This series deals with themes of loss of life, grief, trauma, violence and mental health. The content may not be suitable for younger listeners

Kia ora, I'm Alex Mason.

And I'm Mitchell Alexander. Welcome to Season Two of Unclassified, a series where we bring you firsthand tales about extraordinary moments in the lives of members of the New Zealand Defence Force. Today we're joined by Lieutenant Colonel Iain Hill, to talk about what it's like to be at a military base in the Middle East, as it comes under a rocket attack, the role leadership plays in deployments and the one sound he will never forget from his time in Iraq.

Because I remember I had my windows down so I could listen out for other explosions. And as I was driving to the Operation Centre, like in front of me, you knew the whole sky was lit up with just the number of buildings that were on fire. And I could remember like hearing people screaming and people calling for help.

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Lieutenant Colonel Iain Hill was the senior national officer of the 10th and final New Zealand Defence Force contingent to serve at Camp Taji, military complex near Baghdad in Iraq. The NZDF began operations there in 2015, working as part of the US led coalition's efforts to defeat and prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State. The five year deployment known as Operation Manawa saw more than 900 key personnel sent to the base and more than 47,000 Iraqi security force personnel trained by New Zealand and Australian soldiers as part of the joint building partner capacity mission. Originally from Scotland, Lieutenant Colonel Hill served in the British Army for seven years before transferring to the New Zealand Army in 2012. He had been in Iraq before serving with a British deployment to Bosnia in 2007. In 2020, he was leading the New Zealand contingent when a series of 30 rockets hit Camp Taji, killing two US troops, a British soldier, two Iraqis and injuring many others. No New Zealanders were injured in the attacks. Thanks for joining us today.

It's a pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Can you take us back to the evening of the 11th of March 2020. Describe for us where you were, and what unfolded.

So it would have been about 7:30pm. So but 1930 hours, and I just returned to my accommodation, or that's called a CHU. So a container housing unit, so sort of like a fancy shipping container with a bed in it, and I just got back there when the first couple of rockets impacted. And so I immediately, our training kicked in, and you hit the deck and you shelter in place. And I remember laying there, hearing the impacts, and we'd always tried to count the number of explosions so that you knew, you know, what the what the effect had been. And I think I lost count somewhere around 17 or 18 explosions because they were just happening in such quick succession. And I thought at the time that we would be exceptionally lucky, as a as a coalition to come out of this unscathed. After there was a lull in the in the explosions, I also thought it was safe to do so. You know, I grabbed my body armour and my weapon and immediately moved outside where personnel had begun moving, moving to safety. So moving into the bunkers, there was a number of concrete bunkers positioned all around Camp Taji. And the drill was that in the event of a large rocket attack, when it was safe to do so you, you moved into a bunker and then waited until it was you were given the all clear to move out. I spoke very quickly to my regimental Sergeant Major, Mr. Matt Gates, and gave him a few points for coordination back there where our personnel was, but my job was to as quickly as possible get up to the Operation Centre and begin coordinating the response to the incidents. So from there, I remember getting into my vehicle, which was a white, Mitsubishi Pajero and I'm driving some speeds up to up to the Operation Centre. And the thing that that always sticks in my mind very vividly, because I remember I had my windows down so I could listen out for further explosions. And as I was driving to the Operation Centre, like, you know, in front of me, you know, the whole sky was lit up, but just the number of buildings that were on fire. And I could remember like hearing people screaming and people calling for help. And it really crystallized in my mind that, you know, we had some significant things that we were going to have to deal with. And so then I quickly got to the Operation Centre and began coordinating the coalition response to the incident.

And just on hearing, the screaming and the shouting, how unsettling was that for you what was going through your mind when you're hearing that?

It just really reinforces that this is serious. We had, we had done a lot of training, we'd rehearsed for mass casualty situations, because the tensions and theatre had escalated quite steadily over the previous months from late December of 2019. Onwards. So really, for me, it was, oh, shit, people are hearts. We've got a job to do. Let's get after it.

Could you see those injured people?

