New Zealand Army Logistic Trades Appointment, and Proficiency Badges
The trade, appointment, and proficiency badges worn by New Zealand Army logisticians tell a compact but revealing story of military change. At first glance, they are small pieces of cloth or metal, but their symbols record the Army’s movement from horse transport, hand trades, and wagon repair to motor transport, ammunition technology, movement control, catering, quartermastering, and integrated logistics.
The earliest badges belonged to the horse era. The Snaffle, Spur, Crossed Whips, Bit, Horseshoe, and Wheel reflected an Army that depended on horses, harness, carts, wagons, artillery limbers, and skilled tradesmen who could keep that system moving. Saddlers, farriers, wheelwrights, drivers, and smiths were not peripheral figures. They were essential to mobility, supply, and battlefield endurance. Without their skill, guns could not move, ammunition could not be brought forward, rations could not be delivered, and wounded men could not be carried from the field.
As the twentieth century progressed, the Army’s symbols changed with its technology. Horse-driving badges gave way to steering wheels and wagon wheels. Badges for electricians, engine drivers, artificers, ammunition technicians, movement operators, air dispatchers, caterers, quartermasters, and logisticians reflected a force increasingly shaped by mechanical, technical, and administrative skill. Yet the purpose remained constant, to recognise soldiers whose specialist knowledge enabled the Army to move, fight, repair, sustain, and endure.
By 1960, most of the pre-war logistic-related trade and appointment badges had disappeared from everyday use. The major survivor was the Hammer and Pincers, the old artificer and technical trades badge, which endured because its meaning could adapt from blacksmithing and armourer work to mechanical repair, technical mastery, and later advanced maintenance qualification. Apart from the later introduction of the Ammunition Technician badge, no significant new logistic trade badge would be introduced until the 2000s, when the modern RNZALR badge system began to reflect the broader professional identity of Combat Drivers, Movement Operators, Caterers, Quartermasters, and Logistic Specialists.
This article traces that evolution. It follows the badges from the Snaffle to the Taiaha and Key, showing how each symbol marked a particular skill, trade, appointment, or qualification, and how the visual language of New Zealand Army logistics changed as the Army itself moved from horses and wagons to vehicles, aircraft, shipping, digital systems, and integrated sustainment.
The badges in this article fall into three broad eras. The first runs from the earliest dress regulations of 1905 through to approximately 1960, covering the horse transport and early motor age, when badges reflected the trades of drivers, farriers, saddlers, wheelwrights, smiths, and artificers. The second era is defined more by absence than presence. From roughly 1960 to the formation of the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment in 1996, the badge landscape was largely static. The proposed 1960s trade badge system was never adopted, and apart from the approval of the Ammunition Technician badge in 1971, little changed visibly. The third era began with the RNZALR and continues to the present. It saw the gradual introduction of a modern badge family reflecting the Regiment’s full range of trades — Combat Drivers, Movement Operators, Ammunition Technicians, Caterers, and Logistic Specialists — each with a distinct symbol connecting professional identity to the wider story of New Zealand Army logistics.
| Date | Badge | Event |
| 1901 | Hammer and Pincers | First New Zealand armourer sergeants arrive; badge in informal use |
| 1905 | Snaffle; Spur and Crossed Whips | Formalised in New Zealand Dress Regulations |
| 1912 | Hammer and Pincers | Formalised in New Zealand dress regulations |
| 1914–1918 | Spur with Whip in the Middle; Crown Spur with Whip in the Middle | Unofficial use during First World War |
| 1923 | Bit; Horseshoe; Wheel; Hammer and Pincers; Crown Crossed Whip and Spur; Crossed Whip and Spur | Expanded and formalised in 1923 Dress Regulations |
| 1927 | Crown Crossed Whip and Spur; Crossed Whip and Spur | Confirmed in New Zealand Gazette regulations; spur-and-whip pattern superseded |
| 1939–1945 | Cartwheel armband; AD in Wreaths with Wings | Introduced or used during Second World War |
| By 1960 | Bit; Horseshoe; Wheel; Snaffle; horse-driving badges | Discontinued from practical use |
| 1960 | AD in Wreaths with Wings | Confirmed approved for New Zealand use |
| 1960 | Wheel; Crossed Needle and Awl; Crossed Keys; Star | Proposed but never adopted |
| 1971 | Flaming A (RAOC pattern) | Approved 31 May 1971 for RNZAOC personnel |
| 1973 | Wagon Wheel with Number Inside | First recorded use for Driver of the Year competition |
| 1988 | Flaming A (fern frond pattern) | New Zealand heraldic version enters service |
| 1996 | RNZALR formed | Quartermaster and Supply trades integrated into new Regiment |
| 2007 | Taiaha and Key | Design selected as Logistic Specialist Top of Trade badge |
| 2009 | Taiaha and Key | Approved for wear |
