When someone thinks about a military veteran, they might think of the older person selling poppies in the local supermarket or Highstreet. Maybe they think of Captain Tom Parker or the Remembrance Day Parade. The veteran community are visible at events such as these, and other significant anniversaries but is not very visible outside of these types of events. The fact is though that you have probably passed a veteran, or two in the street today. According to the Royal British Legion Survey RBL (2014) veterans account for 4.4% of the UK population, therefore veterans represent a significant community of ex-military personnel. The term community is used because as Balfour (2018) explains, there is some evidence to suggest that ex-military personnel continue to connect remotely with their peers via closed and specific social media sites like Facebook and that these virtual networks operate as a quasi-support environment (p 562). Brewin (2011) cited by Balfour (2018) argues that military service can lead to profound changes in identity, affecting both military personnel’s perception of themselves and the world. This change of identity has been termed transition by several authors including Ahern et al. (2015); Binks and Cambridge (2018), Cooper et al. (2018) and Lancaster et al. (2018). 

During military service, the individual may experience and endure extreme hostile environments, be in situations that can result in life-changing injury to themselves or others and violent death of comrades and civilians. They may have to deal with the aftermath of these incidents and are expected to conduct themselves professionally. This inevitably takes its toll on the individual and can result in moral injury, posttraumatic stress (PTS), and other mental health issues. At the end of military service for some, the transition back to civilian life is a complicated, frustrating, and difficult one. As Ahern et al. (2015) describe normal life is alien, many veterans feel a lack of purpose in civilian life, it lacks structure, and they feel a disconnection from people at home.

It would be rational to assume that community music (CM) projects with this community would be a helpful intervention to alleviate some of the issues that veterans have in adjusting to and dealing with life in a civilian community. Communal music making has been shown to have positive effects on feelings of detachment and negative beliefs about oneself (Landis-Shack et al., 2017), it provides a means for people to define and redefine their self-identity (Baker & Ballantyne, 2013), and group songwriting experiences have been used to develop socialization skills or engender feelings of belonging to a community (Bradt et al., 2019). Landis-Shack et al. (2017) also cite (Carr et al. 2011) and explain that music can help ground someone in the present moment when faced with an intrusive or distressing reminder, such intrusive throughs are symptomatic of PTS. The UK veteran community, however, is a population group that is underrepresented in community music projects and research. (Balfour, 2018), in the Oxford Handbook of Community Music, states that “Despite some high-profile music projects such as military wives, in the United Kingdom, there is very little ongoing work exploring the relationship between music and the needs of military audiences (p558).” At the Forces in Mind Trust, Research conference in March 2022, presenters from all parts of the UK shared the research and projects that were being conducted in their region. There were reports of intervention projects and research including a variety of artistic activities, but there were no reports on any music projects taking place.

Previous research has found that there are studies of CM interventions in non-veteran communities that study similar mental health conditions and issues that the UK veteran community have, and there are studies that have been conducted with non-UK veterans suffering from PTS,  Noyes and Schlesinger (2017), for example, stated that early studies indicate that music therapy results in alleviation of PTS symptoms (p81). So why does it appear that there are very few studies or projects involving music and the UK veteran community?

Could it be that there is a lack of engagement on the part of the veterans, Balfour (2018) states ‘there is an in-built resistance between military personnel and civilians instilled from day one of boot camp. Civilians are different. You only trust each other. The military is your family.’ (p537). This could be the reason for what Balfour (2018) describes as the distrust and suspiciousness that the veteran community have for artists and university researchers, or could it be that the good intentions that community musicians have when trying to work with veterans are not welcome and the Illich (1968) presentation ‘To Hell with Good Intensions’ cited by Balfour (2018) should be observed and the community left alone?

This research will hopefully extend the limited research on the effects of CM on the military veteran community and whether there is value in attempts to engage the veteran community in CM interventions. The potential practical implications for this are for readers and funders to advocate future funding to promote opportunities for music-making projects in the veteran community. This study intends to assess the viability of long-term funded projects and the creation of music clubs that local military veterans can access to engage in music activities to promote and enhance wellbeing. The topic of the study will be to examine the potential impact of CM on the UK veteran community and the conditions required to sustain and develop veterans' music activities.

