 people, Gall told Putze he had a chance “to get it to work this time”.
The second deployment
“I hope you’re thirsty,” was Putze’s greeting to the replacement troops.
The second deployment’s senior leaders were forewarned about the alcohol issues that plagued the first group and found just that when arriving in the Sinai.
The new 2IC got off the plane in the Sinai to be greeted by hungover departing troops then arrived at South Camp to find Putze at a “noisy party” at the Woolshed with three female junior ranks.
Putze welcomed the new arrivals saying he “hoped they were thirsty”.
The new 2IC put boundaries in place with set hours at the Woolshed and rules around visitors. Spirits were banned. He cut the number of functions and stopped junior ranks socialising with Putze.
Puzte called the new 2IC a “killjoy”, the inquiry heard from one witness. Others considered the new rules “disrespectful” and “undermining” Putze’s position.
The inquiry report said Putze became more careful, still joining in on the deployment’s functions but taking those drinking back to his place. That included two new female officers, one of whom was Captain Carolyne Cappola, with Putze warned by the RSM it was “inappropriate” to regularly host the pair.
In January 2018, Putze and Cappola went on leave outside the Sinai. “At some stage their relationship became sexual,” said the inquiry report.
The inquiry report reported Putze as recognising his long-term relationship in New Zealand was “in trouble”. It also said “Putze appeared to become indecisive” in his command, deferring to Cappola.
There came a tipping point in March when Putze and others visited the tourist bar “Beach Ibiza”. The inquiry report recorded “a considerable amount of drinking” during which Putze bought “several (as many as six) rounds of shots during this process”.
At closing time, men and women from the junior ranks were “skinny dipping” while Putze was organising taxis to South Camp where the party continued at the Red Sea Oasis.
At one stage, Service Person 17 felt ill. She was helped to her room in the Woolshed by another female NZDF member, Service Person 22. SP22 went back to the Red Sea Oasis and “again needed to help another driver to return to the Woolshed”.
While there, she checked on SP17 and “had to assist” Service Person 9 back to his room “though he was not co-operative”.
When SP22 left the Red Sea Oasis for the Woolshed again, she found SP9 in SP17′s bed. The inquiry report said when “yelling at him to get up and get out”, SP17 awoke and “it was immediately apparent” he was there without her consent.
The incident was reported and with both Putze and his 2IC away, Cappola led the investigation. The inquiry report said Putze wanted “the timeframe of the incident to be shortened which removed any mention of Beach lbiza”.
When the 2IC learned of the incident from senior NCOs, the inquiry report said “he was concerned when he became aware that witness statements were being changed”.
Putze was called on to “come clean” and again he asked for the timeline to be altered. The 2IC refused and the original statements were used.
The investigation led to a military trial into SP9′s action which Putze oversaw “regardless of his own apparent involvement”, said the inquiry. SP17, the victim of the alleged assault, was charged and cautioned for drunkenness.
SP9 was charged with indecent assault, assault and drunkenness and found guilty of assault and drunkenness and reduced in rank to private. He later told the inquiry he believed the outcome was “in order to conceal some of … Putze’s own behaviour”.
The truth comes out
In May of 2018, the second deployment and Putze headed home, again through Dubai for a debrief.
It was there the inquiry report said Putze and Cappola were seen together at the debrief hotel in such a way someone “approached them directly and told them it was not appropriate”.
The pair were confronted and denied the allegations, as Putze did again in New Zealand when questioned by Brigadier John Boswell, NZDF’s land component commander.
The inquiry report detailed the collapsing narrative and the subsequent court martial of Putze over the relationship, failing to follow orders and “lying to Brig[adier] Boswell”.
Putze was court-martialled, found guilty of four charges and demoted to major. He left NZDF of his own volition in June 2020, as did Capolla.
Putze was the only one charged with the “32 allegations … [made] in relation to nine individuals” that emerged through the military police investigation ordered by Gall around the time he spoke to Putze on the phone.
The military police investigation struggled with “plenty of conflicting priorities for an under-staffed investigative capability”, the report said. It was unable to go to the Sinai where many of the witnesses were based, the inquiry said, and “electronic data” was limited, other than emails between Putze and Cappola.
The military police told the inquiry there “was no evidence to support charges” to which the inquiry said “there is evidence that this was at least in part because they stopped looking for it”.
There were those who believed the court martial was an end to it but those who served under Putze felt the deployment scarred their reputations or careers to this day.
Senior NCOs, isolated and targeted, said there was the “perception … that standing up for NZDF values could get you in trouble within an environment where the leadership were not adhering to them themselves”.