| By 2012 | Hei Matau; Combat Driver Top of Trade (Wagon Wheel) | Recorded as official RNZALR badges |
Glossary
| Term | Meaning | Badge context | Why it mattered |
| Snaffle | A simple horse bit used with reins to control a horse. | Used as a horse-driving proficiency badge. The 1905 system used the Snaffle to recognise driving skill, with different colours indicating levels of proficiency. | It represented the soldier’s ability to control horse transport, which was essential for moving guns, wagons, ambulances, supplies, and equipment. |
| Spur | A small metal device worn on a rider’s heel to cue or direct a horse. | Appeared in horse-driving prize and proficiency badges, often with crossed whips. | It symbolised horsemanship, control, and skilled handling of military horse teams. |
| Whip | A driving aid used to control and direct horses, especially in teams. | Seen in Crossed Whips and Spur badges, and in the unofficial Spur with Whip in the Middle badge. | It reflected practical horse-driving skill, particularly for transport and artillery drivers. |
| Crossed Whips | Two whips crossed as a badge symbol. | Used with the Spur to denote horse-driving proficiency or prize awards. | The crossed form created a clear badge symbol associated with professional driving of horse teams. |
| Bit | The metal mouthpiece fitted inside a horse’s mouth as part of the bridle. | Used for saddlers, saddletree makers, harness makers, and repairers. | It represented the trades responsible for making and maintaining horse harness and equipment. |
| Bridle | The headgear fitted to a horse, including the bit and reins, used to control the animal. | Connected to the Snaffle and Bit badges. | It was central to horse control and therefore a fitting symbol for horse-related military trades. |
| Harness | The leather and metal equipment used to attach horses to wagons, guns, carts, and limbers. | Associated with saddlers and harness makers. | Harness failure could stop movement, so harness trades were vital to military transport. |
| Saddler | A tradesman who made and repaired saddles, harness, and leather horse equipment. | Identified by the Bit badge. | Saddlers kept mounted and horse-drawn units serviceable. |
| Saddletree maker | A specialist who made or repaired the rigid frame of a saddle. | Included under the Bit badge group. | The saddle tree gave the saddle its shape and strength, making it essential to mounted service. |
| Farrier | A specialist who cared for horses’ hooves and fitted horseshoes. | Identified by the Horseshoe badge. | A lame horse could immobilise a gun team, wagon, or supply column. |
| Shoeing smith | A smith trained to shoe horses. | Linked to the Horseshoe badge. | The role combined blacksmithing and animal mobility support. |
| Horseshoe | A metal shoe fitted to a horse’s hoof. | Used as the badge symbol for farriers and shoeing smiths. | It was a direct symbol of keeping horse transport mobile. |
| Wheelwright | A tradesman who built and repaired wooden wheels. | Represented by the Wheel badge, often shown with twelve spokes. | Wheelwrights kept carts, wagons, limbers, and horse-drawn vehicles serviceable. |
| Wheeler | A term associated with wheel repair or wheelwright work. | Also linked with the Wheel badge. | It reflected the maintenance of wheeled transport before full motorisation. |
| Pincers | Heavy gripping tools, similar to tongs or pliers, used by smiths, armourers, and metalworkers. | Used with the Hammer in the Hammer and Pincers badge. | The symbol represented skilled repair, fitting, armourer work, and later artificer-level technical mastery. |
| Artificer | A highly skilled military tradesman, usually associated with advanced mechanical, armourer, engineering, or maintenance work. | Represented by the Hammer and Pincers badge. | The Artificer became the bridge between older craft trades and modern technical maintenance. |
| Governor | A mechanical device that regulates the speed of an engine. | Appeared in the Governor in Ring badge for engine drivers. | It symbolised competence in operating and controlling machinery. |
| Cart wheel | The wheel of a cart or wagon, later used more generally as a symbol of movement. | Used in movement control and transport-related badges or armbands. | It connected older wagon transport with the modern movements function. |
| Taiaha | A traditional Māori weapon — a long-handled staff with a carved blade at one end and a tongue-shaped point at the other, used by skilled warriors. It required years of dedicated training to master and was associated with authority, discipline, and martial excellence. | Used in the Taiaha and Key crossed badge as the Logistic Specialist Top of Trade badge, approved for wear in 2009. | It reflects the professional mastery and soldierly identity expected of a senior logistician, grounding the badge in New Zealand’s own warrior tradition rather than borrowing from British heraldry. |
