Martin Dransfield

Lieutenant Colonel Martin Dransfield’s career has spanned five decades and has included tours to Northern Ireland and to the divided city of Berlin during the 1980’s, the Sinai as part of the Multinational Force and Observers mission, Timor as the second New Zealand Battalion’s Commanding Officer in 2000, Afghanistan as the Commander of New Zealand’s Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamyan during 2009 and 2010, and a two year tour as the United Nations Chief Military Liaison Officer in Timor Leste, which culminated with the United Nations successfully closing down the mission in December 2012.

He was posted to Timor Leste as a strategic advisor to the Timorese Defence Force following the UN withdrawal.

He is currently Director of the Wai 2500 Military Veterans Kaupapa Inquiry. 

The Inquiry is hearing claims involving past military service undertaken directly for or on behalf of the Crown in right of New Zealand or, in earlier colonial times, for or on behalf of the imperial Crown in New Zealand.

There are currently around 80 claims in the inquiry, extending to all types of military service, and  includes the military service itself and the rehabilitation and remediation of service-related impacts on ex-servicemen and their whānau.