When Lieutenant Colonel Justin Putze was selected to command almost 60 NZ Defence Force personnel in one of the world’s hottest spots, there was a grimace at headquarters.

• Published date: 19 November 2023
• Publication title: Herald on Sunday

Major General Tim Gall, the Commander Joint Forces New Zealand, later told a military inquiry he had “reservations” about Putze being the Senior National Officer (SNO) of NZDF’s mission to the Sinai

That inquiry would also hear from witnesses who said Putze “had a reputation, particularly around his behaviour with alcohol, sexual relations and integrity”.

Gall, though, was “persuaded” Putze be given a “chance at command”. Also, Putze was the only person put forward by the Army to lead one of New Zealand’s most enduring military commitments.

And so in 2017, Putze became the SNO of New Zealand’s contribution to the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai, tasked with monitoring the 1979 Treaty of Peace between Egypt and Israel.

Putze was married at the time to a fellow officer who, sources say, had for years led her own commands while he stayed home.

The Sinai was intended to be his time to shine. Instead, it ended in ignominy with Putze court-martialled, demoted, his marriage over and guilty of engaging in a sexual relationship with a subordinate officer, Captain Carolyne Read (now Carolyne Cappola).

But that unauthorised relationship was just one of a string of missteps and bad decisions during his year in the Middle East as the deployment devolved into a booze-fuelled, sexualised party.

A Court of Inquiry report into Putze’s year-long deployment found he began his command in the Sinai walking into the junior ranks quarters during “happy hour” where he “ostentatiously drained a beer”.

The inquiry said Putze “appeared to start as he meant to go on”.

A separate military police inquiry launched halfway through Putze’s year in the Sinai would later produce a list of 32 possible charges arrayed against nine service personnel. Many of the incidents did not proceed to court martial with the investigation faltering then failing, amid claims headquarters was interfering in the military police investigation.

Of the 60 people sent to the Sinai over two shifts, there were allegations of sexual assault by as many as three women and one man.

One of those on the deployment told the Herald on Sunday: “We’ve got processes and guidelines for every conceivable situation that there is. People know and have experienced the absolute lack of accountability when push comes to shove.”

Putze “did not have a good reputation for alcohol or impulse control before he deployed”, the inquiry report said.

And yet, the posting to the Sinai was one in which “alcohol had long been an accepted part of the culture”, NZDF’s Court of Inquiry said.

The NZDF teams of 30 were our six-monthly contribution to the roughly 1200 men and women from as many as 13 countries to monitor the 1979 peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.

It had been based on the border of the countries but in 2016 worsening security saw it moved to “South Camp” near the tourist drawcard Sharm el Sheik on the Red Sea.

Inside South Camp, the different nationalities occupied their own areas with their own rules around alcohol. There were also two authorised bars; the Red Sea Oasis and Italian Bar. The base stores also sold alcohol, including spirits.

At the Kiwi section, junior ranks lived in a shared accommodation area with separate rooms known as “the Woolshed”. Senior non-commissioned officers (SNCOs) lived in Roman Lines while officers — such as Putze, who was in charge for a year — had their own small houses called “hooches”.

During the day, almost all personnel would report to commanders from other nations to do the jobs to which they were assigned. With a day’s work done, those from New Zealand would gather for a cold beer from a padlocked fridge at the Woolshed “happy hour”.

It was there in early May 2017 Putze walked in, having taken command, and swiftly drained a beer in front of his troops.

It was such a display that a departing senior leader said it was “perhaps an inappropriate example” — and a shift from the “quiet moderation” approach to alcohol taken by the outgoing leadership.

Putze, the inquiry said, had gone into the deployment with “a stated intention of being less aloof as a commander”.

The Woolshed became an “unofficial bar” in which the fridge was stocked with drinks and those drinking made a “donation”. A senior NCO...