Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) Lieutenant Chris Wise has been stationed in the Golan Heights — located in southwest Syria and occupied and administered by Israel — as part of Operation Scoria for the past five months.
He will be there for another seven months.
The operation is the New Zealand Defence Force’s contribution to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization’s supervision of armistice agreements between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Lt Wise is in the Golan Heights to monitor adherence to the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between Syrian and Israeli forces.
‘‘It’s a role that takes patience, resilience and an open mind.’’
He experienced multiple missile alerts each day.
Generally, they were detected early, and they would receive prompt notifications to head to the nearest shelter immediately, where they would remain if a missile intercept was unsuccessful.
Time spent in the shelter was never too long, he said.
Originally from Dunedin, Lt Wise grew up in Waldronville, Green Island and Fairfield, and attended Taieri College.
He was living in Roxburgh when he decided to join the RNZN in 2012.
‘‘This deployment has been a career aspiration for some time.
‘‘Generations of New Zealand United Nations military observers have taken part, each with their own unique set of stories and experiences.’’
His most common task was static operations with his team — they observe the Area of Separation from a permanent observation post for shifts between seven to 14 days.
He also conducted mobile operations, with car patrols heading into areas of interest, which could involve inspections and investigations into possible violations of the agreement.
While the war between the United States and Iran had changed their routes quite a bit for this, everyone still had a positive attitude.
‘‘There have been some tense times and we make preparations for worse-case scenarios by ensuring our shelters have enough supplies to see us through if we have to go to ground.
‘‘Things can change here in the blink of an eye.
‘‘Having the ability to understand the situation and react accordingly is very important.
‘‘Generally, if something feels wrong, it is wrong, and it’s better to cut away and return another day.’’ —Allied Media
