Balls more dangerous than bullets
Our armed forces are far more likely to be injured on the sports field than the battlefield.
One Air Force member got a broken arm while doing on-duty ‘‘adventurous training’’ hydro-sliding, an Army member got a fractured neck while playing the ‘‘capture the flag game’’, and ball games accounted for 16 Defence Force injuries.
The Defence Force has released a list of serious injuries or deaths under the Official Information Act for on-duty staff from the past three years. Military staff were more likely to be injured in New Zealand than overseas but were more likely to die on foreign soil.
Corporal Luke Tamatea, 31, Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, 26, and Private Richard Harris, 21 were killed by a roadside bomb in the northeast Afghanistan province of Bamiyan in August, 2012.
Earlier that month, Lance Corporals Rory Malone and Pralli Durrer died in a firefight in the country’s Baghlan province. Private Michael Ross, 29, drowned in September, 2012 after falling from a boat during a training exercise on a lake near Waiouru.
In August last year, Linton soldier Lieutenant Sam Scott died from a head injury suffered while playing in a rugby league match.
There were 48 serious injuries, which were defined as harm with long-lasting effects that could reduce quality of life and ability to carry out duties. Sixteen involved ball sports, there was a broken forearm caused while swimming, and a broken arm from a cycling accident.
While sports featured highly on the list, there was no shortage of operational mishaps.
One person in Linton got a fractured ankle in April last year after being run over by a ‘‘light operational vehicle’’, one in Waiouru lost a finger while firing a live mortar in late 2013, and another in Wellington in 2012 got pulled out of a vehicle and broke an arm due to ‘‘rifle snag’’.
Another, in Nelson last year, had the tip of the right little finger amputated when a part of a disassembled rifle moved forward during cleaning.
In Linton last year, an Army member needed a partial amputation of an unspecified body part after an accident involving a bench saw.
But, with more than 14,000 men and women in our armed forces the chance of serious injury or death remain low.