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for Veterans by Veterans

weServed Community Incoming

Giving a sense of community to Veterans

Hello, its Andy McNab here. When I left the military just over thirty years ago, I can safely say there wasn't much in the way of a safety net or support network there to help me integrate into civilian life. I had spent my entire life in institutions – foster homes, more schools than I can remember, juvenile detention and then straight to Infantry Junior Leader's Battalion. I had never been a kid or a teenager in the civilian world, let alone an adult! I wasn't alone, this was what all of us faced when we left back then.

Since then I have talked to thousands of serving and former military personnel, everywhere from the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick and the Army Foundation College at Harrogate, to serving troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and regimental associations throughout the UK. I have spoken to Veterans with 30 years of service under their belts and disillusioned kids fresh out having served the standard minimum term. There is a common theme here, and one that hasn't changed in the thirty years since I've left, and that is that service leavers and their dependents are simply not being supported or valued enough. There is so much that we could and should be giving to them, and it is time for that to happen. Governments come and go, initiatives are launched, intentions are there, but we can't wait for anyone else to make this happen any longer.

It is time to put this change into the hands of the people we know can deliver it –Veterans who have spent their military careers achieving the objectives they are given. That is why I founded weServed with a group of ex-military colleagues with connections in the various industries we are going to be offering to you as benefits. We are making this change happen, NOW. weServed has a mission and that is to make the UK the best country in the world to be a Veteran. We are in a position to, and have the experience and contacts, to make this happen. What is more, we have walked in your shoes, we have been there, we know what we, as a military community, want, need and quite frankly, deserve.

Veterans have felt (justifiably in my opinion) undervalued for too long. We are going to change that narrative. None of you are victims, you didn't sign up to be a victim, you didn't serve as a victim and you didn't leave the Armed Forces a victim. You are a highly skilled, trained, experienced asset for not only the civilian workforce, but also the community you live in. You are a problem solver, an organiser, a participant, a teacher, a leader and most importantly, you are a team player.

weServed is the UK's FIRST platform to bring to you all the benefits in one place – whether its financial services, health care, job opportunities or just a place to be part of that community again and speak to like minded people. This will be a community and a platform of benefits you can trust, a place that will give back to you and your loved ones and finally recognise what you deserve.

We launch this month and we want YOUR feedback to make the platform even better for you and people like you. You can help shape weServed into exactly what you would like it to be, please help us be a part of shaping a brighter and more supportive future for our ex-military.

You served, you have earned this, help us help your community to achieve this.

Andy McNab CBE, DCM, MM, DArts

Making the UK the best country in the world to be a Veteran