The key questions of this study will respond to how community musicians can engage the veteran community in active music-making to promote wellbeing, to help readers, understand the impact of military life on an individual and how the development of a musical identity can assist in providing a new social place for the veteran.
Therefore, the research questions are as follows:

1. Can participatory group music-making have a significant positive effect on the well-being of UK military veterans?
2. Could the development of musical identity provide a new social place for veterans through a community music intervention?
3. To what extent could the military veteran use active music-making to assist in the regulation of emotions and positive mental health?

To do this the veteran community must be put into context and the military & veteran identity understood. Current and relevant research involving veterans and music will be examined and the principles of community music outlined. The study will engage with newly formed veteran music groups and using these groups as case studies will explore how these groups have developed, the barriers they have encountered and the experiences of the organisers, facilitators, and participants. The findings from the observation of practice and the qualitative data collected from participants exploring both its practical and emotional impact will inform future research to guide an action-based research project in the future.

Secondary Research: 

This study is designed to investigate the efficacy of using CM interventions to promote well-being in UK military veterans. To do this the UK veteran community and the issues that the community and individuals within the community face must be understood. Secondary research will be reviewed through publications by organisations such as the Ministry of Defence, Office for National Statistics, and Office for Veterans Affairs to build a picture of the make-up veteran community and support organisations such as the NHS, the Royal British Legion and veteran support charities to investigate the issues veterans face and the support available for them. Military and veteran identity is examined through Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory and how the transition to military identity and veteran identity occurs. It will also investigate the legacy of military identity and the challenges the veteran encounters in the transition back into civilian society. 

Observing the sparsity of empirical studies involving CM interventions with UK veterans, secondary research will also review CM as an intervention, the work of CM and music therapy interventions in the veteran communities of other nations and interventions with non-veteran groups that encounter similar issues to assess how music could be used to alleviate some of the problems veterans face. Much of the secondary research refers to the treatment of those suffering from mental health issues, mainly PTS using music therapy modalities. The benefits of mental well-being illustrated in these studies are of utmost relevance to this study. 

Primary Research: Primary Research is carried out with two newly emerging veterans’ music groups. The initial concept and vision for the groups, the set-up of the groups and the barriers, encountered through set-up and development will be examined. The value of participation will be investigated through the perspective of the organiser/facilitator and that of the participant to develop an understanding of how participation in the group affects well-being and the effect that has on the individual's mental health in general. 

The field site is at the NWVCoD rehearsal venue at St Helen's. The participants (n= 7). The Guitars for veterans group situated in South Wales were studied remotely and contacted by telephone, online technology, and social media. All participants were over the age of 18 and were provided with a project information sheet explaining the research, data collection and storage, they were aware that they would be given pseudonyms. Ethical approval was granted by the York St John University ethics committee.

Data Collection: The data collected included: Organiser/ facilitator questionnaires Organiser/ facilitator Audio/video recorded semi-structured interviews Participant initial questionnaires Participant reflective journals Participant Audio/video recorded semi-structured interviews Audio/video recordings of rehearsals & performances Field notes of observations of rehearsals and informal conversations. Questionnaire answers, field notes and semi-structured interview transcripts were analysed and coded using descriptive and value coding (Saldaña, 2020). Themes were identified and thematic groupings were created where corresponding texts were inserted in a spreadsheet side by side with other text in the thematic groupings.

How we think about ourselves, and others are represented by the concept of identity. ‘It identifies those with whom we see ourselves as similar as well as those with whom we see ourselves as different (Brenner et al., 2021). People derive their identity or sense of self largely from the social categories to which they belong. (Stets & Burke, 2000). Brenner et al. (2021) maintain that people have many identities that exist in an ecology of identities within the self, and those identities can be enacted, altered, or abandoned in different situations. Our identities are learned through what Turino (2008) calls socialisation where we model ourselves on others that we encounter. Quinn (2021) explains, that the likelihood of playing out an identity across different situations is referred to as salience and the importance of that identity to an individual is known as prominence. An abrupt identity change may change the prominence and salience of other identities in the individual (Quinn 2021).   

