Girl Guide biscuits OK for war zone

BY MICHAEL FOX

With the latest batch of iconic Girl Guide biscuits leaving a bad taste in many Kiwis' mouths, one hard-working New Zealander is happy to have them included in his food parcels to war-torn Afghanistan.

Alton Taylor, a former New Zealand SAS solider and now operations manager at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, has been sent the biscuits as a treat by his Te Awamutu-based wife Rebekah.

Mr Taylor, who retrained as a builder after leaving the military, works 15 hours a day, seven days a week at Kandahar. He had been forced to look abroad after failing to find work here during the recession.

He now builds barracks and oversees construction and maintenance at the air base, which houses around 20,000 people. At night, Mr Taylor - who gets home for a fortnight every four months - faces rocket attacks from hostile forces.

"You go where the work is and at the moment it's not here," Mrs Taylor said.

But the dusty and hot Kandahar conditions are made that little bit easy by the monthly care packages from his doting family, including children, Dylan, 15, Micah, 17, and Ysabella, 4. Normally packed with Kiwi favourites like Milo, Marmite and Watties sauce, the latest delivery - at Mr Taylor's request - featured some of the much maligned 2010 batch of Girl Guide bikkies.

The biscuits have come under fire this week, with people claiming the taste and texture has worsened, and suspecting the ingredients must have changed.

The Girl Guide badge has not visible on some of the biscuits, and a different colour or misshapen on others.

Girl Guides chief executive Ruth Teasdale has defended the product, saying the recipe hasn't changed. But it's understood that a different production line has been used this year.

Manufacturer Griffins is carrying out tests on the biscuits, which have been sold here since 1957.

The news reports of poor taste and dry texture have even reached Afghanistan. But a former SAS commando, Mr Taylor's one Kiwi not sweating the small stuff.

"Hook me up, I hear the Girl Guide biscuits are out," an unfazed Mr Taylor emailed his wife.

"I emailed him last night and he said, 'you know what, there's so much dust out here they'll taste like that anyway'."

Mrs Taylor said her husband was always rapt and grateful to receive her care packages, even though the Kandahar Airfield was more like a small city, with its own Subway and Pizza Hut outlets.

"I try to send him things as often as we can, even if it's just a letter," she said.

The long-distance relationship and having a husband working in a war zone was "hard; but it's do-able".

"The little one [Ysabella] especially misses him a lot."

The family speaks on Skype once a week when the base's intermittent internet connection allows, and daily via email.

"Often he'll have to go because they have rocket attacks and stuff," Mrs Taylor said.

The attacks on Kandahar are so frequent that battle-trained Taylor even reacted to a sounding fire siren during one of his breaks at home.

"He jumped out of bed and hit the deck because he thought it was a rocket attack."

Mrs Taylor tries not to focus on the dangers too much, but keeps up to date on news reports from the volatile country. She also has the support of a group of women who have partners either still in the army or working overseas as security contractors.

"I can't concern myself about it otherwise it would eat me up ... It's just one of the things we have to deal with I suppose."

Mr Taylor is next due home in April. Until then, he has his biscuits, dry or not.

- © Fairfax NZ News