Col John Wilson (60) said his military anaesthetic and surgical work had varied widely from working in local hospitals to "full on military stuff", dealing with people whose legs had been blown off, or who had suffered gunshot and mine-inflicted wounds.
It took a particular type of personality to be able to work in the military, where specialists could often find themselves working outside their area of expertise, he said.
While the actual work was not that different from civilian work, where doctors could be dealing with major trauma from events like road accidents regularly, a major difference in the military work was having the ability to work under difficult conditions.
Often, there was less back-up, less equipment, demanding workloads and sometimes less than safe conditions, Col Wilson said.
One goal he is working towards is trying to get a deployable surgical team for times of conflict or disaster, but "it is easier said than done".
Unlike in the United Kingdom or the United States, the defence force does not employ full-time surgical and specialist staff, and military specialists get their training and work in the civilian sector. Col Wilson works at Mercy Hospital and a small amount at Dunedin Hospital.
To attract doctors to the job and maintain their interest, significant and meaningful exercises had to be held regularly, otherwise they were likely to go and work with other organisations, such as Save the Children or Medicines sans Frontieres, he said.
Col Wilson had a family history of military involvement. His father was in the Royal New Zealand Medical Corps during World War 2. His own association with military began in 1962 when he joined the New Zealand School Cadet Forces.
From 1968 to 1972, he served in the Otago University Medical Company. He was deployed to Binh Dinh, in Vietnam, with the 1st New Zealand Services Medical Team in 1971.
On return, he served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force Active Reserve from 1972 to 1977, and then served as a regular force officer in the air force with the rank of squadron leader from 1978 to 1983.
In May 2000 and August 2001, he served in East Timor with the New Zealand Defence Force as a civilian.
He joined the Territorial Force of the New Zealand Army in 2002 as a medical officer in the rank of major, and was posted to the 4th Battalion (Otago and Southland) Regiment. He was deployed to Afghanistan from December 2004 to February 2005.
In August 2005, he was posted to the 2nd Health Support Battalion in Linton and, in October 2005, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and posted to army general staff as one of the assistant directors of medical services.
With his promotion to colonel, he will assume the role of assistant director of medical services, providing specialist input to army policy on medical matters and capability development. He will play a critical role in the development of Territorial Force medical capabilities that will support the regular force.
