First New Zealand Special Air Services (NZSAS) Regiment and Lance Cpl. Nicholas Kahotea’s family and friends paid their respects and bid farewell to their fallen comrade, son, brother, uncle, father, friend and partner at Papakura Military Camp in a moving private service. Corporal Kahotea died in a night exercise that was taking place in the Ardmore training facility. The NZSAS operators were training alongside the American 160^th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Corporal Kahotea joined the New Zealand Army in 2006 and initially served as a combat engineer. In 2008, he was attached to the NZSAS as a specialist searcher. He passed the unit’s arduous selection and training course in 2014 and was badged as an SAS operator. He had deployed to Afghanistan. (Photo: New Zealand Defense Force)