All New Zealand Army soldiers complete their initial basic training, the All Arms Recruit Course (AARC), at Waiouru Military Camp.

The marae is the home of Ngāti Tūmatauenga, literally 'the tribe of the God of War', the Māori name for the New Zealand Army.

The New Zealand government chose the sheep station at Waiouru as the location of a North Island training area for its Territorial Forces in the 1930s.

The sheep station had large areas of inexpensive open land, and existing road and rail access to the North Island coastline.

At the beginning of the winter of 1940, 800 construction workers from the Ministry of Works built a training camp with capacity for 7,000 Territorial soldiers.

There was a bakery, a hospital, two film theatres and five "institutes", each with a concert hall, library, writing room and tearooms.

These considerations resulted in another 250 km2 (97 sq mi) of land to the north and east of the camp being acquired by the New Zealand Government.

In 1955, the 1st NZSAS Squadron started jungle training in Paradise Valley, part of the newly acquired area.

[citation needed] In July 2024, the NZDF confirmed that it would be investing NZ$490 million to expand and upgrade housing at Waiouru Military Camp over the next 25 years.

The first NZ$75 million stage involves building 50 new homes for military families in partnership with local iwi (tribe) Ngāti Rangi.

This resulted in the death of two full-time Singaporean national servicemen; Third Sergeant Ronnie Tan Han Chong and Lance Corporal Low Yin Tit.

[citation needed] On 19 January 2019, while taking part in a live firing exercise as an Operationally Ready National Serviceman, Corporal First Class (CFC)(NS) Aloysius Pang entered the cabin of a Singapore Self-Propelled Howitzer (SSPH) to troubleshoot a fault.

The Royal New Zealand Navy's Waiouru Wireless Telegraph Station was commissioned in July 1943 and at the height of the war had an establishment of about 150 personnel, of whom more than eighty were women.

Tens of thousands of code groups were handled each day, mostly for the British Pacific Fleet in Japanese waters.

From World War II until 2001, the Royal New Zealand Air Force A-4 Skyhawks and Aermacchi MB-339 fighter jets used the Army's artillery target areas in the Rangipo Desert and east of the Moawhango River as bombing and rocket ranges.

Takrouna Barracks commemorate the 2nd New Zealand Divisions last major action of World War IIs North African Campaign.

Terendak Barracks are named after the purpose built brigade camp in Malaysia that was occupied by the New Zealand Army from 1960 to 1969.