June 2006, Issue 71 [pdf 2.8mb, 40 - Royal New Zealand Air Force

36
They make a lovely
couple. SQNLDR Rob
Stockley and his new
wife Liz opted for an on-Base
wedding when they exchanged
vows on Saturday 4 March at
Base Ohakea. Base photographers
Brad Hanson and Sam
Shephard were on hand to
record the fairy tale event and
SQNLDR Stockley says he was
very pleased with the result.
And from all of us – all the
best wishes, Rob and Liz, for
your future.
LOVELY COUPLE
DEFENCE’S VIDEO GEM
It’s great when you stumble on a resource you never knew existed.
Trentham Camp Library operates a little gem called the Defence
Videotape Facility, which I discovered recently when I was researching
the Great Escape. The facility offers a huge range of videos and DVDs free
to all NZDF Service, ranks and grades. It’s a great medium for training as
well as self-learning. And if, like me, you’re a fan of good documentaries,
discovering this resource is like stumbling on half-buried treasure.
Mr George Pearson, a self-described ‘military historian’, has been
involved with the facility for many years and writes fulsome descriptions
of each new video or DVD. The facility, he says, began in the 1950s holding
VISITORS FROM CHINA
High-ranking offi cers from the largest military in the world, China’s
People’s Liberation Army (PLA), visited Trentham recently to learn
from the New Zealand Defence Force.
The director-general of the Military Training, International Co-operation
wing of the PLA of China, Director General Senior Colonel Liu Yang, visited
the Defence College on 19 April, accompanied by four other PLA offi cers,
including Captain (Navy) Li Jinliang, Director, Training, Naval Training
Base, PLA Navy.
During their fi ve-day visit to New Zealand, the PLA offi cers visited
Trentham for briefs from the Military Studies Institute and the NZDF
Command and Staff College.
The People’s Liberation ‘Army’ refers to China’s 3.25million -strong
defence force, which has Army, Navy and Air Force branches. Although
the New Zealand Defence Force is vastly smaller, the Commandant of the
Defence College, CAPT Gwyn Rees, says size doesn’t matter.
‘The People’s Liberation Army is very keen to modernise and reform the
very traditional systems that they have had since the end of the Second
World War, and are visiting western countries to gather ideas. They value
GRANT CARR
16mm fi lm but these days it is open to all Services and has thousands of
titles available on a wide variety of subjects - from terrorism to travel and
history to Hollywood movies. He stresses that the collection is not run in
competition with any commercial video outlets and is purely for training
or personal interest of NZDF employees.
And you don’t need to visit Trentham Camp library to access the
Facility’s catalogues. It’s all available on-line at the Army’s Intranet site
http://awi-teams/army_publications/videolibrary/
You can even order your video or DVD with an on-line order form. What
could be easier?
New Zealand and Australia, in particular, because we’re modern militaries
– it doesn’t matter what size [military] we are, we all confront the same
sorts of problems, and they’re here to see how we manage our professional
military development and education.’
AFN71 JUNE 06 www.airforce.mil.nz
WN 06-0014-42