FAB returns for 2012

Children at the Ability Outdoors centre in Dalby Forest taking part in confidence and team-building activities [Picture MOD copyright]

The Families' Activity Breaks (FAB) are returning in the summer of 2012 to offer bereaved military families fun and challenging activity-based holidays.

The holidays are designed for families, with children up to 19 years of age, who have suffered the loss of a loved one serving in the Armed Forces.

More details on FAB can be found on the MOD website.

The holidays offer adventure for all the family and a welcome break to meet and socialise with others who have experienced a similar loss [picture MOD copyright]

Join our hub

You can also access the hub direct on your Smart phone by using the QR code below

We  launched our new Charity Hub which provides detailed information on charities and other organisations that provide support to the Armed Forces community.

With an increasing number of visitors to our  website each month, we’re hoping the hub will be a valuable tool for both ex-Service personnel and their families and all the organisations supporting them.

Scan to get straight to the Charity Hub

The pages provide comprehensive, at a glance pages utilising existing valuable contacts and incorporating many new ones too.

Any charities or organisations, supporting veterans, who want to sign up to the hub,  please express interest by dropping us an email.

Presentation of Afghanistan Medals

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall presenting an Afghanistan campaign medal to Able Seaman Michelle Ping, winner of 'Best Reservist' at last year's Sun Military Awards
[Picture: LA(Phot) Simmo Simpson, Crown Copyright/MOD 2012]

The Duchess of Cornwall, Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Naval Medical Services, presented Afghanistan medals to more than 200 men and women from all three Services at a parade on Friday at HMS Excellent in Portsmouth.

By far the greatest number of personnel came from the Royal Navy, which led the joint medical support for Operation HERRICK 14.

Some of the men and women on parade were receiving a medal for their first tour of duty, others had already completed several tours.

The MOD Medals Office is part of the services that the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency provides for the Armed Forces Community.  If you want to know more about this work, then take a look at our Veterans Today video below.

The December Issue

The last issue of Veterans WORLD for 2011 is now online. 

In our December Issue you can: take a look at the new St Dunstan's Centre in Llandudno, find out how veterans may be entitled to help with small house repairs or learn about the National Arboretum's future plans in their tenth anniversary year.

From regional initiatives to national services, this issue covers a variety of topics to health care news, employment support to the Community Covenant Grants Scheme.  This is just a taster of what's in the magazine, so take a look today. 

A visit to the Poppy Factory

Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, Andrew Robathan, in the Poppy Factory warehouse with the charity's Chief Executive, Melanie Waters
[Picture: Richard Watt, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]

Have you ever visited the MOD's website?  On a daily basis, there are new online stories highlighting news or features that will be of interest to the Armed Forces Community.

I spotted this article online.  The Minister for Defence, Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, Andrew Robathan, visited the Poppy Factory charity. Now the charity has launched a five-year campaign to help 500 wounded, sick and injured ex-Service personnel into employment.

To get an idea of what the charity can do, then take a look at our latest issue of Veterans WORLD.  In this issue, we've published a double-page feature on the charity (pages 12 and 13) and their plans, with a case study on Ewan Stewart, a disabled veteran they've helped back into employment.

Take a look and find out more . . .

Planning for resettlement

The new CTP* website has been launched which provides support to Service Leavers at any stage of their resettlement.  Interactive resources will help them personalise their resettlement plan, so they can manage their own resettlement and career transition.

With the homepage integrated into a single page for all visitors, it's now a one-stop shop for easy access to all the help needed to resettle into civilian life.

 The website's been enhanced and has lot's of great new features that will help to plan for the future...

^myPlan is an interactive resource  

^myPlan - the new interactive resource that will give Service Leavers tools to use, that will help them to manage their own resettlement and career transition. 

The personalised area will be customised to Service Leaver as they complete their resettlement journey.

Career Assessment Tools - Online learning; five self-paced activities focus on uncovering values, recognizing past achievements and understanding how interests and skills combine to create key strengths.

Personal Resettlement Plan - Career Objective, Training Plan and Action Steps to log resettlement objectives and training activities. This online format facilitates easy updates and review with an assigned Career Consultant.

CV Builder -Includes guidance, templates and examples to assist  with creating a CV that is tailored to the vacancy that is being applied for.

Resettlement Tracker - Charts personal progress on the major milestones of a Service Leaver's resettlement.

This is just a taster of what the new site has to offer, whatever part of the resettlement journey you are on, take a visit today.

*CTP has been the official provider of Armed Forces resettlement since 1998. The Career Transition Partnership (CTP) is the Ministry of Defence working with Right Management.

Service leavers of all ranks from the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines can all benefit from resettlement support, career transition advice and training opportunities.

How personal do you want your profile to be?

The third video for the MOD Online Security Awareness Campaign is now online.

An MOD Civil Servant is using LinkedIn to share her personal information, but how personal does she want her profile to be?

What kind of YouTube hit do you want to be?

