The veterans oral history project

The Veterans Oral History Project (VOHP) focuses on three main areas: engagement, impact and research relating to veterans' life experiences before, during and after the military. The knowledge gained by exploring these veterans' life experiences will enrich policy makers, veterans' service providers, military officials, academics and members of the general community whose support could certainly make a difference in how returning soldiers adapt to life after combat. The VOHP focuses on veterans of contemporary conflicts (e.g. Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan). It aims to collect and preserve personal accounts of recent war-veterans and make them accessible to all, based on a phenomenological and participatory research methods, design and procedures. It will be heavily focused on veteran volunteers serving in various capacities, for example as trainers, interviewers and interviewees.

More specifically, the project aims to train five veterans to interview ten veterans that have been involved in a contemporary conflict(s) and to undertake a documentary film featuring interviews with all the veterans involved in the project, in other words, trainers, interviewers and interviewees. It is envisaged that the project will take eleven months to complete and that interviews will be conducted in English or Welsh. The project’s objectives are to:

(a) collect and preserve the personal accounts of recent-war veterans and make them accessible to all, so that future generations may hear directly from those who served and better understand each veteran's military experience as well as their transition back into civilian life.
(b) focus heavily on veteran volunteers serving in various capacities, for example as trainers, interviewers and interviewees. More specifically, the project aims to train five veterans to interview ten veterans that have been involved in a contemporary conflict.
(c) undertake a documentary film featuring interviews with all the veterans involved in the project, in other words, trainers, interviewers and interviewees.
(d) set up its own website via Peoples Collection Wales (PCW) thereby enabling users to download the video-taped oral histories free of charge.
(e) make use of PCW’s free digitisation training and equipment loan (particularly equipment for digitising 2D objects and slides, video equipment, and equipment for creating digital stories).
(f) share the video-taped oral histories by holding a free public viewing documentary film event in Aberystwyth. The documentary film will be followed by a public panel discussion featuring veterans, veterans' service providers, academics and members of the general community. In addition, the stories will be shared with health and social care service professionals to encourage empathy and understanding of Veterans experiences.
(g) publish a bilingual leaflet and to conduct a touring exhibition in libraries across West Wales.

The research aspect of the project will serve as a major contribution to the existing knowledge base for the following reasons. First, it aims to employ a more nuanced consideration of the effectiveness of different types of social support with a view to identifying the most effective in relation to successful veterans transition. In this regard, social support can function as a powerful protective factor for emotional well being but it should also be kept in mind that not all types of social support have beneficial effects for veterans and some may in fact be counterproductive (i.e. function as conduits of stress). Secondly, the study will contribute to enlarging the limited body of available qualitative research literature on veterans.