New ATG Commander

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 32, 21 January 1986, Page 12

New ATG Commander

Colonel Graham Birch, who took over as commander of Army Training Group at Waiouru Military Camp from Colonel Meldrum over the Christmas break, is no stranger to this area. As his father was a fulltime soldier at Waiouru he spent his secondary school years at Ruapehu College, transformed from Ohakune District High School during his time there. Colonel Birch went to the Royal Military College at Duntroon, Australia, after he left school and has been in the army ever since. After his graduation from Duntroon in December 1960, he was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery. He later served as an observation post officer in 161 Battery, Royal NZ Artillery, when it was first deployed to Vietnam in July 1965. For his services in Vietnam, Colonel Birch was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1966. The Colonel has held a range of command, training and staff appointments which include Military Assistant to the Chief of General Staff; Grade Two Staff Officer on Headquarters Logistic Support Group at Palmerston North; Second-in-command of the 16th Field Regiment at Papakura; Commanding Officer of the Waiouru Training Depot; and Commander of the Army's 2nd Task Force Region.

He was a 1969 graduate of the British Army's Staff College at Camberley and attended the Australian Joint Services' Staff College at Canberra in 1 98 1 . Between 1982 and 1983 he was Director of the Royal New Zealand Artillery and Army Air Corps on the Army General Staff in

Wellington. Prior to taking up his current appointment in December 1985, Colonel Birch was Chief of Staff at the Army's Headquarters Support Command in Palmerston North. Colonel Birch said he was looking forward to coming to Waiouru for his fourth term of residence with the added attraction of the Tongariro National Park to keep him busy. "Anyway as a soldier, home is where you are posted and you make the best of where you are," he said. Colonel Birch is a keen skier and hopes to do a lot while he is here. He has also recently.taken up golf and while he says he is not very good at it yet he intends to play as much as possible. Colonel Birch and his wife Janine have three grown-up children.