McKinlay and McVittie (2011) explain identity refers to the person's central being, which persists through their biological history.  Personal identity is a sense of self, built up over time, it is experienced by the individual core or unique to themselves and emphasises a sense of individual autonomy (Hitlin, 2003). Stets and Burke (2000) and Quinn (2021) describe three bases of identity, (1) person identity, the unique way people see themselves, (2) role identities, the meanings associated with roles that are attached to a position in society, and (3), group or social identities, the perception of uniformity among members of a group. In identity theory, role identities are defined in part by their relationship to counter-role identities such as the father's role identity in contrast to that of the mother or child (Quinn 2021) The cognitive process of seeing oneself as a representation of a role and the norms associated with the role is termed, self – verification. This process of classifying oneself has been termed identification (Stets and Burke, 2000). In social identity theory, people see themselves as being like other group members, feel a strong attraction to the group as a whole and their perceptions and actions are at one with the group. The cognitive process of seeing themselves as a representation of the norms of the group is termed depersonalisation and the term ‘self-categorisation’ is used to describe the processes in which group identity is formed (Stets and Burke, 2000). In these group contexts, friction between insiders and outsiders of the group can occur, Hogg and Rinella (2018) describe how there can be a positive emotional bias and behavioural tendencies toward the in-group and a negative emotional bias and behavioural tendencies toward the out-group.

Woodward and Jenkings (2011) describe how the military recruiting process points to a military identity as a matter of individual determination with the possibilities of a variety of military occupations and activities. The prospect of an exciting, adventurous life may be a pull factor for a younger person and the feeling of the boredom of living with parents and a job with few prospects may be a push factor in deciding to join the military. 

To be successful the recruit must undergo a transformation process that begins during initial entry as recruits learn the customs, habits, practices, norms and policies that will dictate their time of service, the initial entry process strips the recruit of their civilian life (Lancaster et al., 2018). Cooper et al. (2017) explain that transition to the military culture during basic training is nonoptional. Those that cannot accept this new military identity either leave before completion through their own discharge or will be discharged for breaches of discipline. This transformation process starts with socialisation to the military culture, and recruits are subjected to forced separation from civilian life, civilian clothes, hairstyles etc. to make way for a strong identification with military culture. (Godfrey et al., 2012). The uncertainty that the recruits experience during this phase of training causes the formation of bonds with other service members, feelings of unit cohesion and the development of a unique military identity, (Lancaster et al., 2018). Cooper et al. (2017) cite Hockey (1986) that the lack of any offstage available to recruits ensures that any sense of individuality or prior identity is removed. 

As service goes on the military identity is then reinforced and in a study by (Lancaster et al., 2018) it was found that most dimensions of identity increase as the number of years and number of deployments increase. In the Binks and Cambridge (2018) study, it was found that respondents acknowledged that their military identity became their primary and dominant identity, (most salient and prominent). The possession and performance of professional military skills were fundamental to claims of military identities, such as their trained and skilled ability to use weapons and although some skills were potentially comparable to civilian skills, military attributes were emphasised such as the hostile environments in which they were performed (Woodward and Jenkings 2011). Woodward and Jenkings (2011) also explain that enactment of the skills was understood essentially as a collective group endeavour and the strong emotional bonds were noted in the study with terms such as family being used in describing their comrades. This strong sense of identity and social bonds become stronger, more salient, and prominent the longer a person serves (Woodward and Jenkings 2011). Stets and Burke (2000) observe that as this depersonalisation takes place it enhances perceptions of the stereotypes of the in-group and out-group. The in-group being members of the military and the out-group being civilians. This reinforces Balfour's (2018) statement, ‘there is an inbuilt resistance between military personnel and civilians, civilians are different. You only trust each other. The military is your family’ (p 556). 

The service member does not however lose all of their civilian identity, only that the military identity becomes the most prominent and salient of the individual's many identities and they do not live wholly in a military society. Cooper et al. (2017) describe the temporary transitions that take place whilst on leave and the civilian life events such as getting married and having children and that a complex cultural transition must be navigated when moving between military and civilian environments. 

Eventually, military service must come to an end. Some service members may have served a full military career and retire having completed the maximum time they are allowed to serve. Some service personnel may need to leave the forces due to injury, health, or mental health issues and for some, the greedy institution described by Cooper et al. (2017) and its demands on the individual that put service over family may come to create a push factor for the freedom from a structured lifestyle and the pull factor of family life may make civilian life more appealing. At some point, all service personnel must leave the military and negotiate the transition back to civilian society.