No, no I could not I was there was always that instinct of wanting to stop to help. But ultimately, myself on the on the operation staff had a had a bigger a bigger job in the coordination piece. When I arrived at the Operation Centre, there was, you know, people, much like myself, or just making their way there as quickly as we could. And there was a certain degree of confusion, we had your staff who are, you know, you're coming in, they'd been, you'd been, you know, conducting first aid. So people covered in bloods, people covered in mud and dirt. And several people who had obviously had some fairly close shaves with the rockets impacting nearby. So we had to quickly just establish a an air of you know calm professionalism within the headquarters and then start the process of our our response, which was a multifaceted in terms of prioritising how we dealt with the casualties and, tragically, the fatalities, but also how we were going to do damage control and how we were going to look to prevent your subsequent attack because, from our perspective, this could have been the precursor for for a ground assault of some kind as well. So how that played out from a New Zealand perspective was that our medical personnel were rushing to the hospital to set up for a mass casualty incident. And our quick reaction force were mounting up in their armoured vehicles to begin patrolling around Camp Taji on ultimately identifying those who had been killed or wounded, identifying the areas of where the damage response to like your fire and emergency services when needed, and ultimately identifying UX or so which is unexploded ordnance. So, so any rockets that had landed, but not detonated, of which there was several, and then also providing a degree of security to the base to ensure that we, we were able to prevent anything you know further from happening or the security situation deteriorating.

In terms of that response, you're obviously in charge of leading the 45 New Zealanders who were stationed at Camp Taji. How do you think they conducted themselves when going through that response?

I'll be honest, I couldn't be prouder of the way that every single member of the New Zealand contingent conducted themselves during that. I said previously we had trained for it, but it's, you know, there's a difference between you training for it and doing it in reality. And I had saw and just a phenomenal level of maturity, and professionalism and compassion from our soldiers that I'm, it still it still makes me incredibly proud even to this day to have been the commander of that contingent, especially noting that for more than 80% of them this was their first deployment overseas and operations. So we had a lot of we had a lot of young people, we had a lot of you know not inexperienced, but you know were quite junior people. And they were an absolute credit to the New Zealand Defence Force and to New Zealanders in general.

Very fortunately, no New Zealanders were injured, but had any of them had close calls with the rockets?

I think we all had varying degrees of close calls either at during this attack, or there was another large rocket attack about 36 hours later, during the attack on the 14th of March, where one of my young officers was thrown across his accommodation by the force of the explosion because our accommodation took a direct hit. We had you know shrapnel passing by us. I myself was driving in Camp Taji when the second attack happened and had to how to exit my vehicle at pace. So a lot of us were in the proximity or dealing with the aftermath, be that you know, tending to tending to the casualties. So it was it was definitely a sobering experience for everyone who was involved because all of the rockets exploded within a one kilometre square around our accommodation and our place of work. And so really, it was, in many ways, just good fortune that that none of us were killed or wounded during this attack and the subsequent one.

On the night of the first attack, what was it like for you personally taking command of the coalition response with a base of 4000 people and what was obviously a volatile environment? How was that for you?

Again, I think we were well trained, we had an excellent commander in the Australian Colonel who was an overall commander of the of the Anzac mission. That's why I worked for him as his chief of staff. So we had worked very hard at preparing for this. And I knew that I could trust my subordinates to do what needed to be needed to be done. So you didn't, you didn't have to worry about micromanaging. Like it was very clear that everyone knew their roles. And in terms of how we managed the competing priorities of keeping New Zealand informed of what was happening, whilst also ensuring that we did our job as a as a strong member of the coalition with a ultimately with a responsibility for the, for the for thousands of other personnel who were based in Camp Taji.

Now, these attacks weren't entirely unexpected. After you arrived in November in 2019, the security situation in Iraq began to deteriorate. At what moment did you feel that shift?