| Key | A physical key, universally recognised as a symbol of custody, access, control, and responsibility for what is held under lock. In military and quartermaster tradition, the key has long represented the storeman or quartermaster’s authority over equipment, clothing, and supplies. | Used crossed with the Taiaha in the Logistic Specialist Top of Trade badge. The key’s association with quartermasters and storemen is shared across many Commonwealth and NATO armies, making it an internationally understood symbol within military logistics. | It represents the core responsibility of the logistician — ensuring the right equipment, stores, and supplies are accounted for, secured, and issued to those who need them. Paired with the Taiaha, it balances the warrior identity of the soldier with the custodial responsibility of the logistician. |
From Horse Driving to Vehicle Driving
The earliest driving badges in this group belong to the horse era, when military movement depended on trained drivers, horse teams, wagons, carts, ambulances, artillery limbers, and supply vehicles. The Snaffle badge recognised horse-driving skill. A snaffle, or bridle-bit, is the metal mouthpiece used with reins to control a horse. In the 1905 system, the snaffle appeared as a driving proficiency badge, with red indicating skill and gold indicating distinguished skill.[1]
The Spur and Crossed Whips badge also represented horse-driving skill. It recognised men who could control horse-drawn transport and artillery teams under field conditions, moving guns, ammunition wagons, ambulances, and supply carts. Gold was awarded as 1st prize in driving a horse transport, and Red for 2nd prize in driving a horse transport.
The Spur with Whip in the Middle was an unofficial horse-driving prize badge worn on the lower left arm. It was not formally authorised in New Zealand dress regulations between 1905 and 1923. Instead, it was a British badge, associated with the Royal Artillery, that was adopted informally by some New Zealand Volunteer Force units and later appeared in connection with New Zealand soldiers serving with transport and artillery units during the First World War.
The badge recognised first prize in horse-driving skills. Its unofficial status is important. Although related official driving badges existed, the specific Spur with Whip in the Middle pattern was not listed in the New Zealand Dress Regulations from 1905 to 1923. The Crown Spur with Whip in the Middle was also unofficially utilised during the wartime era.
The use of these badges appears to have been based on British precedent and local adoption rather than formal New Zealand authority.
The 1923 and later 1927 regulations recognised the official badges, the Crown, Crossed Whip and Spur for first prize and the Crossed Whip and Spur for second, third and fourth prizes, which suggests that the spur-and-whip pattern had effectively been superseded after the First World War.[2]
The move from horse transport to motor transport changed the symbols of proficiency, but it did not change the underlying requirement for skill. The Army still needed soldiers who could move people, stores, fuel, ammunition, rations, water, and equipment safely, reliably, and under demanding conditions. As motor vehicles replaced horses, the older symbols of reins, spurs, and whips gave way to new badges based on the steering wheel. The Steering Wheel with Crown represented first prize in vehicle-driving skill, while the plain Steering Wheel represented second, third, and fourth prizes. These badges were the motor-age successors to the horse-driving proficiency badges. The visual language changed, but the purpose remained the same, to recognise the soldier who could control military movement with skill and judgement.[3]
This tradition continued through the Wagon Wheel with Number Inside, which became associated with the Driver of the Year competition. First recorded in 1973, the Driver of the Year became an enduring expression of professional driving skill. It tested far more than basic road driving. Competitors were assessed across practical and theoretical stands, including vehicle servicing, loading and lashing, light and heavy vehicle handling, cross-country driving, skilled circuit work, and adaptability under pressure.
The plain Wagon Wheel also became associated with the transport trade more broadly. Within the RNZALR, it developed into the Combat Driver Top of Trade Badge, worn by eligible officers, warrant officers, and senior non-commissioned officers who have achieved the required level of professional competence, instructional authority, and trade experience within Army land transport.
Recorded as an official badge by 2012, the Combat Driver Top of Trade Badge is awarded only to personnel who meet several professional requirements. They must hold the relevant senior Combat Driver trade qualification, either the former Driver, Royal New Zealand Corps of Transport qualification, or the Driver, Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment Band 5 qualification. They must also be approved driving instructors, with a current Land Transport New Zealand driving instructor endorsement, and approved driving licence testing officers, with a current testing officer endorsement. In addition, they must be recognised within the relevant New Zealand road transport and Land Transport New Zealand framework, or by an equivalent authority. They must have completed either the Transport Platoon Sergeants Course or the Transport RNZALR Staff Sergeants Course.