One obvious issue facing military personnel is that of physical injury incurred whilst serving and the recovery and rehabilitation process that the individual has to undergo. While some make a recovery that allows them to continue to serve some do not make this recovery and the injuries sustained will cause them to be medically discharged from the services.  The psychological impact of encountering this kind of trauma, either as a victim of the event or as a witness to it can also lead the individual to suffer from mental health conditions. The House of Commons briefing paper, Mental Health Statistics for England (Baker 2018) gives a breakdown of the prevalence of mental health conditions into regions, gender, occupation and ethnicity but does not mention veterans as a community. NHS (2016) states that ‘one in four adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem in any given year, this equals 25% of the population, including veterans. 

One such condition is post-traumatic stress (PTS) and according to APA (2022), it is categorised under Traumatic and Stressor Related Disorders in The Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).  According to Yehuda et al. (2015), PTS is a condition that can develop following exposure to extremely traumatic events such as interpersonal violence, combat, life-threatening incidents or natural disasters. It can also develop from indirect exposure to the grotesque effects of war as first responders to serious injury or death and military personnel collecting human remains (APA, 2022). Its core features are the persistence of intense, distressing, and fearfully avoided reactions to reminders of the triggering event, alteration of mood and cognition, a pervasive sense of imminent threat, disturbed sleep and hypervigilance (Shalev, 2017). Yehuda et al. (2015) describe the symptoms as intrusive distressing memories, nightmares of the trauma, enhanced threat sensitivity and preoccupation with the potential for danger, difficulty sleeping, poor concentration and emotional withdrawal.  

To be diagnosed with PTS, the sufferer must show symptoms that occur for at least a month and result in functional impairment or clinically significant distress (Adler & Hoge, 2008). PTS can be categorised into two types, it is termed ‘acute’ if symptoms last for less than three months and termed ‘chronic’ if persisting for more than three months (Javidi & Yadollahie, 2012). Shalev (2017) explains that the symptoms of PTS frequently present shortly after the traumatic event but a delayed onset seen in military personnel accounts for 25% of chronic cases. Delayed onset occurs at least six months after the traumatic event (Javidi & Yadollahie, 2012). For a diagnosis of PTS to be given an individual must present with multiple symptoms from a range of seven symptom clusters given in DSM. The DSM is now in its fifth edition (DSM-V) since its creation and according to Shalev (2017), there is only a 55% overlap between those identified as having PTS in the previous DSM – IV version. This indicates that 45% of those that were diagnosed with PTS following the DSM – IV guidelines would not have been diagnosed under DSM – V. Many studies that show statistics of the prevalence of PTS were conducted before DSM – V. 

Various sources claim different statistics for the prevalence of PTS in the armed forces, according to (Shalev, 2017) 78% of those who experience combat will not develop PTS but the intensity of the event and the number of traumatic events that someone is exposed to will increase the likelihood of PTS developing. The APA (2022) however states that the rates of PTS are higher among veterans. The highest rates range from one-third to more than half are found in rape survivors, military combat and captivity and ethnically or politically motivated genocide (p 308). Many veterans support charities such as Combatstress (2019) use the figures from the Stevelink et al. (2018) study stating that the prevalence of PTS was lower in serving personnel at 4.8% compared to the 7.4% in UK veterans, this leaves the overall PTS rates for the military community at 6.2%. Zoteyeva et al. (2016) agree, citing Iverson et. al. (2009) that the rate of probable PTS from recent conflicts was 6.2% which is elevated compared to 4% of the general population. 

Aside from PTS alcohol misuse and common mental disorders (CMD) continue to be the most common mental health problems the military and veteran community face with rates of alcohol misuse at 10%, and 21% suffering from CMD (Stevelink et al., 2018). The symptoms that the varied range of conditions present include anxiety, depression, negative thoughts, low self-esteem, anger, irritability, mood problems, and insomnia, these result in sufferers withdrawing socially and avoiding social situations. These can affect family and work relationships and an unwillingness to socialise. Hunt et al. (2014) conclude that ‘UK studies of military personnel suggest that their rates of common mental disorder are comparable to or higher than the UK general population, that military exposures do not seem to influence rates of common mental disorders and that certain groups of the military are far more likely to suffer from psychological distress rather than PTS, with a suggestion that general aspects of daily work seem to have a greater impact on common mental disorders that any specific exposure (p7).’ NHS (2016) rates of mental health problems amongst serving personnel and recent veterans appear to be broadly similar to the UK population but, working-age veterans are more likely to report suffering from depression. 

