The setting was Armageddon in the middle of the night and there were mass casualties, but it was just a test for the Nelson Tasman Response Team’s unsuspecting new recruits.
Gina Yukich is the deputy squad leader of Bravo Squad who helped organise the event at Armageddon Paintball in the Wai-iti Valley, in its ruined apocalyptic town. It was the beginning of a 24-hour stint for the recruits who were entering their final test to join the response team.
“They go into 24 hours thinking they are going to be sleeping at some point, but we don’t let them. They go in blissfully unaware!”
The response team, named NZRT 2 for Nelson-Tasman, is funded by both local councils and operates as an arm of the civil defence. Its function is to assist in scenarios where emergency groups are overwhelmed, whether it is a natural disaster, a pandemic, or a search and rescue operation.
In Armageddon’s apocalyptic town, the community also got in on the action by acting the parts of the mass casualties, while emergency vehicles brought the lights and sirens. Recruits arrived at one in the morning, not knowing what they would face and given the task to find and rescue the victims.
Gina says they recruit new members every two years and the situation at Armageddon set the scene for this year’s budding recruits.
“The physical elements are a small part of what the team does. In reality, when you think about emergency scenarios and civil defence, so much of what the team does is evacuations and helping welfare centres and working with people stressed out. We have a broad range of skills in the team – we’ve got a nurse, a veterinary nurse, plumbers, builders, people skills. The fitness test is one thing we do, but it’s not a prerequisite.”
She says it’s quite a commitment, which is why they carry out the recruitment process every couple of years to keep numbers up around 25.