So it was it happened over a relatively short period of time, the contingent arrived in Iraq in late November of 2019. And within a month, we saw the security situation deteriorate, really over a week. And it started on the 27th of December, where a rocket attack on another coalition base killed a US civilian contractor. And then two days later, there was a series of coalition airstrikes against the Shia militia group that conducted the attacks. It's called Kata'ib Hizballah. And so this sort of tit-for-tat response then led to a mass protest outside the US Embassy in Baghdad, where there were buildings destroyed and set on fire and a lot of, a lot of violence. So tensions had been escalating really over around four days, we saw things go from not peaceful but certainly from stable to very unstable. But then really the decisive events in the deployment was the drone strike that killed General Qasem Soleimani and General Mohandas, that happened at Baghdad International Airport, which is about 15 kilometres from where we were based. So that was really the event where we knew that the security dynamics had altered fundamentally, and it would be unlikely that there would not be a response. And I suppose in terms of context, Qasem Soleimani was widely regarded as the second most powerful man in Iran after the Supreme Leader at the time of his death. And for General Mohandas he was the deputy commander of the PMF (Popular Mobilization Forces) in Iraq and widely considered to be one of the most powerful men in Iraq. So we find ourselves in the situation as New Zealand contingent that the second most powerful man in Iran, and one of the most powerful men in Iraq had been killed virtually on our doorstep. And we definitely knew that we potentially had a front row seat for what would happen in terms of tensions between the Coalition and Iran, or predominantly between the United States and Iran. And so that was really the period between Christmas and early into the New Year where we knew that the situation had changed and that we really had to focus on our role of you know of security and command and control within the Camp Taji.

Do you remember where you were at that specific moment when you heard about the drone strike and what went through your head?

I was actually, again, I think it was early in the morning, because if that happens, you know some time under the cover of darkness. And I remember watching it on the news. And thinking that this was going to be significant. And I went through to my to see my boss, the Australian Colonel, Colonel Nick Foxhole and said, "Hey Sir, have you got your TV on?" And we both spent a few minutes just watching, there was a few raised eyebrows as to what this was going to mean. And then quickly, we started thinking about, Okay, what's the "So what?" from this, like, this is going to have ramifications. So yeah, so it was it was first thing in the morning and it certainly provided a degree of focus. I certainly knew from that point on how my day was going to pan out. So yeah, so that was the that was the decisive of event that everything around was subsequently, it was the pebble that was dropped in the pond, and the ripples ultimately led to the rocket attacks, the Iranian ballistic missile attacks. And, yeah. there

There was a lot of political tension in the country at that time, knowing the breadth of the unrest, how did it feel for you, being in a country where foreign forces were targets? I think we just I, I kept the contingent just very focused on the things that we could control. And we were, you are a relatively small player in the in the overall coalition mission. But for the contingent, it was let's just, let's focus on what we are here to do, which is to your train Iraqi security forces, and to provide an element of base command and control. And we're doing this as part of an a part of an Anzac Task Group. Like we were very clear that it wasn't just a Kiwi contingent, we were an Anzac contingent. And both Commanders, both myself and Colonel Foxall were, were very clear that we were working together, we were interoperable, and we were you all, all mates. So I think we, there was no point and certainly at the at the junior level, there was no point and speculating on the geopolitical side of things or what may or may not happen, it was just a case of you maintain your professionalism and you don't let your standards drop, ensure that you are, you know, maintaining your brilliance at the basics, and set the standards. And I think that the contingent did that really well, in terms of just how they role modelled professionalism from always having the correct kits, where if you needed to have your body armour and helmet, you would never catch one of our personnel not setting that the highest of standards. And we always just ensured that we kept everybody well informed. Because there was obviously there was a lot of stuff going on in the news. And we would have perhaps concerned family members, you're contacting contingent personnel from back home asking what's going on, et cetera, et cetera. So we always try to ensure that we got the contingent together, you're regularly just to update them on what was happening. And a lot of that came from having a good communications new back here and in New Zealand, with our chain of commands. In terms of that significant shift that you mentioned before, how did you respond to that, in that environment?

So we knew that there was going to be a response of some kind, it would be, it would have been hugely surprising if there had not, based on the two individuals who had been killed. And so we focused on okay, if it's us, this is what we are going to do. And so from that point onwards, we had our quick reaction force, certainly patrolling a lot more prominently and a lot more frequently, both day and night, just to ensure that we were maintaining that presence around the camp. We had a lot of rehearsals for what we would do in the event of an incident. And we also looked to update and improve where we could the base defence plan and that was us working with all of the allied nations on the on the base in the event of if we are, if there was a physical assault on the Camp, like some sort of ground assault, this is who has responsibility for this area, this has responsibility for this area. And that was us working with, you know, the British, the Americans, the Germans, a whole bunch of other nations just to just to coordinate that response and ensure that if something happened, we had considered it in our planning iterations.

