Waiouru CO leaving

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 278, 14 March 1989, Page 1

Waiouru CO leaving

Colonel Bret Bestic is to be promoted to Brigadier and is being posted.

His new appointment will be as Commander of Support Command based in Palmerston North. Both the promotion and posting will be effective from March 20. As yet a replacement for Col Bestic has not been named. Being Commander of Waiouru ATG for the last 20 months has meant a busy time for the Colonel, who runs

an area only marginally smaller than the island of Singapore. With a staff of over a thousand men, it is a demanding six days a week task. Besides his military duties the Colonel has been involved in a number of community organisations. This involvement includes serving as: Principal Rural Fire Officer; chairman of the Community Advisory Com-

mittee; member of the Kaimanawa Wild Horse Committee and the Wanganui Regional Development Council; co-ordinating emergency services on the Desert Road; chairman of the Museum Management Com-mittee; Patron of the R.S.A and the Girls Marching Team. He has also been involved in Rotary. As part of his military duties the Colonel works in closely with the Department of Turn page 5

Bestic leaving

From page 1 Conservation to look after and protect the flora and fauna in the training area and the Ngamatea wet lands. Colonel Bestic's new appointment to Support Command will see him responsible for individual training and logistics supply during both peace and wartime and with the prospect of the devolution of services out of Wellington his Support Command role will greatly increase. Both the Colonel and his wife Pat say that they really don't wish to move from Waiouru, as they see its future as only getting better. Great improvements have been made to the standard of living in Waiouru, not only the physical appearance of the camp, but also its housing and facilities have improved, says Col Bestic. Mrs Pat Bestic said she will return to Waiouru on occasions to continue her inter-

ests in Federated Farmers. The move will mean that both the Colonel and his wife will be closer to their two children. Their daughter Megan is attending Massey University and their son Breton is at a Palmerston North boarding school. Among her interests Pat includes being Patroness of the Plunket Society and the Waiouru Resource Centre and the relieving teaching she has done in Waiouru, and she says she will miss the lovely garden that surrounds their home.