RSA welcomes home Kiwi veterans returning from Iraq

Returned and Services' Association National President BJ Clark welcomes 106 veterans home from their six-month operational deployment in Iraq tonight.

Deployed to Iraq’s Camp Taji in November 2016, the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel helped train about 7500 Iraqi Security Force personnel. Working with Australian Defence Force personnel, the NZDF soldiers also formed mobile training teams that travelled to other secure coalition locations in Iraq to train Federal Police and other Iraqi forces.

“These men and women are doing significant, life-changing work for the people of Iraq, to bring some measure of peace and stability, and to give them a chance of rebuilding lives shattered by war,” Clark said.

“They have faced difficult, sometimes dangerous situations far from home. We unreservedly and whole-heartedly welcome their return, and call on all New Zealanders to do likewise.

“These 106 men and women stand alongside other Kiwis through our history who have been called upon to serve New Zealand’s interests overseas – beside those who went to Bosnia, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, the World Wars, and before.

New Zealand currently has about 41,000 veterans – with over 30,000 serving on operational deployments since 1974. Tens of thousands more New Zealanders have served without a recognised operational deployment – though may have undertaken disaster relief, ocean surveillance and rescue, or other challenging work.

“Veterans are all around us – they’re not just the old fellows you see on Anzac Day. The positive contributions these men and women make to New Zealand continue far beyond their time in uniform. Their experience and skills are a genuine asset to New Zealand,” Clark said.

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