The New Zealand Army (MÄori: NgÄti TÅ«matauenga, “Tribe of the God of War”) is the land component of the New Zealand Defence Force and comprises around 4,500 Regular Force personnel, 2,000 Territorial Force personnel and 500 civilians. Formerly the New Zealand Military Forces, the current name was adopted by the New Zealand Army Act 1950. The New Zealand Army traces its history from settler militia raised in 1845.
New Zealand soldiers served with distinction in the major conflicts in the 20th Century, including the Second Boer War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency, Borneo Confrontation and the Vietnam War. Since the 1970s, deployments have tended to be assistance to multilateral peacekeeping efforts. Considering the small size of the force, operational commitments have remained high since the start of the East Timor deployment in 1999. New Zealand personnel also served in the First Gulf War, Iraq and are currently serving in several UN and other peacekeeping missions. They have just been withdrawn from East Timor, RAMSI in the Solomons and Afghanistan.
