They’re New Zealand’s fighting elite but when they go into action it’s with gear they’ve got themselves on-line because the Defence Force will not provide or doesn't do so in time.

News photos of Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers in action over the streets of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul hid the fact that the lanyards stopping them from falling out of helicopters were paid for by the men themselves; online for $100 each.

Soldiers discovered there were not enough of charging handles – crucial to firing their weapons – so they paid $70 apiece to get their own.

Taking pity on them, the Americans let them scrabble through US discards at the giant Bagram Air Base.

A three-day court martial last week of an SAS soldier at Papakura Camp, just outside the Rennie Lines - the high clearance and maximum security SAS headquarters - revealed the sorry logistics and support for the soldiers.

The soldier with Bosnia and three tours of Afghanistan under his belt was convicted of stealing Defence Force equipment.

Nothing was missing from military stores and Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces Christopher Hodson found that odd.

‘‘There was no loss to the military, which is unique,’’ he said.

The soldier had mixed up his own identical gear with that provided by the taxpayer. He could have been jailed for seven years on the three theft convictions, but instead Hodson fined him 28 days pay, around $4800.

It was his 30th birthday but he did get a present – Hodson said he could stay in the army.

The "non-theft" occurred when the soldier tried to sell bits of his own military kit he had paid for to Serious Shooters Ltd of Penrose, Auckland. His government issue kit, already handed in, had nothing missing.

Serious Shooters shopped him in to his bosses.

Hodson heard that the soldier's quarters, car and garage were searched by military police.

There had been no due process; all the military paperwork was backdated after equipment had been found in his room, including an old M14 rifle, with suppressor, under the coach.

There had also been a 200 gram pack of the plastic explosive semtex (worth $6.99) found in his garage.

He was charged with possession but was found not guilty; nobody knew how it got there.

The military police had raided the solder without active authority; it was created later.

Hodson ruled that in military law there was nothing requiring written permission to raid a soldier’s quarters, so he let the court martial proceed, but he slammed ‘‘the chaotic state of the paperwork.’’ Hodson suppressed all SAS names and ranks, as well as operation names and some of the roles carried out. Operations had high media profiles at the time.

The accused soldier’s role, he said, was ‘‘anything up to close and personal.’’

In Kabul he was issued with two AR15 automatics; one short-barrelled for street fighting.

For combat operations, soldiers use a charging handle to cock the weapon and to load it.

The SAS had old charging handles which could not be properly used with gloved hands. In action and when used ambidextrously, they let hot gas from spent rounds blow back into soldiers' eyes.

There were not enough improved charging handles to go around.

“I took it upon myself to buy some more,’’ the soldier said, saying he didn’t want to have to stop fighting to clear his eyes.

“The enemy don’t wait and I enjoy my eyesight.’’ He spent US$15000 (NZ$18,000) online to buy his own gear, including body armour, helicopter lanyards and safety boots. Other soldiers did the same.

‘‘It could have happened through the system but it hasn’t happened yet…. The enemy doesn’t wait,'' he said.

The SAS had a US Army Post Office address at Bagram which allowed them to buy US-only material off the internet.

They also needed electronic weapons sighting aids or JPoints and Advanced Combat Optical Gunsights.

The soldier was convicted of trying to sell JPoints but he said they were from a discard bin the Americans had set up for Allies at Bagram. He had traded a Kiwi hat for them.

‘‘They help their poorer cousins …. Who else gives away a free truck?’’

They could have taken a Chinook helicopter had they wanted one.

SAS staff would travel to Bagram and roam the discharge area to fill up with useful stuff. It would then be shared out at the SAS base. That’s how they got washing machines.

‘‘The Americans were a funny lot,’’ said one witness, ‘‘if they were missing a screw they would throw [the washing machines] away.’’ Superior officers to the accused sang his praises and pointed out that shortly before he was shopped in, he had been recommended for promotion. ‘‘Good bloke and a trustworthy bloke,’’ one witness said. "He did the job, a good soldier.

‘‘I did not consider him a thief.’’

Another made the point that he was good in combat: ‘‘He conducts himself extremely well.’’

The soldier’s lawyer, Melinda Mason, is appealing.

It is a state secret whether the soldier is allowed back in the Rennie Lines.



