Glyn Harper - Born to Lead?: Portraits of New Zealand Commanders

Military command is a complex and demanding business. It has features that distinguish it from most other practises in human experience. Command carries with it authority and responsibility in awesome measures. Within the military it is all pervasive everyone is subject to it and it has the stamp of totality. No matter what happens, or how, or why, and whoever or whatever goes wrong, the commander is accountable, the commander is ultimately responsible. Subject to political direction, critical scrutiny and societal constraints, the exercise of command is hugely challenging.

Such issues are covered in the first chapter, which provides an essential background to what command is about and thus a setting for the subsequent chapters on selected New Zealand commanders. Although style, emphasis and judgements are individual to the contributors, some key factors stand forth throughout. Not least, it is abundantly clear that the quality of command is vitally important to the outcome of all military endeavour. It is equally clear that every effort must be made to ensure that those who are to be entrusted with this responsibility are properly prepared for it. This book can make an important contribution to that end; there are lessons to be learned here; there is inspiration and encouragement; there is an immediate sense of identification and pride in the achievements of these New Zealanders. Official manuals on the subject have a place, but they are stodgy fare, whereas the material here could hardly help but engage the interest and fire the imagination of the military student. That stimulation is important to an educational process that must be continued throughout a career.

Yet there is an importance to this work that goes beyond its obvious and valuable utility as a study text, and it is several-fold. It should also appeal to a wider general readership, for within these pages are some enthralling stories about a number of extraordinary New Zealanders. It records an important aspect of our history in a very readable and compelling manner. Yet, as the authors acknowledge, it is only the first step along the path of exploring the feats of that much larger body of New Zealanders who have given so much in command at other levels.

Perhaps, too, it can play a part in encouraging a wider interest in defence and security matters. Apart from rare moments in our history this area has been marked by public apathy and political indifference. New Zealands defence forces have had to exist in circumstances of almost unmatched parsimony and the sad consequences of that are highlighted within these pages. Material shortcomings can be borne for a time but lack of training and professional education cannot. Above all, that applies to those destined for command.

The assumption of command responsibility is not for the faint-hearted . It can be lonely and burdensome, but it can also be immensely rewarding. Whether that is seen in personal terms or events of national proportions, the outcome will almost certainly have been determined from a long process of preparation. The authors raise the question, is there a New Zealand style of command? Possibly. More likely, though, it is simply that there is a way to command New Zealanders that respects their particular characteristics and it is here that the qualities of leadership assume special significance. For a rising generation of New Zealand commanders the biggest challenge will be to maintain a sense of purpose in a force stripped of essential military functions and reduced to a handful of limited roles. They should study these pages and note that their predecessors have all had to cope through times of adversity and neglect. So, may they take heart!

The authors and contributors are to be complimented in embarking upon this groundbreaking work. It should be studied by all who have a professional interest in military issues and it deserves to be widely placed in libraries and institutions so that readers generally have the benefit of insight to an important and special area of our national history.

AirMarshalDavidCrooks (rtd)

October2002