US Presidential election poll shows possible surprising outcome - Audio

The reality is that the SAS boys fight, and put their lives on the line 24/7, for the very right for NZ'ers to have, let alone argue freedom of speech. Something the press and the public always sit around luxuriously' forgetting. I would say the look on Willy's face is from the 'insult' of the cameraman.

Im in the "army"(generalised)& even if I was on deployment , my only importance would be in the task at hand not for anyone beside my close family to know ! No reporter should be taking my photo , nor should any one be interested in "my" actions. John Key & "Uncle Jerry" Mataparai are the only people who should be commenting on whats happening because of thier decisions to go anywhere , Willy is a cool guy ! if you are interested , read his book ! dont listen to rumours in the press ( french press at that !) .... ..... meh , Im over it !

Im in the "army"(generalised)& even if I was on deployment , my only importance would be in the task at hand not for anyone beside my close family to know ! No reporter should be taking my photo , nor should any one be interested in "my" actions. John Key & "Uncle Jerry" Mataparai are the only people who should be commenting on whats happening because of thier decisions to go anywhere , Willy is a cool guy ! if you are interested , read his book ! dont listen to rumours in the press ( french press at that !) .... ..... meh , Im over it !

Sorry, but there are alot of people saying stuff that is just a load of crap. I get annoyed at dipsh*ts that go on as if they know how the whole operation works, just because they got through Call of Duty on the hard level or watched a couple of war movies.

I do know a little bit about how it works, and I can assure you that I know sweet f**k all. And the people that know more than that know not to talk about it.

Doug you are correct that nobody knew Cpl Apiata was in Afghanistan, and I agreed with you the first time. I also have never claimed that he was there since his VC and prior to him being photographed now. Why are you still making the point? Being so defensive would make you a good candidate for the defence force.

It's really not relevant that this photo was shown and it was mentioned who the soldier is, the real problem is that it's been plastered all over the news for the last 4 days, the country and the media are obsessed with this story and that is what is making the situation worse. If there wasn't a big fuss kicked up, there most likely wouldn't have been a big issue and everyone would have forgotten about it. NZ has not helped Willie.

Anrath, Like I said before, you watch too much Rambo (or maybe smoke too much pot).
Mike, nobody had the faintest clue that Cpl Apiata was even in Afhanastan let alone out of NZ.

No Doug I did not know Cpl Apiata was in Kabul prior to the photo (although it was a safe bet he was somewhere nearby). However I did know he has been to Afghanistan, and due to some less that diligent people in the army and government who wished to bask in some reflected glory from him, he is now known to the whole world and subsequently his family is now a legitimate target for terrorist retaliation. Arguably he is the least likely to be affected by his exposure - he can melt away but his family and friends cannot. So your point is what? My point is that he should never have been exposed as a SAS member. His VC should have been awarded under the same clandestine manner in which he earned it. SAS should never be paraded publicly to avoid a host of issues, one being retaliation to family members. So don't blame the press when he has already been exposed by those who really should know better.

Ok Doug, perhaps New Zealanders didnt know but the U.S Military and the Afghan government did and so therefore did the terrorists / Taliban.

We are complaining because we now know, but the reality is the good guys and the bad guys knew long before we did.

Standard reconnesance by the enemy would have noted apiata's presence because he is well known to the taliban and many other military organisations.

If the government didnt want the identities of the NZ SAS troops known, they wouldnt have allowed Apiata to be sent.

And yes the government does get informed of all military operations including personnel via the Minister of defence, as he and the Prime Minister are responsible for approving missions, budgets etc.

My Father and uncles were military men as was my brother.
The chain of command ends with the Prime Minister. however it is not certain he would have known Apiata was there, but the Minister of defence certainly would have.

The SAS are a reclusive bunch, if they were in full dress uniform on the streets of afghanistan without disguise the enemy would have had pictures of them first and would have easily identified Apiata.

This would be an interesting question for the opposition parties to pose to the Minister of defence during parliamentary question time, did the minister know that apiata had been sent, and if so... why on a covert mission would we send our most well known SAS trooper?.

If the identity of our SAS teams is secret then why were they in NZ uniforms interacting with the Afghan public some of whom would have been working for the Taliban.

This is a National party cockup not a media one.

Alien will go nuts at that.. he's such a rightie... but yes alien I very much do know how the military works.

You can find the photos on the internet on overseas websites anyway. It's just that New Zealand has a ridiculous attitude (and laws) regarding the identification of special forces.