Zoteyeva et al. (2016) observed that despite the high prevalence of mental illness in the population, not all veterans seek professional treatment (p308). It is acknowledged that mental health issues in the defence forces often exist within a culture of stigmatisation with servicemen often reluctant to admit to having a problem (Balfour 2018). This reluctance of veterans to come forward and seek help could be one factor that complicates the statistics. In the survey conducted for NHS (2016) 77.1% agreed to the question ‘I felt no one would understand my armed forces’ experience.’ With one comment that’ Non-military civilians do not understand military life and conditions and therefore veterans will always be wary of dealing with such people.’ 78.3% of veterans surveyed agreed to the question ‘I found it hard to ask for help for my mental health condition.’ One commented, ‘Servicemen are always trained not to show weakness,’ while another stated, ‘I knew there was help available, but a mix of pride and fear stopped me from asking for help.’ These attitudes often delay individuals’ from seeking help. Delayed onset PTS is 33% more common in veterans than compared to the civilian population (Andrews et al., 2009), and the finding by the charity Combat Stress is that the average delay between symptom onset and presentation to support services is 13 years (Iversen & Greenberg, 2009). This delay in symptoms and the unwillingness of veterans to come forward to ask for help with their problems may be leaving many veterans with undiagnosed conditions.

One personal way to cope with these issues that veterans face is to the mindfulness approach of the five steps to wellbeing 1) connect with other people, 2) be active, 3) learn new skills, 4) give to others and 5) take notice and pay attention to the present moment.

The various music projects are been highlighted in this research demonstrate the sparsity of research and music projects involving UK veterans and although there are many support groups for veterans such as the RBL Bravo 22 company, the Drive Project/BLESMA Limbless Veterans Organisation, and the Soldier’s Arts Academy, that have undertaken some arts-based projects with veterans and studies such as that have included veterans and drama such as that by Ackley and Wilson-Menzfeld (2021), there is little to find when looking specifically at music-based support projects with veterans. At the Forces in Mind Trust, Research conference in March 2022, where presenters from all parts of the UK shared the research and projects that were being conducted in their region there were reports of intervention projects and research including reading groups, clay modelling groups, Lego modelling groups and horticulture groups, no presenters were reporting on any music projects taking place. So, what research has taken place involving music and veterans? In the main, the research has been undertaken in other counties and has been mainly conducted with the focus on the treatment of PTS symptoms using music therapy.  

Bensimon et al. (2012) conducted a study involving soldiers from the Israeli defence force that had experienced trauma and were diagnosed with suffering chronic PTS. The soldiers participated in a sixteen-week program where they took part in active music-making activities in group sessions. The programme was split into phases including improvising the trauma, where the participants were encouraged to talk about how the various sounds made by the played instruments made them feel and how this related to their trauma. Drumming out the rage session with drums was used to let out frustrations. Group discussions were held at the end of each session. The sessions were recorded on video and analysed by independent researchers. The participants also took part in an in-depth interview at the end of the program. The study found that all felt that they talk less about their trauma and more about general things, they felt an improvement in well-being and increased feelings of belonging. All gave positive feedback about the group sessions and their positive effect on their daily lives and that these improvements could not be made by just talking. (Bensimon et al., 2012.

The Bronson et al. (2018) review of Music Therapy Treatment of Active Duty Military examined four programs that included group music sessions, songwriting, improvisation, and performance with US military personnel, aimed at reconnection with the sense of self and increased socialization. The programs were conducted at different facilities, the main location being The National Intrepid Centre of Excellence (NICoE). One facility ran group sessions where they worked in groups of 4-6 members and received 1 x 90 min session of therapy per week for four weeks including week 1, music and movement, week 2, pleasant & unpleasant sounds, week 3, song wring / jam session, week 4, improvisation. At another facility group and individual sessions targeted goals specified by patients. Working in 5 per group they also had 1 x 90 min session for 4 weeks with a different focus each week: week 1, music listening, week 2, active music making, week 3, music for relaxation, and week 4, songwriting. The review also describes a creative arts café, a performing arts venue that patients and staff can access to share creative expression allowing patients to grow in their recovery process and is used as the first step for creative engagement outside of therapy sessions. The evaluation of the sessions was through the number of participants returning for follow-up sessions with an uptake of 79%.

