'Hobby' soldiers an interesting lot

New Zealand has had a long tradition of volunteer, amateur soldiering since its formal European settlement nearly 200 years ago. This has had a major impact on the country's development and on its performance in real wars.

This vast, coffee-table-sized book does full justice to the subject. What a diverse lot they were, and what enthusiasm they displayed.

Cooke and Crawford are professional military historians. This is obviously a labour of love. The collection of photographs of those involved since 1833, their equipment, uniforms and the terrain in which they practised their hobby, is wonderful.

The Territorials began with the New Zealand land wars of the 19th century, when soldiering was a matter of life or death. It was not clear to anyone when the land wars actually ended, so the tradition of soldiering lingered on long after the need for it was over. Also, in those days, there were not the organised group recreations of more settled times, so being a territorial was an important social activity.

[1] Members of the 1 Mounted Rifles Regiment (Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry) ride under the archway at the Bridge of Remembrance in Cashel St, Christchurch. Photo from Ashburton Museum Undated.
Then came the formal wars of the 20th century, and the territorials became feedstock for the armed forces.

This is still the case, and our most recent VC, Corporal Willie Apiata, joined the professional army via the territorials. He was encouraged to join by friends who were already members, and subsequently served with the regular forces in East Timor and Afghanistan. This is how most of those who served in the Anglo-Boer War came to be soldiers too, so there is a long tradition.

There have been times when the tradition was nearly broken.

Anti-military and cost-conscious politicians hating war and wanting to save money discouraged the territorials, but were unable to counter the widely-held call to duty so many felt, and the pleasure they gained.

This was especially so in the 1930s when the existence of the armed forces themselves was under threat, and it took the so-called "Colonels' Revolt" to alert the wider public to the danger.

But the same thing has threatened several times since.

When Labour took office in 1972, it was so imbued with the anti-Vietnam spirit that it disbanded the National Service (NS) reintroduced by National in 1961 and replaced it with a Territorial Force Volunteer (TFV) scheme. Of the last 2300 balloted under NS, 319 chose to attend the first TFV intake in January, 1973. With the compulsion removed, the TFV dropped in size from 11,400 to 3155 by April 1. Of these, 1089 were existing National Servicemen who chose to stay in the force, 1253 were TFV, and the rest willing new recruits.

By the end of 2010, the TFV had a strength of 1864 servicemen and servicewomen. But maintaining a viable strength has been and is a constant source of concern. It is shortage of funds rather than shortage of personnel which is the worry.

The book recounts and illustrates the enormous range of activities of the territorials, and not just in New Zealand. Today territorial volunteers are serving with Ramsi - New Zealand Regional Assistance Mission in the Solomon Islands. But it is the array of dramatic and gorgeous photographs that will linger with the reader.

• Oliver Riddell is a Wellington writer.