The Operating Environment
The Context
The identification of veterans as a specific group within New Zealand society is an acknowledgement of the role veterans have played, and continue to play, in developing New Zealand as a nation.
Services have been provided to the veteran community by a variety of other agencies for a number of years. In order to improve co-ordination of services, changes will be made to the role of VANZ over the period of this SOI. The focus of this work will be to improve the level and quality of service delivery to veterans and their families.
In the long term the care of veterans is a recruitment and retention issue for the Defence Force as the onus shifts from that of societal debt generated in a time of war, to government as an employer, taking responsibility for the impact of its decisions on personnel.
The Global Environment
New Zealand exists within a global environment that shapes the experience of veterans and challenges the way the New Zealand Government and New Zealand society responds to the experiences of veterans.
The role of New Zealanders as international citizens has evolved. As a consequence, the role the military plays in support of the government’s foreign policy direction has evolved and ranges from warrior to peacemaker and peacekeeper.
Veterans are also connected globally, able to compare experiences and research into veterans’ issues and the responses that governments make.
The New Zealand Environment
There is no parallel social service framework for the provision of health and social assistance for veterans in New Zealand. The services and entitlements provided to veterans are, in the main, provided through publicly funded health and disability systems and social assistance framework. It is important that the interface with these services is managed in a way that is responsive to veterans needs.
The Veteran Community
The term veteran has often been associated with a specific conflict or location. In a modern context the changing nature of deployments means that the term veteran is now becoming a generic descriptor for someone who has service in the armed forces in a variety of operational environments.
The veteran community is not homogeneous and ranges in age from 19 year old veterans of current deployments, to the remaining World War Two veterans who range in age from early 80’s to 100 plus.
Veterans create bonds with veterans of the same war or emergency they served in, as well as the veterans of the country they served for. These different deployment groups have differing experiences and perspectives.
The World War Two population still makes up the majority of the veteran community. Given the age profile of this group the number of veterans will naturally decline in future. It is expected that the rate of this decline will be reasonably gradual for the next 4 to 5 years, after which the number of veterans in this group will reduce more quickly. This significant change in the veteran demographic will mean that the largest group of veterans will be those who have taken part in the deployments that have taken place within the last 10 years.
The veteran population is also becoming more diverse, both in terms of ethnicity and gender. The role of women in uniform has also changed from traditional support roles to being able to take part in the full range of trades within the Defence Force, including deployment in combat roles. As a consequence women’s experience of service has changed. The types of deployments that New Zealand Service personnel have been involved in have changed since World War Two. The most significant change is the fact that there have been no deployments of an entire generation, as was the case in the World Wars. The deployments that have taken place have been of individuals within each generation who have made a conscious choice to make the military a career.
The duration of deployments has also changed. Service personnel are not deployed for multiple years to one conflict, as was the case with the World Wars. Over the course of their military careers, Service personnel may be deployed for short tours of duty to different war and emergency situations. The experience of younger veterans is of a number of deployments to different locations for a variety of different reasons.
Health & Wellbeing
Health and wellbeing is a critical issue for the veteran population. As all the long term impacts of deployments are unknown, veterans have ongoing concerns about the long term impact of their service on their health and the health and wellbeing of their families.
Veterans of different wars and emergencies face different barriers to their health and wellbeing. The changing face of deployments has meant that the psychological effects and environmental impacts of deployments often have a greater impact on health and wellbeing than physical injuries.
Government’s Priorities
VANZ co-ordinates the delivery of services provided to veterans and their families by other government departments and agencies and facilitates access to services within the broader community. The services provided to veterans are designed to ensure they have the support they need to make choices and contributes to the government priority of families - young and old.
In addition, veterans play a critical role in this process of strengthening national identity through the telling of their stories and the recognition of their contribution to the establishment of the world view of our national identity. The involvement of veterans in the commemoration of significant military anniversaries and the acknowledgement and recognition of veterans’ service contributes to the government priority of strengthening national Identity.
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