 Bradt et al. (2019) conducted a retrospective analysis of fourteen songs created by military service members while in therapy at NICoE and claims to be the first study to examine the therapeutic benefits of songwriting in a military population. The 14 songs were written by 11 service members over 2-3 individual music therapy sessions. The lyrics of the songs created four main themes, personal struggles, barriers to recovery, moving forward, relational challenges and positive relationships and support. The lyrics expressed positivity and resilience despite the individual's struggles. The study found that in veterans, collaborative songwriting can address, shame, depression, social isolation, and difficulty communicating along with the questions revolving around Identities - who was I? who am I now? Abilities - what can I do now? And survival guilt - why am I still here? (Bradt et al., 2019). 

Balfour (2018) describes two projects with Australian military communities, one with serving members in Afghanistan in 2013 called ‘Going Home’ this was a part of a larger project focused on supporting ex-military and their families through arts-based projects, where a song and video were produced to aid a veteran’s charity. The song was written by a diplomat and songwriter who wrote the song over four months while working at a military base in Afghanistan. The song was based on the conversations and observations with the personnel at the base. The song was performed at the base and released on Youtube and to date, it has had 61,200 views. Another project Balfour (2018) describes is  ‘The Soldiers Wife’ and it involved widows of ex-servicemen in aid of their veteran’s widows ‘Laurel Club’. In this project, a team of songwriters visited the widows club to talk to and engage with the veteran's widows to gain material to write songs to create a CD that could be sold, and the proceeds go to the club. The team found it difficult at first and it took eight weeks for the club members to engage effectively. A CD was eventually produced, and a second volume has been released. 

Dhokai (2020) describes a project to engage US military veterans through guitar workshops. This was decided by interviewing veterans to investigate the kind of music that they would engage in. The focus of the guitar workshops was to re-engage or maintain a lasting connection to music. The program started with 20 participants in the workshop for a 10-week series. Due to varying skill levels, a levelled learning approach was used where the individual could choose the difficulty of their approach, one could play a simpler version of a chord while another may play a complex version. This allowed the group to work on the same music at different levels. In the second series of workshops level, 1 and level 2 ability groups were created and a framework and format for the workshop series were developed. They ensured that the music was meaningful through pre-session surveys and encouraged peer mentoring and conversations outside of sessions this meant culturally the workshops allowed the veterans to engage in personally meaningful music. A sense of camaraderie was developed through casual conversations and interaction between group members. Peer support and mentoring were encouraged, and inclusion and collaboration were important learning goals. Continued communication was weekly emails to members to update practice at home. Surveys were given to participants at the end of each 10-week series and the project resulted in increased social interactions and social connectedness, interest in learning new skills, better family relationships, decreased social isolation and an increased feeling of wellbeing (Dhokai, 2020).

In the study carried out by Zoteyeva et al. (2016) with Australian veterans to explore how music is used to manage symptoms of depression and stress and the links between the prevalence of mental health symptoms and veterans’ music listening patterns. From the group of 233 surveyed almost two-thirds were likely to have a mental health problem. The study found that participants engaged with music more than any other leisure activity. A prominent strategy was listening to music when predicting negative social interactions and depression. The findings were that those veterans experiencing high levels of depression, stress and negative social interactions use music to regulate their emotions and that they may be using their musical identities to self-medicate in a proactive way to prevent the build-up of emotional distress. (Zoteyeva et al., 2016).

Research from studies involving civilians can be used to further inform the benefits of music and the treatment of mental health problems. In the review of the potential effects of collaborative songwriting in civilians with PTS, Noyes and Schlesinger (2017) conclude that the writing of lyrics was a cathartic process for the participants,  the process produced a strong sense of community and that the programs reduced PTS symptoms. In the Review of Music Therapy for PTS in adults, Landis-Shack et al. (2017) found that there was increased group cohesion, self-esteem and feelings of self-worth and decreased social isolation and feelings of worthlessness in programs including group music therapy sessions, instrument tuition, improvisation, songwriting and recording. In a study involving displaced families due to armed conflict in Columbia that had had their social place and personal identities affected by the displacement, Rodríguez-Sánchez and Cabedo-Mas (2020) describe how eight families took part in a Music for Reconciliation program for over a year. The participants received recognition for having developed an important skill, this gave them a positive appreciation of themselves. It gave them increased confidence in their own music-making and music became a salient and prominent identity. The program had a positive impact on their social place, social status, and an increased sense of belonging.