So as the contingent kind of turned to focusing on defending the base was the training mission, put on hold?

So yes, after, after that period, in late December, early January, the training became... it was unrealistic that we would be able to continue that just because some of the tensions that existed between Iraq and the coalition at that time, and I think it was after the Iranian ballistic missile strike on the coalition bases, that training was officially paused. And it was never restarted during our tenure in Iraq.

I understand that you got a heads up from the coalition about the missiles that were heading your way. Can you tell us about that moment?

Yes, so the context there is that the Iranian response to the death of Qasem Soleimani was called Operation Martyr Soleimani. And they launched salvos of ballistic missiles from Iran, and to some targets in Iraq. It was the largest salvo of ballistic missiles launched anywhere since the Gulf War. And so we had been alerted to the fact that one of the bases over to our West had been struck by a salvo of missiles. And then I was in the Operation Centre when I got a phone call from our higher headquarters saying, "We're tracking a second salvo of ballistic missiles. It looks like they're heading for Taji. You've got seven minutes, good luck" which was certainly not a phone call I'm likely to forget. And again, you each one of those rockets had between four and eight hundred kilograms of high explosives. So it was really a case of good luck. If you're still here in eight minutes, then we'll see what's going on. So fortunately for us, the trajectory took them over Camp Taji, but they didn't land in Camp Taji. So I remember some of my personnel saying that they were able to actually see the missiles as they as they flew over our heads on the way to another base, which was further west, and I remember stepping out of the Operation Centre, just to get some air and you could smell jet fuel, which was obviously the rockets which had passed overhead. So that was, that was certainly another night to chalk up in the memorable category from the deployment. But that was the Iranian response to the death of Qasem Soleimani. And the subsequent rocket attacks on Camp Taji, were the response to the death of General Mohandas. So I think it's I think it's important to delineate between both personalities and the response from their respective organisations or governments. If this

This wasn't your first time in Iraq, how did this deployment compare with your previous one was the British Army? my deployment with the British army? It was back in 2007 through 2008. And I was our I love tenant at the time. So I guess I still have tenant you're probably a bit more unaware of what's going on. But that Job was more of a combat role. So I was providing the protection to military supplies that were moving between Kuwait and the city of Basra. Well, the coalition was based at that time. So we had quite a few new engagements with enemy forces during that time. And so when I was told I had the honour of commanding a New Zealand contingent on operations in Iraq, I was oh, well, at least it'll be quieter than the last time you were there, which turned out to be a barefaced lie. It was very interesting for me just to I think it was something I leaned on quite heavily having been there before as a commander, it gave me a degree of situational awareness. And I think it's important when you're in these leadership positions, to be able to provide some reassurance or provide some clarity and guidance to the personnel that you command. And so ultimately, it gave me an opportunity to provide some context to my personnel and say, Well, this is what it was like when I was here last, noting that to the marked difference between a more offensive operation and the under build partner capacity operation, but it certainly was a useful experience. For my second time. The Government announced in June 2019, its decision to in the mandate and withdraw all New Zealand troops by June 2020. That mean, you were the final rotation of Operation Manawa to Iraq for the NZDF. How did it feel to know that you would be the last contingent before you got there? And then leave that after such a high tempo tour? March 2020, was quite an interesting time for the world with the COVID 19 pandemic. How did that impact the withdrawal?

