When you meet Bill Moffitt you immediately know you are in the company of a man’s man. Bill is a straight shooter and in these times of PC BS it is nice to hear a man who has been there and done that, who is not afraid to say it straight and not pussy foot around any tough subject.

I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with Bill for several years and can honestly say I have learnt a lot from chatting with him, knowledge you cant just learn on any course.

Bill Moffitt is a man of much experience, not scared of hard work or getting his hands dirty. He has a wealth of experience and can turn his hand to a multitude of trades, making or repairing just about anything.

Bill is fiercely loyal to the SAS and to his family and mates. He does not take kindly to fools and calls a spade a spade, you get what you see – a man of principles.

Bill today is still in good shape, a big hard looking man by appearance correct, but under that frame and shell is a wealth of SAS knowledge on the history, its people, and training and operational aspects.

Bill Moffitt was originally from Raetihi and joined the New Zealand Army in 1962 as a Regular Force Cadet in Palmerston North serving with the Cadets for one year before joining the Regular Force Infantry and moving down to 2 Battalion based at Burnham Military Camp

After serving only one year there, Bill successfully passed the SAS selection course No 8 in April 1964. Bill first served overseas with the SAS in Borneo with the 1st Detachment in 1965 for eight months. And in 1966 again returned to Borneo with the 4th Detachment coming home to New Zealand late 1966. Bill served a majority of his time with the Punans on ‘hearts and minds’ program working with the local people. He was a ptl medic and looked after all types of ills, including the extraction of rotten teeth and suturing of minor wounds. This type of work was really enjoyable as the Punans were a very simple people with just the basics of life, but they appreciated what we did for them. Bill was also asked to be tattooed by them which he did and felt it an honour to do so.

In 1967 Bill decided to leave the NZ Army as his five-year engagement time was coming up and he wanted to serve in Vietnam, so decided to join the US Army.

One week before he was due to leave for the U.S. Army he was asked back to the NZSAS as they were about to be deployed to Vietnam. He tossed over his options and decided to stay with the unit and people he knew so Bill departed New Zealand for Vietnam with the second 4 TROOP in 1969 and returned home in 1971.

During that time Bill was shot twice. He spent one year in hospital and returned to serve in the SAS as a Storeman reaching the rank of Sergeant until he got out in 1979,because of his injuries.

Bill had no problem finding work and set up his own Outdoor Pursuits in South Taranaki working with youths to help them gain confidence in the outdoors and to help them acquire work. In 1996 the SAS were looking to employ former members in roles where their former service, expertise could be best put to work. Bill applied for and got a Specialist Stores Managers position. He worked for three years until the Battle Training Facility Manager’s job became available when another former member, respected Close Quarter Combat Instructor Ron Evans resigned to return to the United Kingdom. Bill thought very highly of Ron and said he was a good instructor and seasoned soldier of many years experience.

Bill applied and got the job and has run the battle training facility until his retirement in February of 2003. In fact on the 28th of February 2003 was Bill’s last day with the unit and his decision to retire was brought about by the effects of old injuries and a desire to hit the road traveling New Zealand in his eleven metre, “eleven litre” bus.

Bill has contributed much in service and support over his 25 plus years service to the New Zealand Army. He explained to me the circumstances around his wounding in Vietnam; they had had a contact on a track and bugged out after the incident. The procedure at the time after any contact was to send out a signal and Bill as the signaler was having difficulty sending the signal because of distance from base, he knew he had to put out a long wire.

As Bill went out over 100 feet he was covered by his mates, on his way back he was lifting the wire above head height to reduce the risk of the enemy finding it or following it back to their location. He was on his way back holding the aerial wire in the air when a shot rang out and his elbow was flung into his face. There was three shots fired in quick succession and as a consequence Bill was thrown to the ground on to his rifle, which folded under him, later to find it caused a fracture of one of his lower vertebrae

Bill’s mates, realizing what had happened quickly ran to his aid. Bill had taken a round through his elbow joint and another had hit the buckles on his webbing penetrating his abdomen, perforating his bowel and deflected the bullet up his chest penetrating his diaphragm and lodging itself just