NOTICE TO ALL EX-ARMY
Intergenerational Health Effects of Service in the Military a.k.a. Vietnam Veterans' Family Health Study.
Ten thousand soldiers have been selected by the research group to register for the study which has been allocated $11.5M over eight years and the response rate to date is sadly quite low. Many admit to receiving the request for assistance but have been a little too idle to post back their participating replies. Please could you remind your members and their families whom you see, that this is very important, as it will determine how future military generations are treated by governments not just the Vietnam Veterans alone. This study will become a model for future military generations so we must have it right for ourselves and for them.
The consultative forum advising the above study met for the first time on Monday, 22nd September in Melbourne and the low response rate was a point well discussed. The participating numbers need to rise considerably. This study applies to those who served overseas in Vietnam during the sixties and seventies as well as those who remained in the Army on the Australian mainland. Without this latter fine comparison group the results will lose their value to prove the point that a soldier’s overseas service can contribute to that soldier’s family difficulties; be they his own, his wife, or his children and grand children. If your colleagues are requested to help, even though people feel uninvolved, it is vital that they do so. Much time and effort has been spent designing this study and to have it fail through lack of numbers will be a tragedy that reverberates throughout the whole country for many generations to come.
There are ten of us on the forum and we’re determined to gain a useful result for those who have done military service along with their families, but we can do it only with the support of all those soldiers requested to be part of the study. This invitation does not mean only those with some lasting difficulties. We need everyone requested to take part in the study to return the information as per the letters; be you exceeding well or less so.
To register again if papers are lost or misplaced OR to be part of the study because you realise it is important even though not one of the ten thousand selected participants, visit www.dva.gov.au/vvfs or for any further information and assistance phone Family Study Program 1800 502 302.
PS Every one (be you officially selected or not) who served in the AUSTRALIAN ARMY during the sixties and seventies and served in Vietnam OR remained in Australia is invited to contribute to this study. National Service personnel are very much part of this program. Your contribution to the information collected will significantly enhance the study’s depth and outcome which I’m happy to discuss with anyone who is anxious about this matter. THIS STUDY HAS NO RELATIONSHIP TO ANY PENSIONABLE STATUS YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO HOLD AND PERSONAL PHYSICAL INFORMATION WILL NOT BE MADE AVAILABLE TO ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY. THE STUDIES, OF WHICH THEIR ARE FIVE DIVISIONS, WILL BE CONDUCTED BY SEPARATE UNIVERSITY BASED GROUPS NOT DVA. THE LATTER IS FOR NAME AND ADDRESS REGISTRATION PURPOSES ONLY.
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