Movements, from cartwheel to land, sea, and air
The Cartwheel armband/patch identifies personnel carrying out movement control duties. Its origins lay in the earlier Red Movement Control or MC armbands used by British and Commonwealth movement control personnel during the Second World War. These wartime brassards were plain, functional identifiers, intended to make movement control staff immediately recognisable at ports, railheads, road movement control points, airfields, and transit areas.
After the war, the worded armband gave way to a more standardised symbol. The yellow wheel on a red background became the recognised Allied and NATO-style identifier for movement control personnel. The wheel was simple, visible, and internationally understood as a symbol of movement, transport, and control.
Although the cartwheel recalled the older world of carts, wagons, and road movement, its meaning changed as the movement trade developed. By the post-war period, movement personnel were no longer concerned only with land transport. They coordinated the movement of people, vehicles, equipment, baggage, and freight by road, rail, sea, and air. In this way, the cartwheel became less a symbol of wagons and more a symbol of military movement itself.
The Anchor and Wings with Wheel Inside badge represented the broader and more advanced movements function. It built on the cartwheel as the established symbol of movement control, but added the other domains in which Movement Operators worked. The wheel represented movement control and land movement, including road and rail. The anchor represented sea movement, ports, shipping, and terminal operations. The wings represented air movement, air terminal activity, and aerial delivery.
Together, these elements captured the modern Movement Operator’s role across land, sea, and air. The badge was worn by senior Non-Commissioned Officers, Warrant Officers, and Officers who had qualified on the Movement Operator Advanced Course. It marked not just a qualification, but a wider level of professional responsibility within the joint logistics environment.
The AD in Wreaths with Wings badge represented Air Dispatch qualification. Introduced during the Second World War, the badge has been confirmed as approved for use in New Zealand in 1960, although it was probably in use earlier.[4] It identified personnel qualified to prepare, rig, load, and despatch stores and equipment by air. Within the RNZALR, Movement Operators qualified for the Air Dispatch Badge after completing the aerial delivery rigger course, serving 18 continuous months as a Movement Operator, and rigging a minimum of 20 successful sorties.
The Flaming A, ammunition as a specialist profession
The A in Flames, or Flaming A, represents the Ammunition Technician. The badge did not simply appear as a decorative trade mark. It recognised a dangerous and highly skilled profession.
New Zealand’s ammunition trade developed from nineteenth-century powder magazine management into responsibility for the full spectrum of ammunition and explosives. The British Flaming A originated after a 1948 design competition for Royal Army Ordnance Corps Ammunition Examiners, and the “A” reflected the trade’s status as an “A” Class trade. New Zealand considered adoption during the late 1950s and 1960s, but approval took time. Major Bob Duggan’s renewed case stressed that this was not merely a trade badge, but recognition of the dangerous and skilful nature of ammunition work. The Army Dress Committee approved the badge for qualified RNZAOC Ammunition Technical Officers and Ammunition Technicians on 31 May 1971.[5]
The New Zealand badge adopted in 1971 was initially identical to the RAOC badge. Officers required one year of practical experience after graduating from an ATO course in Australia or the United Kingdom, while Ammunition Technicians had to qualify in all aspects of the trade, a process that could take up to six years. In 1985, the Army moved towards qualification badges with a New Zealand heraldic character, using fern fronds as a common motif, and the fern-frond version of the Flaming A entered service in 1988.
Quartermaster to Logistic Specialist
The Quartermaster Star represented quartermaster duties, one of the Army’s oldest unit-level sustainment responsibilities. The quartermaster was responsible for the practical needs of the unit, including stores, equipment, clothing, accommodation support, supply administration, accounting, custody, and the issue and control of unit resources.
The badge belonged to an earlier system of appointment and duty badges, but it did not survive the First World War. Its discontinuance during the war reflected the wider rationalisation of badges and the changing organisation of military supply. Although the badge disappeared, the quartermaster function remained essential. Units still required trained personnel to manage stores, clothing, equipment, accommodation support, and the daily administrative systems that kept soldiers equipped and ready.
