scholarly journals Transition From the Military Into Civilian Life

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 156-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Cooper ◽  
Nick Caddick ◽  
Lauren Godier ◽  
Alex Cooper ◽  
Matt Fossey
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Cultural Transition ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Service Personnel ◽  
Transition Outcomes ◽  
Cultural Legacy ◽  
Military Life ◽  
The Military

In this article, we employ the theoretical framework and concepts of Pierre Bourdieu to examine the notion of “transition” from military to civilian life for U.K. Armed Forces personnel. We put Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital, and field to work in highlighting key differences between military and civilian life. The use of social theory allows us to describe the cultural legacy of military life and how this may influence the posttransition course of veterans’ lives. There may be positive and negative transition outcomes for service personnel when moving into civilian life, and by applying Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts, we explain how such outcomes can be understood. We suggest that the “rules” are different in military environments compared to civilian ones and that service personnel must navigate a complex cultural transition when moving between environments. There are numerous and significant implications—including policy applications—from understanding transition through a Bourdieusian lens, and these are highlighted throughout.

scholarly journals ‘You’re Just Chopped Off at the End’: Retired Servicemen’s Identity Work Struggles in the Military to Civilian Transition

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 812-829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Williams ◽  
Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson ◽  
John Hockey ◽  
Adam Evans
Keyword(s):  
Social Science Research ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Service Personnel ◽  
Cultural Adaption ◽  
Transition To Retirement ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Military

Promoting positive transition to retirement and cultural adaption for ex-service personnel has been identified as a priority for both social-science research and for public health policy in the UK. The Royal British Legion aims to provide support to service and retired service personnel, but to date the transition to retirement experiences of older (60-plus) ex-service personnel remain under-researched. In this article, we employ a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework to examine older servicemen’s experiences and identity challenges post-retirement from the British armed forces. Data were collected primarily through semi-structured, focus-group interviews with 20 former servicemen. Here, we focus specifically upon the challenges encountered by these ex-servicemen in the retirement transition from military to civilian life, a time of identity flux of sociological interest. To navigate this period of identity change and challenge, many participants constructed a ‘modified military self’ through involvement with the Royal British Legion as a key social support network. For many retired personnel the Royal British Legion offered a form of identification and group identity that resonated strongly with earlier experiences of comradeship in the military.

scholarly journals “The British Soldier is no Bolshevik”: The British Army, Discipline, and the Demobilization Strikes of 1919

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Butler
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
British Army ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Daily Mail ◽  
Winston Churchill ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Military

Abstract This article considers the breakdown in discipline in the British Army which occurred in Britain and on the Western Front during the process of demobilization at the end of the First World War. Many soldiers, retained in the army immediately after the Armistice, went on strike, and some formed elected committees, demanding their swifter return to civilian life. Their perception was that the existing demobilization system was unjust, and men were soon organized by those more politically conscious members of the armed forces who had enlisted for the duration of the war. At one stage in January 1919, over 50,000 soldiers were out on strike, a fact that was of great concern to the British civilian and military authorities who miscalculated the risk posed by soldiers. Spurred on by many elements of the press, especially the Daily Mail and Daily Herald, who both fanned and dampened the flames of discontent, soldiers’ discipline broke down, demonstrating that the patriotism which had for so long kept them in line could only extend so far. Though senior members of the government, principally Winston Churchill, and the military, especially Douglas Haig and Henry Wilson, were genuinely concerned that Bolshevism had ‘infected’ the army, or, at the very least, the army had been unionized, their fears were not realized. The article examines the government’s strategy regarding demobilization, its efforts to assess the risk of politicization and manage the press, and its responses to these waves of strikes, arguing that, essentially, these soldiers were civilians first and simply wanted to return home, though, in the post-war political climate, government fears were very real.