The veteran population qualifies as a community through their shared military identity and the bonds created by the common military culture is, according to Lancaster et al. (2018) so strong that military personnel view their comrades as family. This continues after service within the military legacy described by Cooper et al. (2017). One veteran interviewed for this study stated that he did not know of any veteran that would ever call themselves a civilian. This insider/outsider view has been strengthened by the activism and protests of the veteran community to the extent that the government created the Armed Forces Covenant in 2011 and the creation of the appointment of Johnny Mercer MP as Minister for Veterans Affairs in 2022. A veteran himself he was driven into politics by his displeasure at how his cohort of military personnel and veterans had been treated by the government (GOV.UK, 2022). The Armed Forces Covenant was made law by its inclusion in the Armed Forces Act 2021. The veteran population is also a significant community at 2.8 million, 4.4% of the population of Great Britain (RBL, 2014).

According to Iversen and Greenberg (2009), the limited existing evidence suggests that the majority do well after leaving the armed forces, and as previously stated the RLB household survey of 2014 findings were that PTS, mental health problems, homelessness, prison populations and suicide rates amongst veterans were comparable to the general population, however, Cooper et. al. (2017) describes the military culture as biased by hegemonic masculinity where qualities of emotional toughness aggression and self-reliance are promoted and dependence, displaying emotion and weakness are frowned upon. Mental health issues in the defence forces often exist within a culture of stigmatization with servicemen often reluctant to admit having a problem (Balfour 2018) and it has been identified that for various reasons some veterans do not seek help. The diagnosis of mental health conditions is also constantly evolving, and it is now more unlikely to be diagnosed with PTS for example due to the changing diagnostic criteria Shalev (2017) that is only a 55% overlap in diagnosis under DSM-V compared with DSM-IV this will affect whether an individual qualifies for treatment. Authors also quote different statistics from different studies and this, combined with evolving diagnosis criteria and veterans not coming forward for help contributes to making mental health statistics complex, confusing and possibly unreliable. While the MoD uses gaining employment as a key measure of successful transition (Ashcroft, 2014), Cooper et. al. (2017) cite Jolly (1996) and acknowledge gaining employment does not necessarily indicate a good transition back into civilian life. One could argue then, that, having a job and not having a diagnosis of a mental health condition does not necessarily mean that the veteran is living a fulfilling life, coping, and doing well. Soon, the demographic of the veteran community is also set to change drastically by a reduction of one million by 2028 (MOD 2019). This will be almost a one-third reduction from the RLB (2014) survey. This will result in an increase in veterans working to 44% compared to the previous 38% (MOD 2019). These sudden changes in statistics will cause the RLB and other studies' findings irrelevant while research catches up.  In effect, the community will quickly get smaller but younger where increased support may be required and projects such as CM interventions become more appropriate.

Just because there is a lack of empirical evidence to support the notion that community music projects can be of value to the UK veteran community it should not result in the notion being discounted. There is evidence through Bensimon et al. (2012) and Bronson et al. (2018) that group music making is valuable within wider treatment protocols in with Israeli and US military suffering from PTS. Bradt et al. (2019), Specifically investigated the value of songwriting with US veterans and found positive results in reducing the symptoms of mental health conditions. Noyes and Schlesinger (2017) observed similar results in civilians using songwriting as therapy for PTS. Although these studies were conducted by music therapists, group music-making and collaboration in these studies fall clearly within the community musician’s boundary walker remit. Groups created by community musicians to work with the veteran population can give access to the wellbeing-promoting effects of collaborative music making to those who do not qualify for medical referral of self-diagnose, and also provide continuity and extended support for those whose prescribed treatment has ended.

The Dillingham (2011) study with G4V in the US also studied veterans with PTS but the sessions were conducted more in line with community music focus rather than music therapy. The sessions were facilitated by experienced guitar instructors rather than music therapists, with weekly individual sessions and monthly group sessions resulting in a 37% increase in feelings of a better quality of life. The study by Dhokai (2020) carried out again in the US, using guitar workshops as a pathway way to community engagement also had more of a community music focus and was not specific to PTS suffers but rather to veterans in general. It describes inclusion and collaboration as some of the important learning goals shared by all participants regardless of age, level or ability and the group sessions were held weekly and facilitated by a guitar tutor.  Through surveys of the participants, improvements were found in feelings of well-being, reduced social isolation, better family relationships and strong retention in playing the guitar. G4V-Wales in the UK also has a community music philosophy, it has been running weekly guitar lessons and group sessions since January 2022. The facilitators are professional guitar tutors funded by the charity and there is no focus on specific mental health conditions, anyone that has served one day in the military, or anywhere in the world can join a group. The only measure of success for G4V-Wales so far, however, is the growing numbers of participants and new groups being formed across Wales. 