When the RNZALR was formed in 1996, Quartermaster and Supply personnel from across the Army were integrated into the new Regiment. This broadened the Regiment’s responsibilities and linked unit-level supply practice with the wider logistics system. Quartermastering was no longer simply a unit storekeeping function. It became part of an integrated sustainment chain connecting units, depots, supply systems, equipment accounting, operational stocks, and deployed support.
The Taiaha and Key Crossed badge represents the modern Quartermaster function. Its design was selected in 2007 as the Supply Technician (Now Logistic Specialist) Top of Trade badge and was approved for wear in 2009.[6] The taiaha reflects the soldierly character of the logistician, while the key represents custody, control, access, supply, accounting, and stewardship. It is a modern symbol for an old responsibility, ensuring the force has what it needs, where it needs it, when it needs it.
Saddlers, farriers, and wheelwrights
The Bit badge identified saddlers, saddletree makers, harness makers, and repairers. The bit was an obvious symbol for those who worked with horse equipment because it was part of the bridle used to control the animal.
The Horseshoe badge identified farriers and shoeing smiths. Farriers kept horses mobile by trimming hooves and fitting shoes. A lame horse could stop a gun team or supply wagon just as surely as a broken gearbox can stop a truck.
The Wheel, often shown with twelve spokes, represented the wheeler or wheelwright. The wheelwright built and repaired wheels for wagons, carts, artillery vehicles, and horse-drawn transport. The 1923 regulations listed the Bit, Horseshoe, Wheel, and Hammer and Pincers across various non-commissioned officer and warrant officer appointments, showing how deeply these trades were embedded in the Army’s working structure.
The Hammer and Pincers, the badge that survived
The Hammer and Pincers Crossed badge represented smiths, artificers, armourers, fitters, vehicle mechanics, toolmakers, and other technical trades. Pincers are heavy gripping tools, similar to tongs or pliers, used by blacksmiths, armourers, and metalworkers. Together, the hammer and pincers symbolised skilled repair, metalwork, weapons maintenance, fitting, and mechanical craftsmanship.
In New Zealand service, the badge can be traced to British Army Ordnance Corps armourers who arrived at the beginning of the twentieth century. Armourer Sergeants Bertram Buckley and John Hunter arrived in 1901, followed by William Edward Luckman in 1903. The badge was formalised in New Zealand dress regulations in 1912 and expanded in 1923 across armourers, artificers, fitters, mechanists, smiths, and related technical trades.
The Hammer and Pincers is especially important because, by 1960, it was effectively the only pre-war logistics-related trade badge still in use. The Bit, Horseshoe, Wheel, Snaffle, and horse-driving badges belonged to an older military world that had largely disappeared. The Hammer and Pincers survived because its meaning adapted. It moved from a broad craft-trade identifier to a symbol of technical authority, then to artificer mastery, and in the RNZALR era it remains associated with advanced maintenance qualification.
Catering
Recorded as an official badge by 2012, the Hei Matau badge represents the RNZALR Caterer Trade. The hei matau is a traditional fish-hook form and, in this setting, provides an appropriate symbol for food, provision, and sustainment. Its use reflects the central purpose of catering within the Army, feeding the force so that soldiers can train, deploy, endure, and recover.
The Hei Matau badge was carried over to the Caterer Trade which was stood up on 1 July 2022, following the disestablishment of the former Chef and Steward trades and their integration into a single, operationally focused trade. This change recognised that Army catering is not simply cooking. It combines food preparation, field feeding, hospitality, hygiene, ration management, event support, and deployed sustainment. In camp, caterers provide routine meals and welfare services. In the field, they sustain endurance. On operations, they help preserve health, morale, and operational tempo.
The hei matau, therefore, connects the practical act of feeding with the wider logistical purpose of sustaining people. It is a fitting emblem for a trade whose effect is felt daily across the Army, often quietly, but always directly. A force that is not properly fed cannot train effectively, cannot deploy for long, and cannot sustain itself under pressure.
Electricians, engine drivers, and technical specialists
The E in Wreaths badge identified qualified electricians. In the early twentieth century, electricity was still a specialist military capability, linked to lighting, signalling, generators, workshops, and later vehicle systems.
The Governor in Ring badge identified engine drivers. A governor is a mechanical device that regulates engine speed. The badge therefore symbolised competence in managing or operating engines. These badges show the Army’s shift from animal power and hand trades towards machinery, electricity, and technical systems.
1960s Recommendations
Based on the recommendations of the 1960 District and Formation Commanders’ Conference, the New Zealand Army undertook a comprehensive review of dress embellishments, including the possible introduction of trade badges for each of the Army’s major trade groups.