How ‘unique’ should the military be?: A review of representative literature & outline of a synthetic formulation

1990 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Boëne
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Military Organization ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Life ◽  
Term Change ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military ◽  
Number Of Authors

Central to the study of ‘armed forces and society’, whether the approach be that of sociology, political science or legal doctrine, is the question of how unique the military really is—and ought to be. Over the last four decades or so, a number of authors have evinced keen interest in, and written more or less extensively on such matters as the objective, normative and subjective dimensions of military life, functional, structural and cultural features of military organization, civil-military relations, and the patterns of long-term change affecting them.

Russian military patriotic education: a control tool against the arbitrariness of veterans

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Patriotic Education ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Military

The military had been concerned about military patriotic education for a long time when Putin's Patriotic Education Programme was published. As soon as the collapse of the Soviet Union occurred, followed a few years later by the creation of the Russian armed forces, they had already been developing patriotic education programmes aimed primarily at youth, aided by veterans of local wars, both volunteers and recruits. The aim of this article is to show that the military version of patriotic education aims openly to encourage military service, and that the Russian state will try to enlist veterans of the Afghanistan and Chechen wars in activities linked to military patriotic education and its spread in military and civilian spheres. Our hypothesis is that the determination to bring veterans together around a common project has two aims: (1) to federate veterans around the authorities and (2) to channel a population that escapes government control and some of whose excesses on their return to civilian life (violence towards the population in the context of their function, for veterans of the Interior Ministry in particular) have darkened the image of the ministries known as the “power” ministries.

scholarly journals Veterans’ experiences of successfully managing post-traumatic stress disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemma Parry ◽  
Suzanne Margaret Hodge ◽  
Alan Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
The Military

Purpose Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among UK veterans is higher than in the general population. However, prevalence figures do not reflect the complexity of this phenomenon and ways in which it may be bound up with veterans’ experiences of adjusting to civilian life. The purpose of this study is to explore veterans’ experiences of successfully managing PTSD. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six veterans who had served in the UK armed forces and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings Three themes were developed: accepting the problem, taking responsibility and gaining control; talking to the right people; and strategies, antidotes and circling back around. Managing PTSD appeared to be bound up with veterans’ experience of renegotiating their identity, where positive aspects of identity lost on leaving the military were rebuilt and problematic aspects were challenged. Participants sought to speak about their difficulties with others who understood the military context. They felt that their experiences made them a valuable resource to others, and they connected this with a positive sense of identity and value. Practical implications The findings suggest the importance of wider provision of peer support and education for civilian health services on veterans’ needs. Originality/value This study adds to the understanding of what meaningful recovery from PTSD may involve for veterans, in particular its potential interconnectedness with the process of adjusting to civilian life.

scholarly journals The retraining of the servicemen of the armed forces of Ukraine within the framework of the NATO-Ukraine program

2018 ◽  
pp. 99-112
Author(s):  
Iryna Avtushenko
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Social Adaptation ◽  
Difficult Situation ◽  
Military Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Military

The reduction and reform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has caused the social issues associated with adapting to the new living conditions and the activities of the servicemen dismissed from the military service to the reserve or retirement. During the period of transition from military life to civilian, many officers needed retraining for gaining new civilian specialties, which required financial support from the state. But the difficult situation in the country did not allow massively invest the budgetary funds needed to solve this issue. That is why the NATO’s support concerning the financing of programs aimed at social adaptation of servicemen dismissed from military service, as well as those included in the plan of dismissal from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, becomes dramatically important. In the years of independence, by means of these programs over 8 thousand servicemen have been retrained. For implementation of programs for the adaptation of servicemen all over the country, the centers for training of servicemen have been set up in the cities. Therefore these centers supported a large number of the dismissed servicemen or those who were to be dismissed, by giving them the opportunity to get a civilian specialty which was in demand in the labor market.

