NZ Military can’t sail, fly or fight!!

And no they are not my words, but from an NZPA story:

NAVY CAN’T SAIL, AIRFORCE FLY OR ARMY FIGHT SAYS DEFENCE FORCE

Wellington, Sept 3 NZPA – The navy is finding it difficult to sail, the airforce to fly and the army would struggle to take part in combat, the 2007/2008 Defence Force annual report revealed today.

The report paints a picture of the defence forces hamstrung by a lack of staff and poor equipment.

The army said while land forces were “partially” prepared for low level conflicts, the army was not equipped to meet higher threat situations — “nevertheless, a company group response was provided for Afghanistan”. …

The airforce had “insufficient personnel” to meet air and ground crew levels and it was only “partially prepared” for complex maritime air operations. …

In the navy, few of the ships managed to get out to sea as much as planned.

The HMNZ Endeavour spent 50 days at sea out of an expected 100 to 120 day, HMNZS Te Kaha 99 days out of 140 to 160, and the HMNZS Canterbury only 95 days out of 140 to 160.

This was due to both a lack of personnel and “equipment and capability issues”.

That is a pretty damning state of affairs!