I think we knew I think it was it was good knowing that we were going to be the last contingent because it allowed me to provide a very good purpose to the contingent overall. And I think when we got the contingent together for pre deployment training in Waiouru, earlier in 2019, and I said "You know that we've been, we've been given the opportunity to write the final paragraph of what has been a significant chapter of the New Zealand Defence Force operational history. So let's make sure that we do it right." So I think that that it provided a degree of focus, and that it's not just about us like it's about legacy, because often people will remember the first contingent that deploys, and the last contingent that deploys. And so if we'd gone over and been pretty slack or done a terrible job, then it would have sullied you the legacy and the reputation of all of those who had gone before us. And our contingent wasn't about that. So that was certainly something that that unified the contingent, right from the start, right, from pre deployment training. And that also gave us a degree of focus around how we exit with good grace, not only ensuring that New Zealand's national interests are met, but also at the, at the tactical level that, you know, we don't, we don't leave our mates and the coalition with a hard job to do. And that certainly was a key factor after the rocket attacks in March, when we we'd already started planning at that stage for the for the wrap up and the closure of the of the New Zealand presence. But we knew that we had a job to do and we weren't about to your to pack up and leave early, just because things got more dangerous, ultimately, we will be able to, you know, to look after our mates, we will be able to provide this command and control for the coalition and that base, and there wasn't a single member of our contingent who would have done anything different or if given an opportunity to leave early would have, so that was that was really pleasing for me as a commander that everyone got that and everyone understood the importance. And I really think that the tactical level professionalism and brilliance of our personnel really, you reinforced the strategic relationships. I remember hearing about this, I was like, what's, what's going on with this COVID thing. We obviously had kind of crocodiles somewhat closer to the canoe, all through kind of January, February, March. But as we moved you into the kind of the March, April sort of planning cycle, it became increasingly evident that getting out of Iraq and getting back to New Zealand was becoming more complex and more challenging by the day, as countries became overwhelmed or preemptively closed the borders, it became ah, okay. It's like a game of hopscotch. Like, who are we actually going to do that? It's like how are we going to be able to fly from Iraq to an ultimate location and somewhere else in the Middle East, and ultimately get back to New Zealand. I think we, as a contingent eventually made it back to Sydney Airport, which was locked down, and we the Air Force, you know good on them had sent her a plane over to get us from Sydney and that was, I remember the contingent being escorted to Sydney Airport, which was a ghost town. And that was at that point, you kind of realise the global significance of what had been happening whilst you were, you've been busy in Iraq. But yeah, it was obviously hugely, interesting is probably putting a bit too mildly noting the severity of what occurred, but it was a hugely significant time for the world. And that was the driving factor behind our you know, our return to New Zealand was getting back before we ended up in the situation, we were trapped somewhere for an unknown period of time until the world could figure out what was going on.

After you did manage to return home, Iain, you and several other Army personnel were honoured for your work in Iraq. You were awarded the Defence Meritorious Service Medal and your citation for that specifically pointed to your leadership through some incredibly tough times on the tour. How do you go about leading teams when you're faced with critical events like those you experienced in Iraq?

I think if you wait until times become tough before you look to, you know, to build those relationships or, I think there's a quote about, you know, if you don't rise to the level your expectations, you fall to the level of your training. And we had worked hard as a contingent building those relationships. And it was all down, in my opinion, to share trust and mutual understanding. And although myself and my Regimental Sergeant Major, both received awards for the leadership, like ultimately, our job was easy because our troops, you know our personnel are so professional, and knew their job inside and out that you it wasn't hard to say it wasn't hard to look good. But that was certainly a case of you, I trusted you know every single member of contingent implicitly, and you could give them some intent, and they would crack on and do an outstanding job. I think that's your that's for me is the, it's the best legacy that I can have from that mission as the is just an enduring sense of pride of, of how those, you know, those men and women performed during what was a, you know, an unexpectedly challenging operational deployment.

Do you have a message that you'd want to say to those who served with on that door?

I'm still in regular touch with the leadership of the contingents of both myself and Matt Gaetz and my, my second in command, Paul Corker, you're the three of us you talk on a regular basis and we still actually have our contingent Wade's chat group, where are we, Yeah, I think, you know, I'm still in regular touch with the, you're the leadership of the contingents of both myself and Matt Gates. And my second in command, Paul Coker, you' know the three of us, talk on a regular on a regular basis, and we still actually have, like, a contingent wide chat group where we, you know, maybe on the anniversary of significant events and things like that we maybe you'll, I'll reach out or Mr. Gates will reach out to the contingent, and I think it's just important to remind them all that, you know, that was a, it was a it was a very tough time. And it's you know I think it's all right to experience that or to process that in different ways. But both you’re the leadership of the contingent and you’re the wider chain of command within the Defence Force, will never be too busy of these men and women who have, you'll have problems that they want to talk about. So I guess that's the that's the key message is, we're still here, and if they ever want to talk to myself or your anyone on my chain of command, well, you were always there always. It's an honour to help.