The North West Veterans Corps of Drums (NWVCoD), by the admission of its founder, was originally intended to maintain the traditions and military music of the Infantry Corps of Drums. This is what Higgins (2012) would describe as ‘music of a community,’ this is because the vision of the NWVCoD was to preserve the musical identity and traditions beholden to a particular group of people, in this case, ex-military CoD musicians. Since the start of its group sessions in February 2022 the vision of the group has shifted and whilst there is a very strong commitment to the music and traditions, the value of the group to its member's wellbeing has become an increasingly more important rationale for its existence. As Tom the founder states ‘We hope to be not just a Cops of Drums but also the “Go To” for Veterans around the Northwest.’ The group now better fits the perspective of an ‘active intervention between a music leader or facilitator and participants’ Higgins (2012) and the interventions are intended to have consequences other than musical Everitt (1997) cited by Deane and Mullen (2013). The data as to the success of the group so far is limited but through observations, interviews, and conversations with participants it appears that the group provides a welcoming, supportive atmosphere that is contributing to the participant's sense of identity, self-esteem, and wellbeing, renewing in pride in restoring old skills and providing a supportive social network.

Both the G4V-Wales and the NWCoD observe that one of the greatest obstacles they have encountered so far is obtaining funding, in a telephone conversation with the president of G4V-Wales, it was explained that even though the group is hosted by the charity, The Friends of the Royal British Legion Band of Wales, they have had difficulty convincing funders to commit. The NWVCoD are also suspicious of the strings attached to funding that may cause the group to change its approach. Recruitment of participants is also difficult, veterans seem to be resistant to put themselves forward and G4V-Wales have found a  good model to follow in taking the concept to the veteran by visiting existing veteran support hubs, talking to the veterans that attend, allowing themselves to become familiar faces and the drip feeding the idea of guitar workshops at the hub, this softly, approach and entering their safe space rather than advertising for the veterans to come forward to something, somewhere, they do not know and maybe suspicious of.

Even once on board, the veterans are difficult to work with. For the small case study supporting this research, the veterans were welcoming, warm, friendly, and supportive of the research. The group made it clear that this was due to positionality and that the welcome may not have been so warm to a civilian researcher.  The group were open and freely disclosed their individual problems and effective participation in the group. They were happy to take part in group and one-to-one conversations and discussions but were not forthcoming when it came to answering questions in written form and completing written reflective evaluations post rehearsals. Members would always say ‘oh I need to send you that stuff from last week’ or that they had forgotten it and would bring it next time.  None of the reflective evaluations appeared and it was clear that transcriptions of online interviews, observation notes and researcher notes of conversations and telephone calls would have to do. The fact is that future research methods with veterans need to be flexible and reactive, and the data collection needs to be in a form that the group dictate and not what the researcher thinks would be most appropriate.

The limitations of this research are that there is a scarce amount of previous research to draw from, if community musicians are working with veteran communities, they are not openly advertising it and it does not appear that any research is being carried out in the area. This research however confirms what the previous research in other areas has found. The military identity creates individuals that set themselves apart from the civilian population and as a collective create an insider/outsider relationship with society. For a civilian this can make the veteran population difficult to work with, positionality is important and as Balfour (2018) states ‘social instinct, genuine interest and authentic communication is as important (if not more so) than good musicianship’ (p570). This study has identified that although in their infancy there are the beginnings of some community music groups involving veterans in the UK and that if the lessons can be learned from these emerging groups there is scope for more groups to spring up and evolve in the future. The findings of this research may not be sufficient evidence to convince and inspire funders at this stage therefore further research in this area is also necessary. Further research is required with this community that studies these veteran music groups as they grow, to involve greater numbers over a longer period to enable a more detailed enquiry into the benefits of community music with veterans. The notion of CM projects with the veteran community is theoretically sound, CM practice encompasses the values of the five steps to well-being and could be of great value.  Further research in this area would further inform other practitioners seeking to work with this population and provide further data surrounding the trauma-informed practice and contribute to creating conceptual frameworks and pedagogies to enhance work in this area.

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