I think diversity in NZDF is an interesting topic with one caveat. New Zealand does not have the population that the Soviet Union or Vietnam had to win the wars they got into respectively. With a population of 50 or 100 million people they could include woman in all sorts of military roles. New Zealand only has 4 million people. To get New Zealand's GDP in to the top 20 economies with such a relatively smaller population than the larger economies we had to build hydro electric dams during the period of "Think Big Projects" where a lot of New Zealand's modern infrastructure was built during the 70's and 80's.
As you all may know, and we could catch up to nations with larger populations than our own by being smarter. So basically 20 years of work in New Zealand was equivalent to about 40 years of work in the old soviet block, so you could have two careers in NZ or 3 careers when we compare it too 1980's Veitnam. Wonderful, the wife stayed at home and outsourced her problems to hubby.
Now that energy policy is in flux, by flux I mean oil exploration in New Zealand will be discontinued after the Maui gas fields run out, and legacy coal fired power plants (Huntly) are being phased out and new ways of harvesting energy brought in. It reminds me of that old socialist joke about the shops running out of stuff. The woman says to the store owner that there are no more sanitary pads on the shelves, the shop owner replies; no, this is the shop that ran out of oil.
So NZDF must be rebuilt around new contingencies. A New Zealand with out easy access to oil will be a terrible loss for NZDF, they are a diesel military, am I correct? In this way I am not talking about diversity in a way that can change the past, but in this counter factual way you can change the culture at the level of counterfactuals.
So let's take this one step further and let's say what if Ron Marks didn't write the DCP19, then some one would have to do it. That is counterfactual. It's the same as the grandfather paradox that says if Hitler was assassinated as a baby, then Stalin or who ever would have taken up the role.
So this is the standard left wing liberal arts degree ect ect, determination of diversity, to a logic that is counterfactual. That something happens to energy policy that requires a change in NZDF culture and operating procedure which thus far, is costing $20 billion in recapitalization plus annual budget costs just to catch up to what should have been in place 10 years ago. So the wars of the future will not be cheap by any stretch of the imagination.
Could you imagine this vast and very erotic joke on the whole place. A joke that you could repeat to your priest or a teacher and it goes like this.
So after a successful night out on the town, the guy says to the girl would you like to drive us to my place in my sports car. The girl replies yes but I'm to drunk to drive, and the guy says that's okay because my car is on empty. Could you imagine a more erotic joke because it has nothing to do with the destination.
So this is our hope. As long as we can get energy policy fixed up, then maybe there is a chance for us.
