scholarly journals Maximising Operational Effectiveness: Exploring Stigma, Militarism, and the Normative Connections to Military Partners’ Support-Seeking

Sociology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003803852110331
Author(s):  
Emma Long
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Welfare Policy ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Operational Effectiveness ◽  
Disciplinary Power ◽  
Military Research ◽  
British Military ◽  
Support Seeking

Non-serving partners of personnel in the British military endure numerous challenges due to their association with the Armed Forces and complex systems of support exist to mitigate some disadvantages they might experience. Military research suggests that support-seeking can be stigmatised, limiting the effectiveness of existing support systems. However, it seldom engages with how stigma is produced, often obscuring reflection on normative and disciplinary power, rendering discussions politically anesthetised. Through the thematic analysis of welfare policy and provision, interviews with welfare-providers and military partners, this article develops understandings of stigma as a barrier to support-seeking, considering how it is produced and how it is productive of gendered militarised neoliberalism.

scholarly journals Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) COVID-19 Recovery Service

2021 ◽  
pp. e001681
Author(s):  
Oliver O'Sullivan ◽  
R Barker-Davies ◽  
R Chamley ◽  
E Sellon ◽  
D Jenkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Medicine ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Acute Illness ◽  
Medical Rehabilitation ◽  
Rehabilitation Centre ◽  
Operational Effectiveness ◽  
Mortality And Morbidity ◽  
Recovery Service ◽  
Significant Mortality

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes significant mortality and morbidity, with an unknown impact in the medium to long term. Evidence from previous coronavirus epidemics indicates that there is likely to be a substantial burden of disease, potentially even in those with a mild acute illness. The clinical and occupational effects of COVID-19 are likely to impact on the operational effectiveness of the Armed Forces. Collaboration between Defence Primary Healthcare, Defence Secondary Healthcare, Defence Rehabilitation and Defence Occupational Medicine resulted in the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre COVID-19 Recovery Service (DCRS). This integrated clinical and occupational pathway uses cardiopulmonary assessment as a cornerstone to identify, diagnose and manage post-COVID-19 pathology.

Review of neurological rehabilitation for Multiple Sclerosis in the British Military

2021 ◽  
pp. bmjmilitary-2021-001852
Author(s):  
Oliver O'Sullivan ◽  
L Allsopp ◽  
J Mitchell ◽  
L Price ◽  
K Tourle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Medical Rehabilitation ◽  
Neurological Rehabilitation ◽  
Patient Support ◽  
Rehabilitation Centre ◽  
Occupational Outcomes ◽  
British Military ◽  
Working Age

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive neurological disorder, classically presenting in working age adults, including those in the Armed Forces. The Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Stanford Hall offers vocationally focused neurorehabilitation services for service personnel (SP) with MS, with the goal to minimise disability, maximise independence and remain able to work.This paper has two aims. First, it briefly provides a clinical update of MS, focusing on pathology, presentation, diagnosis and management. Finally, it will describe the role of DMRC and data from the last decade in the management of MS.Our findings suggest not all SP with MS are being referred to DMRC, and some of those who do have significant delays, potentially impacting on patient support, symptom management and occupational outcomes. It is hoped that this paper will improve awareness and recognition of MS for Armed Forces personnel.

Supporting the Complexity of Inquiring Organizations

2011 ◽  
pp. 109-132
Author(s):  
Dianne J. Hall ◽  
Yi Guo
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Multiagent System ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Systems Design ◽  
Agent Technology ◽  
Technological Support ◽  
Organization Support

This chapter examines the issue of technological support for inquiring organizations and suggests that the complexity of these organizations is best supported by a technology of equal complexity—that is, by agent technology. Agents and the complex systems in which they are active are ideal for supporting not only the activity of Churchman’s inquirers but also those components necessary to ensure an effective environment. Accordingly, a multiagent system to support inquiring organizations is introduced. By explaining agent technology in simple terms and by defining inquirers and other components as agents working within a multiagent system, this chapter demystifies agent technology, enables researchers to grasp the complexity of inquiring organization support systems, and provides the foundation for inquiring organization support systems design.

Are Women ‘Really’ Making a Unique Contribution to Peacekeeping?

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 227-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindy Heinecken
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Operational Effectiveness ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Performance Pressure ◽  
The Military

This article examines the factors that inhibit the ability of female peacekeepers to make a unique contribution to peacekeeping operations based on their gender. The debates are examined in relation to the claims made about their ability to enhance operational effectiveness and reach out to the local population as women, compared to the actual experiences of South African peacekeepers’ deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (drc) and in Darfur/Sudan. The argument is made that factors stemming from both the military and operational context affect the optimal utilization of women in various ways. As most national armed forces tend to draw their peacekeeping troops from the infantry, women come under tremendous performance pressure when deployed and are obliged to assimilate masculine values in order to be recognised as ‘good’ soldiers. It is argued that this, coupled with the hyper-masculine peacekeeping environment which is hostile to women, undermines their optimal utilization, as well as their ability to infuse a more gendered approach in peacekeeping.

