I've had the opportunity to serve on several operational deployments. I deployed to Afghanistan in 2005, the Solomon Islands in 2008, and completed a second tour of Afghanistan in 2012, where I served on the last Crib rotation for the provincial reconstruction team. I distinctly remember that when the decision was made to leave the locally employed Afghan workers behind, this left many of us defence force staff devastated, as we knew that this decision would put their lives at risk. I made the commitment to myself at the time that, if I was ever in a position of influence in the future, I'd never let that happen again. When the security situation deteriorated in Afghanistan last year, this Government made the decision to evacuate our Afghan workers. It warmed my heart, knowing that this Government was honouring our moral obligation to those Afghan workers who put their lives at risk serving Aotearoa as part of the provincial reconstruction team.