12 November 2008

Send A Christmas Message To Kiwi Defence Personnel

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is encouraging the public to send a message to the Kiwi forces who will be overseas on Christmas Day.

The facility on the NZDF website allows people to send either a general or individual message to military personnel deployed overseas. The messages will be sent to each overseas mission prior to Christmas Day.

"Being away from family and friends is difficult at any time but even more so at Christmas. We will have over 380 defence force personnel deployed overseas on Christmas Day in countries such as Afghanistan, Timor Leste, Sudan and the Solomon Islands," said Commander Joint Forces New Zealand Major General Rhys Jones.

"Our personnel spend long periods of time away from their families and friends and work in risky environments on a daily basis. They deserve to be in our thoughts during the festive season," he said.

To post a message visit https://forms.nzdf.mil.nz/nzdf/dpru-christmas-contactform.asp

ENDS

There are currently 855 New Zealand Defence Force personnel deployed on 14 operations, UN missions and defence exercises around the world.

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