The review compared British and Canadian trade badge systems. The British system, which grouped some unlisted trades under general “A” or “B” badges, was considered unsatisfactory because it gave little visible recognition or incentive to individual tradesmen. By contrast, the Canadian system was seen as more practical and representative, as it had moved away from some older traditional designs and adopted badges that more clearly reflected the trades they represented.
The proposed New Zealand trade badges included:
| Proposed Badge | Intended Trade Group |
| Wheel | All driving trades, all corps |
| Crossed Needle and Awl | Leather and textile trades |
| Crossed Keys | Storemen and storekeepers, all corps |
| Star | Catering trades, including RNZASC mess and anteroom stewards, RNZASC, RNZNC, and NZWRAC |
However, despite the practical value of the proposal, the recommendations were not carried through. Financial constraints, combined with resistance from traditionalists, meant that the New Zealand Army missed an opportunity to introduce a wider and more visible system of trade identification. As a result, many tradesmen continued to serve without a distinctive badge that clearly identified their specialist function.
This decision is significant when viewed against the wider history of logistics badges. By the 1960s, many of the older pre-war trade badges, such as those associated with farriers, saddlers, wheelers, and horse transport, had disappeared from practical use. The Hammer and Pincers remained the principal surviving pre-war technical trade badge, while proposed new badges such as the Wheel, Crossed Needle and Awl, Crossed Keys, and Star were never adopted. The result was a more conservative badge culture, one that recognised some technical mastery but did not fully represent the breadth of Army logistics trades.
Conclusion
These badges provide a compact visual history of New Zealand Army logistics. They show how the Army moved from an organisation sustained by horses, wagons, hand trades, and craft skills to one increasingly shaped by motor transport, mechanical repair, ammunition technology, movement control, air dispatch, catering, quartermastering, and integrated logistics.
The older badges, the Snaffle, Spur, Crossed Whips, Bit, Horseshoe, and Wheel, belonged to a world in which mobility depended on horses, harness, wheels, and the tradesmen who kept them serviceable. The E in Wreaths and Governor in Ring reflected the emergence of electricity and machinery as specialist military skills. The Hammer and Pincers bridged both worlds. It began as a symbol of smiths, armourers, artificers, and mechanical craftsmen, but endured because its meaning adapted to the technical and maintenance needs of a modern Army.
By 1960, most of the older pre-war trade and appointment badges had disappeared from practical use. The Hammer and Pincers remained the principal survivor, while the proposed 1960s system of wider trade badges, including the Wheel, Crossed Needle and Awl, Crossed Keys, and Star, was never adopted. Apart from the later approval of the Ammunition Technician badge, no major new logistics trade badge system emerged until the modern RNZALR era. That gap is significant. It shows that while New Zealand Army logistics continued to expand in complexity, its visible system of trade recognition remained conservative and incomplete for much of the later twentieth century.
The later badges, the Flaming A, Cartwheel, Anchor and Wings, AD Wings, Hei Matau, Quartermaster Star, and Taiaha and Key, mark the re-emergence of visible professional identity across the broader logistics community. They recognise that logistics is not a single trade or narrow support function, but a system of specialist skills that enables the force to move, fight, repair, sustain, feed, account, distribute, and endure.
From the Snaffle to the Taiaha and Key, the symbols changed because the Army changed. Yet the purpose behind them remained constant. Each badge recognised a practical military skill, and each pointed to the same enduring truth: an Army is only as effective as the people who keep it moving, armed, supplied, repaired, fed, and ready.
Notes
[1] New Zealand Military Forces Dress Regulations, ed. New Zealand Military Forces (Wellington, 1 June, 1905).
[2] “Regulations for the Military Forces of the Dominion of New Zealand.,” New Zealand Gazette (Wellington), 25 May 1927, ; New Zealand Military Forces Dress Regulations, ed. New Zealand Military Forces (Wellington, 1923). https://rnzaoc.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/1923-nz-army-dress-regs.pdf.
[3] New Zealand Military Forces Dress Regulations, 23.
[4] “Clothing – Dress Embellishments: General 1960-1976,” Archives New Zealand No R17187826 (1960).
[5] “Army 220/5/103/AAC Army Dress Committee Meeting 1 March 1971,” Archives New Zealand No R9753141 (July 1971).
[6] “1180/1 Minutes of the meeting of Supply/Quartermaster Trade Seminar held at the Trade Training School on 13-15 November 2007,” (2007).