It showed that “direct verbal approach to the chain of command” only worked if responded to or if it created change. Instead, witnesses told the inquiry “Putze ignored them”.
When senior officers visited, creating the chance of a circuit breaker, the inquiry found “Putze took specific actions to prevent them being directly approached”. Putze sent some personnel away during those visits and forbade others from having contact. Spirits were hidden.
It left personnel feeling senior command did not care - or that Putze had “personal alliances and relationships” that protected him.
The inquiry report said it showed “existing reporting mechanisms are not well understood and need improvement”.
Those who did disclose issues to military police (MPs) and to psychologists were left dissatisfied with the inquiry report, saying they did not realise MPs were interviewing witnesses to collect evidence for possible charges, while the psychologists treated disclosures “in confidence”, with only generic summaries sent up the command chain.
It meant concerns did not properly filter upwards and the inquiry report found “there were no specific mechanisms” to report issues outside the chain of command.
The inquiry’s work unleashed a flood of complaints. Those included claims by a male officer that he was indecently assaulted by a service person from another nation and a female service person, who said she was indecently assaulted.
Others alleged bullying and intimidation, other inappropriate relationships, Putze making awards to those who should not have received them, damage to careers and claims that some in the specialist driving section were drunk while driving.
One witness told the inquiry, “no one, including [Putze] has been held to account and no one seems to care overall”.
The inquiry also uncovered the military police belief its investigation struggled against “command interference”. It found the “perception that their investigation was not receiving wholehearted support from HQJFNZ appears to be sustained”.
While the inquiry found no evidence of direct interference, it said headquarters “did little to expeditiously assist or invigorate the process of investigation”.
On Putze, the inquiry said “he did not have a good reputation for alcohol or impulse control before he deployed” and was not “able to regulate himself” once there.
In his year in the Sinai, the inquiry said he was seen drunk on several occasions, missing duties or falling asleep during meetings because he was hungover.
It said his close relationships with junior female staff led to “sexualised banter” among the deployment, which led to “an unhealthy interest in the sexual or perceived sexual relationships of women”.
That included SP14 who was subject to constant speculation she was in a sexual relationship with Putze, for which the inquiry found no evidence and which she strongly denied.
It also led to childish behaviour and inappropriate touching that Putze either took part in or encouraged, the inquiry found.
Over the course of the year, the inquiry found Putze’s behaviour had a damaging impact on those under his leadership and “corrupted the normal perceptions and behaviours” of those leaders he commanded.
The inquiry reached the “inescapable conclusion” that alcohol was a " significant catalyst” for the events that took place on the first deployment.
In view of this, it made a recommendation that NZDF did not pick up on - that all personnel sent across the world where alcohol was allowed be restricted to a maximum of two drinks.
There were other fixes - support for female staff was one, particularly from other women. There also needed to be a method for personnel to report matters of concern, which is now in place, and an MP placed in headquarters to avoid future misunderstandings.
In the face of six months of lost leadership and excessive drinking, the inquiry found four of those sent to Sinai maintained NZDF’s standards throughout.
That included the 2IC, who wrote the report setting out the sexual assault alleged to have taken place and emailed to headquarters before Putze had a chance to read it.
For not bending where everyone else did, the Court of Inquiry said they should receive commendations. In correspondence from NZDF, this is listed as a recommendation yet to be completed.
‘Not acceptable’
Commander Joint Forces New Zealand Rear Admiral Jim Gilmour, who convened the inquiry, said most of those who went “took no part in behaviours contrary to our core values”. The Court of Inquiry was able to address those who felt unfairly maligned.
“I also wish to acknowledge those who were a part of this contingent who displayed the ethos and values of our Defence Force by choosing to do the right thing when others did not. Their integrity is a credit to them.”
Gilmour said “the extent of the issues that arose in this particular deployment is very unusual”. It included behaviour “not acceptable” to NZDF and “nor is it what the public should expect from the NZDF”.
“The standard of leadership displayed, set in part as a direct consequence of behaviours established by the Senior National Officer, was unsatisfactory and embarrassing for the NZDF.”
Gilmour said the inquiry also found issues at the command level were not dealt with effectively or were not recorded property if they had been dealt with, which made it difficult to understand what had happened and was “not acceptable”.
Putze and Capolla did not respond to requests for comment. They live together in Australia and have a daughter. They run a mix of exercise-based business and property investing.
In a video in 2021, Putze spoke of his 29 years in the military and how 12 years apart from his then-wife “ultimately … ended up costing our relationship”.
“I realised as much as I loved army and I loved what I was doing, I had lost sight of what was really important to me. And that was family and my relationship.”
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He first joined the Herald in 2004.