The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I and The Mighty Endeavor: American Armed Forces in the European Theatre in World War II

This article examines the construction of “unfit” black masculinity in institutional and medical discourses of the American military during World War II. Examining the military medical literature on “maladjustment” in context of the armed forces practice of segregation, I argue that by ignoring the impact of segregation, military psychiatrists reproduced linkages between blackness and “defect.” Despite the absence of direct assertions of racial hierarchy, these discourses thus implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, construed black manhood as alternately feeble and menacing, but above all as “abnormal” in both mind and body. Examining articles from psychiatric and military medical journals, as well as the internal documents of military officials, I investigate these claims in regard to the conceptualization and management of “constitutional defects” and psychosomatic illness.

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Occupational psychology in the UK Ministry of Defence

Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps ◽

10.1136/jramc-2018-001074 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 165 (2) ◽

pp. 124-127

Author(s):

Joanna Harvey

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

World War I ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Early Years ◽

World War ◽

Current Application ◽

Occupational Psychology ◽

Military Systems ◽

The Uk ◽

The Military

Psychologists first became prominent within the Armed Forces largely as a result of their contributions to military systems, operations and personnel during the First and Second World Wars. In the early years of the 20th century, as psychology was becoming a profession in its own right, its association with the military arose within the emerging concept of ‘shellshock’ during World War I and supporting selection activities in World War II. There are approximately 25 occupational psychologists currently employed within the Ministry of Defence (MoD), operating across all branches of the MoD, within the department of the Chief of Defence Personnel, the UK Defence Academy and a small number at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. The aim of this paper is to discuss the history and current application of occupational psychology within the UK MoD.

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The War To End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I

Journal of American History ◽

10.2307/1902123 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 56 (1) ◽

pp. 173

Author(s):

David F. Trask ◽

Edward M. Coffman

Keyword(s):

World War I ◽

World War ◽

Military Experience ◽

American Military

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The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I.

Military Affairs ◽

10.2307/1983934 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 343

Author(s):

James E. Hewes ◽

Edward M. Coffman

Keyword(s):

World War I ◽

World War ◽

Military Experience ◽

American Military

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Military Optometry from World War I to the Present

Hindsight Journal of Optometry History ◽

10.14434/hindsight.v51i3.31044 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 52 (1) ◽

pp. 4-8

Author(s):

W. Howard McAlister ◽

Jeffrey L. Weaver ◽

Jerry D. Davis ◽

Jeffrey A. Newsom

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

World War Ii ◽

World War I ◽

Armed Forces ◽

The United States ◽

United States Military ◽

World War ◽

Eye Health ◽

The Military ◽

Good Vision

Optometry has made significant contributions to the United States military for over a century. Assuring good vision and eye health of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines is critical to maximizing the military functions necessary to achieve victory. There was little organization or recognition of the profession in World War I, but optometrists were essential in achieving the mission. Recognition of the profession of optometry was still limited in World War II but it was improving, especially with commissioning as officers occurring in the Navy. Through the Korean and Vietnam Wars, optometry grew in stature and strength with all services eventually commissioning all optometrists, and Army optometrists were assigned to combat divisions. Continuing through the more recent conflicts in the middle east, the profession has continued to make an impact and has become an essential part of the armed forces of the United States. Doctors of optometry are now an integral part of the Department of Defense. The nation cannot field an effective fighting force today without the dedicated performance of these officers.

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Military Psychology- Need, Scope and Challenges

International Journal of Indian Psychology ◽

10.25215/0902.141 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mansi Sharma

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

World War I ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Military Culture ◽

World War ◽

Military Psychology ◽

Military Recruits ◽

Qualitative Relationship ◽

The Times

The history of military psychology dates back to the times of World War I and World War II when army Alpha and army beta tests were constructed by psychologists. The army Alpha test was constructed by Robert Yerkes along with his colleagues in the year 1917 to evaluate The US military recruits during World War I. The aim of this research is to understand, evaluate the need of military psychology and its scope and challenges face by the armed forces of India. With this research article, the aim is also to highlight the qualitative relationship of psychology and military culture. With this paper the author aims to analyze how the Indian military culture functions and what role psychology plays in its functioning. The armed forces have always displayed its zeal, sheer wit and courage in strengthening the structure of Democratic country like India. The attempt is to explore in depth, the need of military psychology and how military psychologists or psychologists in general can help the military personnel during times of psychological distress. This research also provides ways in which the mental health professionals can strengthen this relationship with the armed forces of India.

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The World Wars as Jewish Wars

Jews and the Military ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691138879.003.0007 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Derek J. Penslar

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

World War I ◽

Spanish Civil War ◽

International Conflict ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Western World ◽

International Conflicts ◽

World War ◽

Zionist Movement ◽

The One

This chapter demonstrates the effect of the mobilization of ideas and manpower on the Zionist movement during the two world wars as well as a smaller international conflict that adumbrated World War II. During World War I, the Zionist movement sponsored the formation of Jewish units for the British armed forces, and although these units' military accomplishments were modest, they had a galvanizing effect on Jewish collective solidarity throughout the western world. A very different type of international mobilization sent thousands of Jews into the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Ideologically, these wars were perceived as serving Jewish interests, albeit often conflicting ones such as Zionism, on the one hand, and international socialism, on the other. Operationally, these were, for Jews, international conflicts, involving mass movements of Jews not only as refugees or inducted soldiers but also as volunteer fighters.

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Strategic Air Power

International Relations ◽

10.1093/obo/9780199743292-0066 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Robert Gerald Hughes

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

World War I ◽

Armed Forces ◽

The United States ◽

World War ◽

Air Power ◽

Nation States ◽

Strategic Goals ◽

Aerial Platforms ◽

Terror Bombing

Strategic air power is one of the means by which a military strategy employs aerial platforms to bypass the battlefield to achieve decisive political results in conflict. Most obviously, this has involved the coercion of an enemy nation-state by seeking to destroy its economic ability to wage war (as opposed to eliminating its armed forces). In Clauzwitzian terms, this represents a fundamental shift in identifying the enemy’s “center of gravity.” Debates over whether air power can achieve strategic goals date from the very first applications of it. The use of strategic air power requires systematic organization (e.g., RAF Bomber Command; the US Strategic Air Command) and, in addition to the use of strategic bomber aircraft, can be used in conjunction with missiles or tactical aircraft against targets selected to diminish the war-making capacity of the enemy. One of the aims for using strategic air power is enemy demoralization—that is, the racking up of punishment to the extent that the will of the enemy to resist is broken. The theory of strategic heavy bombing began to be developed during the aftermath of World War I. By the time of World War II, opponents of strategic air power made frequent reference to “terror bombing” as shorthand for its use. Of course, this term is dismissed by proponents of the use of strategic air power for the manner in which it delineates between other aspects of war (often equally unpleasant) and the targeting of civilians/war-making capacity. The use of strategic air power has been limited since World War II for a number of reasons. Not least among these is the relative scarcity of major wars as well as the inability of the vast majority of modern nation-states to devote sufficient resources to seek any decision in conflict via strategic air power. The United States is a notable exception here and it employed strategic air power in Vietnam in 1972, against Iraq in 1991 and 2003, and in Kosovo in 1999.

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