Veteran and Senior Production Engineer, Iain Gulliford, takes pride in his family’s seven generations of service. Based in Devonport, New Zealand, Iain continues to serve his local community through his volunteer role at the Coastguard.
Iain served 29 years with the Royal Navy as a Communications Technician, including 3 years in Portugal on detachment.
He joined Babcock in 2006 and has forged a career path supporting the Royal New Zealand Navy.
We caught up with Iain to chat about his Royal Navy service, his career at Babcock, and his ongoing service to his local community.
Tell us about your time in the Royal Navy and your family’s connection to the military.
I was just seven when I decided I wanted to join the Navy. In 1979, aged 16, I was accepted and went on to serve for 29 years as an electronics technician, specialising in communications. During my service I was deployed to several interesting places, but the three that stand out were the Falklands, the Gulf and Sierra Leone.
In Sierra Leone I was deployed to support various shore missions, including the rescue of troops held hostage by local factions. It was a successful operation, but being down there was an education. This memory remains very vivid and has, in part, shaped my respect and awe for those who have served with active fire as a much more constant part of their lives.
I am the sixth generation of my family to serve; my grandfather was on the Western Front. My son and daughter are the seventh generation, both of whom have grown to love serving their nation wherever they can get involved.
Service personnel are generally reluctant to sing their own praises, but we take pride in the “all of one company” sentiment. That was the phrase used when I enlisted in 1979 and remains true today.
Serving as OC HMS Bushrincon, Falkland Islands, Christmas day 1998
What is your role at Babcock? Tell us a bit about what that involves.
William Cowper, an English poet once wrote “Variety is the spice of life” and that has defined a large part of my various roles in the dockyard.
Starting as a radio technician there was a huge range of work, from delicate repair and complex commissioning of electronic systems to masthead nuts and bolts work from a crane bucket in some challenging conditions, as well as 18 months in Australia building and commissioning torpedo tubes for the RAN.
Moving across to become a Zone Manager tasked with running the small craft unit was a great challenge. Developing the team, the processes and the QA and asset management systems was fundamental to ensure that the Navy had the assets that allow them to deploy.
My current role as Senior Production Engineer, Fleet Assets consists of two strands:
Support for HMNZS Matataua and their dive and hydrographic teams. Primarily this entails managing contractor relationships, budgetary control and maintenance scheduling support in a high operational tempo where reactive and unscheduled maintenance is sometimes the rule rather than the exception. Working closely with Matataua staff, the aim is to keep the teams on the water and under it safely and ready for immediate deployment.
My other role is providing support for the Small Craft Unit, including technical advice, obsolescence management and carrying out sea trials to ensure that the Rhibs are ready in all respects for deployment.
As a tertiary duty I also spent a year project managing the refurbishment and recommissioning of the Naval fuelling facility tanks, tunnels and pipelines around the dockyard.
The last 20 years in the dockyard has been interesting, challenging and motivating and the spice of life has presented some great learning opportunities.
Community service and volunteering have been a big part of your life. We’d love to hear more about your involvement in your local community.
I remember saying to my wife when we arrived in New Zealand that I would wait for a year before I jumped into volunteering. And then just three months later, I was at the local show on a Saturday and found myself chatting to the local Coastguard unit. By the Tuesday I’d signed up as a member.
As President and sole Skipper for 15 years at Coastguard Kaipara, I led the training and emergency response efforts. I also undertook community outreach – going into schools and speaking with young people, or partnering with St John to train their volunteers. A large part of our remit is boating safety, and I also present bar crossing and boating safety seminars 3-4 times a year, as well as speaking to various community groups about who we are and what we do. Some months I’ve spent 40 or 50 hours on Coastguard volunteering.
Recently I’ve also been involved in an emergency response committee in my hometown of Helensville, after the recent floods and landslips. A couple of years ago we were completely cut off – every road was shut, the whole town essentially marooned. The only way in or out was by helicopter. We had casualties, people trapped in their homes, and at one point we even had to bring in the Defence Force to help. As Coastguard, we looked at getting our small boat out to assist where we could, but it became clear the community needed something more organised.
We’ve now stood up a proper emergency response team. We monitor conditions and can open safe havens, offer a bed for the night or even just a cup of tea, and coordinate with council to get power and other services restored. We have generators, Starlink terminals, radios – the whole range of gear you need when everything goes sideways and infrastructure that we take for granted fails. It’s all community‑driven, uses local skills and talent and it ties in nicely with the Coastguard search‑and‑rescue work.
Testing out an amphibious quadski, which is capable of reaching 70km/hr on both land and water.
Service to your country and your community has been a strong thread throughout your life. Why is that important to you?
I don’t have an easy answer to that. I guess when I think back over my life, I’ve had the opportunity to develop particular skills and talents that I can use to help other people, to help the community. So, it just seems like the obvious thing to do. Because that’s what builds the community – lots of people with different skills that come together to achieve something.
One thing I believe strongly in is passing along knowledge. It’s always been my philosophy to try and teach and motivate people to do different things and to take opportunities. I take a lot of satisfaction in helping others grow and succeed, watching their confidence and ability build and mentoring them through the more challenging parts.
Most of all I’m passionate about just getting out there and trying things. It’s so easy to spend your life sitting around and going “oh that’s not for me” and finding excuses not to do things. My advice to my kids was always “Go out and do it. Try it once. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Try something else.” And in my experience volunteering is always an incredibly rewarding thing to try.
Also, I have a lot of affection and gratitude for my adopted homeland of New Zealand and want to give back in any way I can. I’ve had a great life, and being able to give back is a big part of that. To anyone who’s thinking about volunteering or taking on a new challenge – go out and do it.
Serving aboard the HMS Chatham, pictured at Marseilles, France