Norovirus gastroenteritis outbreaks in military units: a systematic review

2020 ◽  
pp. jramc-2019-001341
Author(s):  
Luis Queiros-Reis ◽  
A Lopes-João ◽  
J R Mesquita ◽  
C Penha-Gonçalves ◽  
M S J Nascimento
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Operational Effectiveness ◽  
Military Forces ◽  
Norovirus Gastroenteritis ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Military Units

IntroductionNorovirus gastroenteritis is one of the most frequent causes of personnel unavailability in military units, being associated with significant morbidity and degradation of their operational effectiveness. The disease is usually mild but can be severe and life-threatening in young and healthy soldiers, who are prone to dehydration due to intensive daily activity. Despite its impact, the full extent of the norovirus gastroenteritis burden in military forces remains unclear. This systematic review aims to evaluate the impact and ascertain clinical and epidemiological features of norovirus outbreaks that have occurred in the military forces.MethodsThe systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines and used three databases: PubMed, Scopus, and LILACs. Papers published up to 1 September 2019 were included without restrictions if they reported one or more outbreaks in the military forces on active duty, either on national territories or deployed overseas.ResultsA total of 343 papers were retrieved from the literature search. After inclusion/exclusion criteria a total of 39 eligible papers were considered. From 1988 (first reported outbreak in the military) to 2018 more than 101 norovirus outbreaks have been reported in the military, accounting for at least 24 332 cases. Secondary transmission was emphasised as the main route of norovirus transmission in the military forces, with eating outside the military setting an important route for the primary cases.ConclusionsThe present review highlights that norovirus gastroenteritis has been a burden to military troops both in combat and on peacekeeping operations. Norovirus disease has been shown to exact a substantial toll on mission readiness and operational effectiveness. It is noteworthy that the impact of norovirus outbreaks among military units is underestimated because the literature review retrieved information from the armed forces from only nine countries.

Impacts of aero-engine deteriorations on military aircraft mission's effectiveness

2001 ◽  
Vol 105 (1054) ◽  
pp. 685-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Naeem ◽  
R. Singh ◽  
D. Probert
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Life Cycle Costs ◽  
Military Aircraft ◽  
Operational Effectiveness ◽  
Turbine Engine ◽  
Operational Life ◽  
Aero Engine ◽  
Aero Engines ◽  
Economic Developments

Abstract International political and socio-economic developments have led the armed forces of many countries to become more aware of how their increasingly-stringent financial budgets are spent. One major expenditure for military authorities is upon aero-engines, because in-service deterioration in any mechanical device, such as an aircraft's gas-turbine engine, is inevitable. Each deterioration has an adverse effect on the performance and shortens the reliable operational life of the engine, thereby resulting in higher life-cycle costs. For a military aircraft's mission-profiles, the consequences of an aero-engine's deterioration upon the aircraft's operational-effectiveness as well as its fuel consumption and life have been predicted in this project using validated computer-simulations. These help in making wiser management-decisions, so leading to the achievement of improved engine utilisation, lower overall life-cycle costs and optimal mission effectiveness for squadrons of aircraft.

Imperial continuities: Irish doctors and the British armed forces, 1922–45

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
British Military ◽  
The Social ◽  
Career Advice ◽  
Irish Medical ◽  
Military Services

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many Irish doctors led successful careers in the British Empire’s military medical services. Surprisingly, Irish medical connections with the British military were not simply severed once the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom in 1921, as might be expected. Rather, they rapidly grew in the 1920s and 1930s. This chapter asks why British military service continued to prove so popular among Irish doctors, making extensive use of a database of 262 Irish medical officers who served in the British forces between 1922 and 1945. The chapter reveals striking patterns in the social profile of officers, their motives, career success and the peaks and troughs of recruitment. It seems that many Irish medical officers complained that appointments in Irish hospitals were controlled by nepotism and that limited jobs were available. Several Irish publications which dispensed career advice to medical students during the 1930s not merely acknowledged, but actually recommended, opportunities in the British military services in preference to the Irish Army Medical Service - castigated for its poor pay, promotion prospects and pension entitlements. The result was an outflow of Irish medical practitioners beyond the attaining of Irish independence.

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