Veterans Voices – Collective Advocacy Group at Gordon Barracks

CAPS Independent Advocacy Veterans Collective Advocacy project brings together Veterans across Scotland to amplify their voice and to ensure that lived experience is at the centre of Scotland’s Veterans Wellbeing Alliance, it’s strategy, development, and ongoing work.

Our Veterans worker engages with veterans in a variety of ways, through visiting established veterans support organisations, engaging with alliance members to create and boost joint working to reach veterans that they are in contact with, visiting breakfast clubs across the country and reaching out to veterans that don’t regularly engage with services through social media, word of mouth and their own lived experience connections. To help create protected spaces for veterans to come together in a collective advocacy way, CAPS will be organising 3 in person events between August 2025 and March 2026 in different locations throughout Scotland.

This report details the outcomes, conversations, and recommendations from the second of these events which took place on the 28th of November 2025 at Gordon Barracks in Aberdeen. Veterans came together to talk about what is a veteran? What this means to people’s identity what it is like to be a veteran living in Scotland. They spoke about what the services that are available feel like to access, and how easy is it to navigate these services. The event was a chance for veterans to connect with each other, share experiences, and begin shaping change together.

The topics for the day were developed from conversations and meetings with veterans, the topics that arose at the first veterans event in August, identifying common themes that arose, alongside considering the SVWA strategy and the Thrive Together goal of ‘Empowering Veterans and Families: Creating Connections, Building Futures’.

Challenges in Defining Veteran Identity

When we asked the group how the label of Veteran affected their identity the group shared the commonality that being part of the armed forces had shaped all of their lives although some felt that it was an integral part of their identity, other felt that it was a part of their journey that they did not feel ‘defined’ by but ‘enhanced’ by.

• Comparison to civilian roles:
  One of the group talked about the criteria that is given to attract the title of veteran. They felt that this was misleading and often a barrier to veterans accessing services with such a wide net cast of people eligible to access them;
• Funding difficulties:
  On top of the issues that a broad definition meant for access to services, the group also felt that this made it harder for smaller local organisations to be able to secure funding and resources and that larger organisations that perhaps didn’t have the local knowledge that benefited people in local geographical areas, were commanding the funding as they were able to promise larger numbers of people but not the specific person centred support required.
• Cultural differences:
  One of the group said that they noticed how perceptions of veterans can vary widely across societies, they noted that this can often influence not only how veterans are honoured and supported, but can in turn really affect how veterans feel about themselves. In other cultures serving in the armed forces is highly valued in it’s relationship to citizenship and brings a high value of respect, they did not feel that this is always the way in Scotland and the UK.

If an apprentice plumber injured themselves during training and didn’t finish their training they wouldn’t call themselves a plumber forever after.

Transition and Community Support

During our afternoon session the group looked at the transition from military life to civilian life and what the considerations of services in the community should look at when designing and providing support in the community:

• Meeting veterans where they are:
  The group spoke about how transition support must be bottom-up, tailored to individual needs, and rooted in community. They spoke about how important it is to have people who have served in the military are influential in how services are provided.
• Integration with services:
  The group spoke about the need for veteran centres and how they should connect with transport systems and rural communities to ensure accessibility. Many of the larger centres that are available are not an option for people who live in rural areas. The importance of connections with services like Vector 24 are crucial but these are not available to everyone.
• Veterans Champions and their role:
  The group spoke about how this initiative is not working. It could be a vital service but they said that it is not visible and often not the right people who are filling this. These should be filled by veterans to ensure that ‘experts experience’ are the guiding figures in public services and places where veterans are.
• Family and community role:
  One of the veterans noted how important strong family and community networks are for successful reintegration. Services for supporting families and friends are equally as important as services for veterans themselves. People told us these support systems are often the best resources for veterans and they need to be well supported.

Philosophical and Ethical Considerations

• Principle of need and ability:
  One of the veterans expressed that they believe that support should be guided by the principle; “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.”
• Combat narratives:
  Another topic the group spoke about was that how combat is spoken about shapes public perception and veteran identity, often overshadowing non-combat service.
• Service vs. choice:
  A member of the group spoke about the distinction in perception between those who served in the military and those who chose other forms of public service, the group recognised that there are questions around the ideas of shared values and recognition, and believed that it is important for us to include these in conversations about how services are provided for veterans.
• Mixed feelings about gratitude:
  Another topic the group spoke about was phrases like “Thank you for your service” which had a mixed response from leaving some feeling humbled and others embarrassed or disconnected.

Conclusion

Veteran identity is multifaceted, encompassing service, sacrifice, and transition. Veterans services must focus on clarity of definition, equitable support, and recognition of the diverse experiences of veterans. By meeting veterans where they are and fostering community-driven solutions, society can better honour and support those who have served.

CAPS will include this report in future reporting to the alliance to inform their ongoing practice and it will form part of a larger final report with recommendations at the end of Mar 2026. CAPS Veterans worker will take these points forward to future veteran Collective Advocacy meetings and will incorporate the veteran’s comments and observations in future discussion topics.