Predators beat
New Zealand MPs catch soldiers five

Corporals Rodger Priest and Scott Bryant on Excercise Predators Gallop Photo By Cpl Damian Shovell, Army newspaper

By Cpl Damian Shovell

SEVEN MPs from the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent on Exercise Predators Gallop got a soldiers five from their 11 Mp Pl counterparts on how Aussies do business.

The seven Kiwis visited 11 Mp Pl sections at the four Tactical Control Points (TCPs) around the exercise and along the route to Darwin and to the section at brigade headquarters issuing IDs and passes.

Stopping at the TCP at brigade entrance, the Kiwis met with Cpl Scott Bryant, 3 Sect, 11 MP Pl and as luck had it, Cpl Bryant had just returned from three months in New Zealand working with Kiwi MPs on Exercise Anzac Exchange where he’d observed how they conduct investigations and field work and also instructed on a basic MP course.

“I’ve worked with all these guys before, and know all of them so it worked out quite well,” he said.

“Where we are here at the TCP is checking the authorization of vehicles coming in and out of the AO.

“They [the Kiwis] are quite good to work with, very similar to us. Basically we run everything exactly the same as the Kiwis.”

Cpl Rodger Priest, 2 MP, Linton Camp agreed saying they were able to slip almost straight in as they took part in activities including an A vehicle escort utilising motorbikes and rovers when 1 Armd Regt conducted a highway road move.

“...but it’s good to just hang back and see how these guys do it and then slot in and get on with the job,” he said.

So much so that Cpl Priest credited the only challenge on Predators Gallop being the heat, a sentiment shared by Cpl Bryant as he joked that the biggest highlight for the exercise was the new car fridge in the back of the rover.