Exercise Tangata’Toa was a combined arms exercise conducted on the French territory of New Caledonia between April 23 and May 11 last year, involving French, Australian and New Zealand troops.
A platoon of soldiers from New Zealand was invited to embed with a company of French paratroopers, while an Australian platoon joined a motorised company.
As part of the exercise, Anzac Day commemorations were led by the New Zealand High Commission and the 80th anniversary of New Zealand involvement in New Caledonia in 1942 was marked.
New Zealand troops arrived on the island in 1942, prior to going to Guadalcanal in August 1943 after it was captured by American forces.
However, the exercise on the tropical island was not all smooth sailing.
New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) documents, released to the Otago Daily Times under the Official Information Act, show the deployment of New Zealand troops was delayed by three days due to a "technical malfunction" aboard an aircraft C-130 Hercules, and it subsequently being required to support efforts to train Ukrainian soldiers in the United Kingdom.
Likewise, New Zealand troops were not permitted to operate on French Puma helicopters, which resulted in flying time being wasted.
It was recommended that ACC waivers should be procured in the future, so New Zealand troops could operate on board allied aircraft.
Some soldiers were required to pay for their own meals, because meal allowances for scheduled welfare days were not paid ahead of time.
Heat exhaustion and a lack of acclimatisation hobbled the effectiveness of some New Zealand troops on the exercise, with four soldiers suffering from heat exhaustion. Only one was able to resume the exercise.
Troops were not issued with mosquito nets, which presented a health risk, and soldiers found it difficult to sleep in their bivvy bags due to the heat.
Consideration should be given to providing hammocks in the future, the documents said.
Positive Covid-19 cases were identified within the contingent, and daily rapid antigen tests (Rats) screening was commenced.
The documents note the New Zealand contingent did not deploy with sufficient medical stores and Rats had to be sought from French stocks, which put a strain on their resources.
The documents recommend that for future operations in a Covid environment, two medics should be deployed so one could do the exercise while the other could support real time safety.
Drawing on best practise for acclimatisation was also recommended, given that a significant proportion of international exercises in the near future would likely occur in the Pacific region.
Overall, despite the identified opportunities for improvement, the exercise was described as "excellent opportunity" to interact with close partners and refresh on skills that became stagnant during Operation Protect, where thousands of army soldiers deployed to managed isolation and quarantine facilities.
Deployment of two French-speaking New Zealand soldiers greatly enhanced the success of the exercise.
The documents recommend the NZDF consider deploying a Royal New Zealand Navy vessel to the larger Exercise Croix Du Sud, which is likely to be a humanitarian and disaster relief scenario with up to 17 nations participating, in New Caledonia next year.
However, the exercise was likely to clash with participation in Exercise Talisman Sabre, another large biannual large exercise held in Australia with American troops.
