Air Marshall Kevin Short has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the King's Birthday Honours. Photo: Supplied
New Zealand's Chief of Defence Force has been recognised for his service, after a career in the Air Force that has spanned nearly 50 years.
Air Marshal Kevin Short has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the King's Birthday Honours for services to the New Zealand Defence Force.
He said he loved the diversity of the role, but with it came the odd sleepless night.
"One of the things that makes me lie awake at night is the missions that we send our people on and the risks that I take and they take for New Zealand.
"Those deployments are about preserving the security globally, making sure the international rules-based system is working, but people do put themselves in harm's way."
Short's tenure as the Chief of Defence Force has included several significant events, including the Whakaari/White Island eruption, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the evacuation of New Zealanders from Kabul during the 2021 Taliban take-over of Afghanistan.
Air Marshal Kevin Short appears alongside then-prime minister Jacinda Ardern at a post-Cabinet press conference to announce New Zealand will be sending non-lethal aid to Ukraine. Photo: Pool image / Robert Kitchin /Stuff
He said he felt honoured to receive such recognition for his work, and felt it reflected the work of the team that had worked alongside him.
"I do want to acknowledge the great people who serve in the New Zealand Defence Force, because I personally believe it's their efforts that have allowed me to be recognised."
Short joined the Air Force in 1976 as as a general duties navigator at 18 years old, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, father, two uncles and his older brother.
"The pressure was to make sure I didn't fail, that I was successful, because I had a lot of people looking at how I would go in those early days."
He then joined the No.5 Squadron in Whenuapai, flying a P-3B Orion.
"I did four tours on that aircraft over a 15-year period and I absolutely loved the role, the maritime surveillance, the anti-submarine warfare, the search and rescues, those sorts of missions, I just loved everything about it."
Short at an Anzac Day service in Wellington. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
He spent four years in the late 1990s working in a standardisation role for the air force at the Pentagon in the United States. He also participated in missions to Afghanistan.
Short was deployed as a task group commander in 2006, providing leadership for the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamiyan Province.
"It was probably my most memorable role within the Defence Force.
"When you put on that uniform and go into an operational area where there is a high threat to you and your people, it has quite a different effect on you and your leadership."
Short was appointed Chief of Defence Force in July 2018 and will retire from the role in early June.
He said the role came with responsibilities that could not be delegated to anyone else, but had to be managed.
"As long as you have done everything you can to address a risk or issue then you should sleep well at night."
He said the Covid-19 response resulted in challenges for the Defence Force, after deployment in managed isolation and quarantine facilities led to high attrition rates.
It had taken some effort to try and stabilise the Defence Force so it could operate to the government's requirements, he said.