Editorial: Grim toll but do we pull out soldiers

Yesterday New Zealand woke to the heartbreaking news we had lost three more of our soldiers in Afghanistan.

Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, Private Richard Harris, and Corporal Luke Tamatea were killed instantly while travelling in the last vehicle in a convoy which was hit by an improvised explosive device in Bamiyan Province.

The three deaths bring the number of our soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 10. This tragedy has brought the reality of this conflict closer to home with the death of Cpl Tamatea, born and bred in the little Eastern Bay of Plenty settlement of Te Teko.

A 12-year army veteran, he joined in February 2000 and had served in Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands and Sumatra. The 31-year-old was first deployed to Afghanistan in 2007, so was well aware of the risks involved with his job and like all our brave soldiers, he went about his work in a professional manner.

I worked with Luke's father, Henry Tamatea (Big Henry), at the SCA tissue plant in Kawerau. I only have a couple of memories of Luke as a youngster. The first, I was visiting Henry (a mechanic by trade) who was helping me replace the motor in my car. I recall Luke as a toddler, running into the shed to give his dad a hug and a kiss, after a day out shopping with his mother Lyn. He was excited about his adventure and wanted to share this and his lollipop with Henry. Although busy with the task at hand, Henry, a giant of a man, reached down with his oil-stained hands, sat Luke on his lap and let an excited child tell his story.

My next memory of Luke was a few years later, when Henry told me his son was going to join the Army. Henry, who was never shy of telling a yarn, predicted Luke would one day be the top man in the Army and was clearly proud of his son.

Henry died a few years back but every now and then I'd hear about Luke from my mother, who is great friends with Lyn. She would mention how he was doing well and had even been featured in a story in one of the Army magazines.

Luke's death is a tragic loss, not only to his family and the community of Te Teko and Kawerau, where his mother now lives, but the country as a whole.

We have lost 10 of our country's treasures in a conflict which now raises the issue of whether we should be there or not.

Rotorua resident Pupuru Knight yesterday started a campaign to pull New Zealand soldiers out by setting up Facebook page "Bring our Soldiers home". He said once he received 50 Facebook "likes", he would organise a march to protest the Government's decision to leave soldiers in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister John Key says the Government is still deciding the "exact time" our troops will leave Afghanistan but he believes it will be sooner rather than later.

It's not simply a matter of packing up and leaving Afghanistan. The work our men and women have done over there has been invaluable and to leave now would most likely destroy all they have achieved.

Leaving now would also dishonour those who have died. Our brave soldiers know the risks and to walk away now would mean those soldiers' lives had been lost in vain.

Also what message does it send to the insurgents who planted the explosive device at the side of the road which killed Luke and his comrades. If we were to react the way they want, then they have won, and the work Luke and all the men and women in the Army have done will have been wasted.

The other side of the argument is, can we afford to have another family go through the trauma of losing a loved one in a country so far away?

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. But all New Zealanders have to play their part in making that decision, through letters to the editors or contacting your local MP and making your views felt.

What do you think?

Email editor@dailypost.co.nz, text DP then your message to 021 241 4568, or write to editor, PO Box 1442, Rotorua.