The Veteran Community
The term veteran has, in the public eye, come to mean a veteran of a specific conflict or location. 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 population 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. The World War Two population still makes up the majority of the veteran community.
Given the age profile of the veteran community, this demographic is changing. The number of veterans will naturally decline in future. It is expected that the rate of this decline will occur over the next three to five years. This significant change in the veteran demographic will mean that the largest group of veterans will be those that have taken part in the deployments that have taken place within the last 20 years.
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 of the military as a career.
The duration of deployments has also changed. Service personnel are not deployed for 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 the psychological effects and environmental impacts of deployments often have a greater impact on health and wellbeing than physical injuries.
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