An Army of Civilians

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ozan O. Varol
Keyword(s):  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Civilian Population ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Citizen Soldiers ◽  
Common Thread ◽  
The Masses ◽  
The Military

This chapter addresses two questions: Why are the armed forces of some states more inclined than others to shoot when the masses converge upon a public square? Why are some soldiers more likely to put down their arms and join the crowds rather than turn against them? The citizen-soldier model emerges as a common thread among militaries that have toppled dictatorships. In these militaries, the leadership is often made up of career professionals, but the rank-and-file members are conscripts, also called “citizen-soldiers.” They serve a mandatory term in the military, usually one to three years, before returning to civilian life. These conscripts are civilians first and soldiers second. The rotation of civilians in and out of the military creates a feedback loop between the military and the civilian population that keeps the military in touch with civilian values.

scholarly journals Addressing the knowledge gap: sexual violence and harassment in the UK Armed Forces

2017 ◽  
Vol 164 (5) ◽  
pp. 362-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren R Godier ◽  
M Fossey
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Knowledge Gap ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Service Personnel ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Military

Despite media interest in alleged sexual violence and harassment in the UK military, there remains a paucity of UK-based peer-reviewed research in this area. Ministry of Defence and service-specific reports support the suggestion that UK service personnel may be at risk of experiencing sexual harassment. These reports however highlight a reluctance by service personnel to report sexual harassment through official channels. In this article, we discuss the paucity of UK-based research pertaining to the prevalence and impact of sexual harassment in the military, explore potential reasons for this gap in knowledge and outline future directions and priorities for academic research.

scholarly journals MILITARY COUNSELING IN THE ARMED FORCES COMMUNITY OF SOUTH KOREA

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Park Gyun Yeo ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Counseling Program ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Counseling Professionals ◽  
Counseling Education ◽  
Counter Measures ◽  
Military Life ◽  
Senior Officers ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Military

The contemporary generation of Korean soldiers has faced greater difficulties than its predecessors in adjusting mentally to military life. Prominent problems include relationship conflicts, perceived incompatibility with military culture, depression, internet addiction, violence, and extreme cases have resulted in suicide. Hence, the military authorities have realized the critical importance of counseling for soldiers, and have implemented a number of counter-measures. Military counseling concerns activities both within and outside the armed forces aimed at solving the psychological problems of soldiers. Due to technical and personal limitations within the armed forces, collaboration with civilian groups is essential. The Korean Association of Counseling Professionals (KACP) conducted counseling education for about 1,000 primary officers in 2006. Encouragingly, not only was the response from senior officers very positive, but also the rate of soldiers' committing suicide was reduced following the implementation of the program. The principles of this program are elaborated though four stages- 1) 'Epoché in phenomenology' which concerns opening the mind and removing mental bias, 2) 'Approach', 3)'Collective problem-solving' and 4) 'Changing the mind.' The authors call this the '4 stages of counseling program (EAST-C model).

scholarly journals Concept of Military Identity in Modern Sociology

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Social Identification ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Social Reintegration ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Social ◽  
Voluntary Membership ◽  
The Military ◽  
Military Transition

The article presents the main characteristics of the military identity, examines theoretical approaches to the study of the problem of military/post-military transition. Military identity is the result of the social identification of the actor with the army/military groups due to the internalization of values and norms adopted in the army/military field. The peculiarities of two military transition – transition from civilian life to the military field (after mobilization or voluntary membership in the armed forces) and transition from military to civilian field (after demobilization or dismissal for health reasons) are revealed. If the first transition involves the formation of a military identity, then the second transition is correlated with the phenomenon of postmilitary identity. If high levels of military identity can interfere with social reintegration during the second transition (transition from military to civilian life), then in the case of the first transition (transition from civil life to army life), they can contribute to the successful adaptation of the recruit for life in the army. The post-army period of social reintegration of veterans can be complicated by the contrast between the way of life of the military (with its culture of obedience, discipline, command spirit) and civilians (who value independence, personal autonomy and self-determination). As a result, there may be a conflict between the military and civil identities of the social actor, negatively affecting his/her social existence.

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