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Members of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan Major Anthony Childs and Captain Kerrin Connolly show off their moustaches.

New Zealand Defence Force

Te Ope Kaatua O Aotearoa

Media release

22 November 2006

MOVEMBER SPREADS TO OVERSEAS TROOPS

Movember, the charity moustache-growing event that has sprouted across faces all over New Zealand, has even spread to our Kiwi troops in Afghanistan.

The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamyan province, Afghanistan, join a significant number of New Zealand Defence Force personnel from Devonport to Dunedin who are taking part in Movember.

“Almost every male member of our group in Afghanistan is participating in Movember, that’s nearly 100 men. A number of folk even shaved off their existing mos to participate,” said PRT member Flight Lieutenant Wayne Thomas.

Air Force personnel across New Zealand have especially embraced the campaign with members of many squadrons and units taking part.

Movember runs through the month of November and involves men being sponsored for growing a moustache to help raise funds for and awareness of prostate cancer.

The event has been a runaway success for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand. Movember organiser Chris Young said, “We anticipate that we will raise over $500,000 from this event but more importantly, we hope it will get men talking about mens’ health issues. This is a huge positive outcome that can’t be measured.”

According to the foundation around 600 New Zealand men die of prostate cancer each year, about the same as the number of women who die from breast cancer.

About 3,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed each year mostly in men over the age of 55.

ENDS

Note to editors: Currently 673 New Zealand Defence Force personnel are deployed on peacekeeping operations, UN missions, and Defence Force exercises in 20 missions across 16 countries.

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