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.