Alison Mau05:00, May 02 2021 Murray Wilson/Stuff Warning: the following article contains distressing content. OPINION: A few years back, when the talk between my daughter and her friends was all about leaving school and “ what next?” one of her besties told us, over dinner, she had been planning to join the forces. We could immediately see how suited she was; intelligent, capable and strong both in body and in mind, she would have been an asset to the New Zealand Defence Force. Unfortunately a childhood medical condition ruled her out, and she was devastated. But that was years ago, she's moved on and is in a happy place, and I, as a fond onlooker, am a little bit relieved that things worked out as they did.