The fourth and final video for the MOD Online Security Awareness Campaign is now online.

A couple of solders are chatting about a video they've shared online, but what sort of YouTube hit do they want to be?


For more information, click here

New rehabilitation centre prepares to open

From left: Rifleman Linden Woodford, aged 21 from 3rd Battalion The Rifles, Major Peter Norton, and Private Josh Campbell, aged 21 from 23 Pioneer Regiment, outside Tedworth House
[Picture: Sergeant Ian Forsyth RLC, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]

Tedworth House, the newest of the Army Personnel Recovery and Assessment Centre is getting ready to open its doors.The centre will provide comprehensive support to wounded, injured and sick personnel and their families for life. Key facilities including temporary residential accommodation, classrooms, catering facilities and a gymnasium are now up and running. This means that recovering personnel can now move in this month. The renovations work at Tedworth House is due to be completed in Spring next year and when open, the centre will be able to provide support and residential accommodation for up to 50 wounded, injured and sick personnel from all three Services in the south of England.

Tedworth House is one centre in a network of five Personnel Recovery Centres that form part of the Army Recovery Capability, a joint multi-million pound venture between the MOD, Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion. Construction work is currently underway on a centre based in Colchester.

New Medal for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

The one-off medal is made of nickel silver and designed by Timothy Noad, a professional calligrapher and illuminator

Members of the Armed Forces will be presented with a medal to mark Her Majesty The Queen's Diamond Jubilee in February 2012.

The commemorative medal designed to mark the Queen's 60 years on the throne will be awarded to members of the emergency services, Prison Service and the following Armed Forces personnel:

• members of the Armed Forces (Regular and Reserves) who have completed five full calendar years of service on 6 February 2012;
• living holders of the Victoria Cross and George Cross; and
• members of the Royal Household.

 Full details of the qualifying criteria for the medal will be published later this summer.

Business as usual for SPVA

From 16 June, SPVA has ceased to be an executive Agency of the Minstry of Defence in a move, requested by the Agency, and agreed by Minister (DPWV).

There's no change to our name or the services we deliver.  The change in status will support the cross-government of public spending and reduced costs incurred by having Agency status. 


Our Deputy Chief Executive, Cdre Ross Albon explained: “This has not been an easy decision.  We looked long and hard but decided that in the current financial climate, we had to prioritise funds on maintaining and improving the services we deliver to our customers, rather than on ourselves. The important thing is that we will still be delivering our essential and high quality services to our customers. It is a case of ‘Business as Usual’ for SPVA."

"The important thing is that we will still be delivering our essential and high quality services to our customers."

Although no longer an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Defence, SPVA will keep its identity and logo which helps maintain its association with ex-Service charities and organisations. This will avoid the unnecessary expenditure associated with re-branding.

SPVA will remain a distinct business unit and continue to be known as the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency from a customer perspective and report, as before, to DCDS(Pers & Trg) in the MOD.

Cdre Albon said it was important to remember that:

• SPVA does really important work in support of serving Personnel and Veterans, maintains good business results and has a reputation for delivering against targets.

• All of its key functions – JPA system, Forces HR, Pensions, AFCS, JCCC, Medals Office and Veterans Welfare will remain within SPVA

• SPVA retains full responsibility for delivering the ‘Boyce’ Armed Forces Compensation Scheme changes.

• SPVA has achieved huge success in meeting its key targets and improving customer service. This puts its in a much better place to move forward.

• SPVA delivers many vital services for the Armed Forces and Veterans Communities – these still need to be delivered in the future

• The work we all do is valued – our customers say so in surveys and we have won several awards from respected institutions.

• SPVA has a culture of providing an ‘excellent customer service’ – that won’t change.

Armed Forces Day 2011 - plans for the big day

In our latest podcast release, our presenters asks the planners how they are planning to celebrate this year's Armed Forces Day.

We are just a matter of weeks away from the third national Armed Forces Day. This year, the National event is being hosted by Edinburgh.

Our podcast provides an update on the events planned across the UK to celebrate the day and we have interviewed Air Vice-Marshal David Murray, the MOD’s lead on the events and Edinburgh Council Leader Jenny Dawe on what the city is preparing for the national event.

The press release for the podcast can be found here.

SPVA will be supporting Armed Forces Day by providing display stands, posters and information leaflets at many events around the country. Veterans Welfare Service advisors will be on hand at the national event in Edinburgh as well as nine other events throughout the UK to offer one-to-one help and support.

To find out where we’ll be, take a look at our on-line events calendar.
The podcast and other SPVA social media products are available to access on the SPVA Social Media Hub.

Who's reading your status?

The second video for the MOD Security Awareness Campaign is now online:

The mother of an airman in the RAF is using Facebook, but is it may not just be friends and family reading her status update . . .

