The Unforgotten Forces Project Final Report: An Evaluation of Support for Older Veterans in Scotland
Abstract: This is a summary of the final report on the experiences of older – over the age of 65 - exservicemen and women and service providers for the Poppyscotland-led Unforgotten Forces (UF) project. In 2014 Poppyscotland identified that there were approximately 280,000 Scottish older veterans (including their dependants), with the average age of the older veterans being 67 years 1, and that there was a need for improvement in their well-being. Similarly significant numbers of older veterans were also recorded by the Ministry of Defence for 2017: 2.4 million UK Armed Forces veterans in the UK, the majority of them – over two-thirds - aged 65 years and older, male, white and either married or in a civil partnership, and between 6-8% of those veterans resided in Scotland (MoD, 2019) 2. Also, in that year, 2017, The Unforgotten Forces project, a 3-year funded project, was awarded £4 million from the MoD/LIBOR Aged Veterans Fund.
Abstract: Changes in physiological markers and physical performance in relation to paratroopers' initial body composition were investigated during a 20-day winter military field training (MFT) and the subsequent 10-day recovery period. Body composition, serum hormone concentrations and enzymatic biomarkers, and physical performance of 58 soldiers were measured before, during, and after MFT. Comparisons were done according to soldiers' body fat percentage before MFT between low-fat (12% body fat) groups. Correlations between body fat percentage preceding MFT and changes in muscle mass, physical performance, and serum hormone concentrations and enzymatic biomarkers were investigated. It was hypothesized that soldiers with a higher fat percentage would have smaller decrements in muscle mass, physical performance, and serum testosterone concentration. The change in muscle and fat mass was different between groups (p < 0.001) as the low-fat group lost 0.8 kg of muscle mass and 2.0 kg of fat mass, while there was no change in muscle mass and a loss of 3.7 kg of fat mass in the high-fat group during MFT. Fat percentage before MFT correlated with the changes in muscle mass (R2 = 0.26, p < 0.001), serum testosterone concentration (R-2 = 0.22, p < 0.001), and evacuation test time (R-2 = 0.10, p < 0.05) during MFT. The change in muscle mass was correlated with the changes in evacuation test time (R-2 = 0.11, p < 0.05) and countermovement jump test results (R-2 = 0.13, p < 0.01) during MFT. Soldiers with a higher initial fat percentage lost less muscle mass, and had smaller decrements in some aspects of physical performance, as well as in serum testosterone concentration during MFT.