Veterans and their families.

McKie, Linda; Morrison, Zoe; Thomson, Fionagh; Alstead, Allan

Abstract

Every year in the UK around 22,400 people leave the forces to return to civilian life, the majority of whom are army personnel. Resettlement is a process for all the family, be they immediate or extended members. People rather than places represent ‘home’. In the coming three years, the Government plans to reduce the overall size of the Armed Forces. For the army it is estimated that personnel will fall from 110, 000 to 85,000, including some compulsory redundancies. These unprecedented changes within an uncertain economic climate, combined with on-going concern over service in various zones of conflict, will place pressure on families. In short, the coming years herald major changes for the services as a whole, not least for the many families in transition from service to civilian life. This briefing paper reports on the outcomes of a range of activities undertaken with a number of veterans, veterans’ families, and third and public sector organisations located in Scotland. Our aim was to explore the resettlement experiences of veterans and their families. This work culminated in a workshop with over 30 veterans in June 2011, organised in conjunction with Veterans’ Scotland. Participants represented a diverse range of veterans of all ages, services, jobs and experiences, including those who served in conflict and peacekeeping zones from Malaya to the Balkans, the Falklands, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan sometime between 1950 to 2010. Some participants had been deployed to a zone of conflict and experienced battle or guerrilla and civil conflicts. Others served in technical and logistical jobs in specialist trades and jobs.

Citation

MCKIE, L., MORRISON, Z., THOMSON, F. and ALSTEAD, A. 2012. Veterans and their families. Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR), Briefing 59. Edinburgh: CRFR [online]. Available from: https://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1842/6561/briefing%2059.pdf

• Report Type: Discussion Paper
• Publication Date: Apr 30, 2012
• Deposit Date: Sep 15, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 20, 2020
• Publisher: Centre for Research on Families and Relationships
• Keywords: Veteran; Armed forces; Families; Civilian life; Resettlement
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/968043
• Publisher URL: https://www.crfr.ac.uk/publications/research-briefings/