'Our War' - a personal experience

Bjorn Rose, former Army Lieutenant, has written about army life in Afghanistan for the BBC TV blog [Copyright Simon Panter/BBC]

Tomorrow night, the first episode of Our War airs on BBC Three, the three-part series marking a decade of the War in Afghanistan. 

The first episode - Ambushed - focuses on 1 Battalion Royal Anglian's tour of Helmand Province in 2007. The whole tour was filmed on a helmet camera by the platoon's sergeant (the MOD gave the BBC unprecedented access to thousands of hours of footage shot on helmet cameras and personal video cameras).  During the tour, the platoon suffered a casualty with the loss of 19 year old Private Chris Gray. 

Bjorn Rose, a former Army Lieutenant, was the officer commanding 3 (Corunna) Platoon (one of the nine platoons in the Battalion) and is featured in the Ambushed episode. He talks about his involvement in the series and impact of Private Gray's death in a moving blog post, which can be read on the BBC TV blog post  here.

Wear your uniform to work

Royal Naval Reservist Able Seaman Ritchie Wilkinson speaks with presenters Phillip Schofield and Jenni Falconer on ITV1's This Morning [Picture: Copyright Ken McKay 2011]

Now a regular event as part of the build up to Armed Forces Day, Uniform to Work Day will be held on June 22. 

The day is a great opportunity to highlight the the important role that Reserves play in serving their country.

Uniform to Work Day will mean many reservists leaving their suit and tie at home and donning their Forces uniform to wear to work instead. Last year, thousands of reservists took part in the initiative to show their pride in giving their time for their country.

Three reservists are already preparing for Uniform to Work Day, see more on their story online.

Senior Aircraftman Dave Haygarth of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force wears his RAF uniform during his day job as the Energy Manager for the London Borough of Hillingdon. [Picture: Sergeant Andy Malthouse RAF, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]

'Our War' - marking a decade in Afghanistan

New BBC Three series will look at a decade in Afghanistan

Marking a decade of the War in Afghanistan, BBC Three is airing a new three-part series Our War next week.

The MOD gave the BBC unprecedented access to thousands of hours of footage shot on helmet cameras and personal video cameras.  The series will give a unique insight into the War, told through films shot by the soldiers themselves.

With the raw honesty of first person stories of life on the front line, the series offers a gripping and poignant insight into every aspect of the young soldiers' experiences -  the average age of the soldiers is 21 - from fear to boredom, grief to bravery, the camaraderie of the platoon and the return home.

The first episode - Ambushed - will air on June 7 at 9pm. This episode focuses on 1 Battalion Royal Anglian's tour of Helmand Province in 2007.

The second episode - The Invisible Enemy - will air on June 14 at 9pm.  This episode follows the plight of the first troops sent to Helmand Province in 2006 and shows how, three years later, Improvised Explosive Devices had changed the War.

The final episode - Caught in the Crossfire  - will air on June 21 at 9pm.  This episode looks at the transition from bloody conflict to the fight for 'hearts and minds' as civilians and the military are caught in the crossfire.

Sharing information online

The Teaser for the second video to be released as part of the new MOD online security awareness campaign.

The Mother of an Airman in the RAF is using Facebook but it may not be friends and family reading her status updates.

The new online guidance provides tips on how to keep secure when online, the information is useful for all members of the Armed Forces Community.

Is it just your mate who know where you've checked in?

The first online video released as part of the new MOD online security awareness campaign.

Two Navy personnel have a night out, but is it just their mates, who know where they've checked it?

The majority of social media products have geo-location functions so anyone can see exactly where you are. The new online guidance provides tips on how to keep secure when online.

Think Before You...

The MOD has just launched a new personal online security awareness campaign.

The campaign aims to encourage Service Personnel and MOD civilians to carefully consider possible repercussions before posting information on social networking sites.

There is also new MOD guidance - Think Before You . . . - for personnel using social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, which advises them not to put themselves or others at increased risk by releasing too much information about themselves or other operational details.

Risks to Service personnel - and potentially their families - include posting details and locations of troop movements, operational events, locations and travel details of ships or aircraft, as well as people's home addresses. If inadvertently released, information such as this could give the UK's enemies the upper hand. 

The guidance and products to download (web banners, posters, etc) would be useful for anyone in the Armed Forces Community.

Online videos have been released as part of the campaign and we'll be posting links to them shortly.

Sir Bill Rollo visits the Agency



Sir Bill meeting staff from the Veterans Helpline


DCDS Pers Lt Gen Sir Bill Rollo visited our offices based in Blackpool today.  Sir Bill is the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff responsible for MOD personnel.

During his time here, Sir Bill visited the Veterans Helpline, met with staff working on the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and discussed veterans welfare with the Officer in Charge of the Veterans Welfare Service

Sir Bill listening into a call

During his visit to the Helpline, Sir Bill had the opportunity to talk to staff from the Helpline and Customers Services Teams about their work, learn about the types of enquiries received and how staff build up their skills to become helpline operators.  While on the tour, Sir Bill was able to listen in on a call to the helpline.