How would you sum up the New Zealand Defence Force's contribution to Iraq over that five year deployment?

I think if you look at the metrics, around the more than 47,000 Iraqi Security Force personnel that were trained, from a data perspective, that's a hugely impressive number over the 10 rotations be able to have trained that many Iraqi troops. And I knew that undoubtedly had a significant impact on the fight against the Islamic states - Iraq and Syria. I think that's one way of looking at it. But I think the reputation were of particular note for me, was the just the regard in which you know, New Zealand personnel were held, both for my contingent and from all of the contingents that had gone before. Like people knew that New Zealand, when you got a New Zealand contingent or you got New Zealand troops, like they delivered bang for buck in the roles and responsibilities in which they were given. So we were seen as a small but trusted partner within that bigger coalition. And I think ultimately, that's the legacy that's stands there for me, perhaps the number of troops that we trained, but the reputation that that we built. And I think that comes down again, to the use of the tactical level professionalism of our soldiers and officers, then you're reinforcing those bigger relationships, and you have your broader reputation from a New Zealand perspective.

Within what you've described as a significant chapter for the NZDF, operationally, your five months overseas on this deployment, as we've discussed, spanned a significant change in the Middle East and the challenges that came with that in terms of the escalation and tensions and the threat faced in Iraq. What's something that's really stayed with you from your time there - an experience you had, or a person you meet, that still sticks in your mind today?

I mean, I'm not gonna lie, there's obviously a few challenging memories that are in there from the from, from the incidents in which we were involved, and the people, you know the mates that we lost from the British and the US contingent whilst we were over there. But I think overall, my memory, it would be hard for me to pick out you're an individual, it was more just about your just an enduring sense of pride about how my entire contingent performed. As I said, even though those certain individuals who were who were recognised for the work you, every single man and woman and that contingent did an absolutely outstanding job. And, and that for me is, you know, you can't ask for more than that, as a leader is to have sort of that sort of respect. And that sort of pride is brilliant, like money can buy that.

What's it like for a boy from the Outer Hebrides to find yourself in situations like this around the world?

I guess I think about it, I wouldn't define myself as you know, I've obviously himself no to everything isn't, you know, I still have the challenges of supporting the Scottish rugby team, which is more like charity work these days. But I really remember when the contingent, when we're doing our handover, and the contingent asked me to be the one that lead the haka. And I was somewhat taken aback. But you're, having that opportunity to do something, which was maybe not part of my culture, as an individual, but as part of our culture as a military and as a country. So that was, again, that was another, you know, huge high point or source of pride to be accepted or to have an opportunity to do something like that. So yeah, it's been, it's been fantastic and I've enjoyed almost every minute of it.

Thanks for your time today. And we really do appreciate it. We'll end with one final reflection. If you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing, before you deployed to Iraq, what would that be?

It's almost as if I wouldn't want to jinx it by changing anything. I think it would probably be a case of trust your processes, trust the training that your personnel have received, and that you've received and just crack on. Like I wouldn't necessarily say I think maybe if I'd if I'd forewarned myself or maybe it would be like, make sure you turn your TV on this day so you can see what's happening. But overall like I think things ran, noting the complexity and the you know, uncertainty on the cards, I don't I don't necessarily think I would have tried to warn myself or give myself any advice. It would really just have been a case of you know, you've got some brilliant people, empower them to make good decisions, and ultimately, that makes your job a lot a lot easier. Thank you.

This podcast is a production of the new Zealand Defence Force. We're your hosts, Alex Mason, and Mitchell Alexander. We'd like to thank our guests for sharing their stories. If you need to talk to someone, you'll find details for support services in the show notes. We welcome your feedback on this podcast. Contact u via email podcast@nzdf.mil.nz. Haere ra.