scholarly journals Building an Accelerated Online Graduate Program for Military Officers

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Royce Ann Collins ◽  
Haijun Kang ◽  
Susan Yelich Biniecki ◽  
Judy Favor
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Program ◽  
Academic Program ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Military Officer ◽  
Online Curriculum ◽  
Experience Teaching ◽  
Unique Nature ◽  
Military Student ◽  
The Military

Because of the intense and unique nature of their military life, military officers face challenges that other students do not need to be concerned about when taking courses online. An institution's ability to understand these military officer students, design online programs to meet their unique learning needs, and deliver valuable online curriculum to advance their learning is instrumental to the long-term success of both the military student and the institution. Reflecting on our more than twenty years of experience teaching and mentoring military officer students, this article tells the story behind the development of an accelerated online program and shares the challenges brought along with having military officers in our online classes, including unpredictable deployment schedules, unannounced military exercises, security concerns, and military values and culture. How our faculty creatively and pedagogically addressed these challenges while still maintaining the rigor of our academic program is also discussed.

A qualitative study of military officers’ perceptions of the adaptions couples make to meet the military organisation’s implicit expectations

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia Ohlsson ◽  
Sofia Alexandra Nilsson ◽  
Gerry Larsson
Keyword(s):  
Extended Family ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Adaptive Behaviors ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Military Officer ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Military ◽  
Inductive Thematic Analysis

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate military officers’ perception of the implicit expectations the organisation has for the officer’s private life and what implications it may have for gender norms at the organisation, family and individual levels. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach, using an inductive thematic analysis, was performed. The data was based on 20 interviews with military officers, including 18 men and 2 women. Findings Two main themes, with three subsequent subthemes, were identified. These themes were interpreted as being necessary for the military officer to be able to manage organisational demands. The first included the implicit expectations the organisation had for the family. The three subthemes included the officer’s acceptance of frequent travel demands, adapting private life in accordance to organisational demands and picking a partner that matches the goals of the organisation. The second identified main theme included the military officer’s descriptions of implicit expectations the organisation held for the officer’s partner. Three subthemes were identified, including the partner’s need to be independent and psychologically strong, to take the main responsibility for managing family life and to engage in emotion work with the extended family. Originality/value The findings identify important perceptions that military officers have regarding the military’s expectations for their private life and the adaptive behaviors regularly performed. These adaptive behaviors allow the military officer to be able to engage in work that sustains the organisation.

Militarized Ministries of Defense?

2020 ◽  
pp. 115-134
Author(s):  
Peter B. White
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Active Duty ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Military Officer ◽  
White House ◽  
Us History ◽  
Active Duty Military ◽  
Military Background ◽  
The Military

General (Ret.) James Mattis’s tenure as secretary of defense represents a rarity in US history, in that at only one other time has the United States had a retired general in that post. This chapter places Mattis’s tenure in a comparative context. It leverages new data on comparative ministries of defense to examine patterns in the military background of ministers of defense (MoD) across a range of countries from 1964 to 2008. The analysis shows that, while not unprecedented, having a retired or active-duty military officer as MoD is relatively rare among democracies. The chapter concludes by examining the implications of another retired general or flag officer being appointed as secretary. The chapter argues that while a shift toward retired military officers as secretaries of defense would not necessarily increase the conflict propensity of the United States, it could harm the defense policymaking process. The effect would likely depend on whether a future secretary’s tenure saw the continued marginalization of civilian voices in policymaking in the Pentagon and White House.

A Culture of Organizational Grit From the Perspective of U.S. Military Officers: A Qualitative Inquiry

2021 ◽  
pp. 0095327X2098519
Author(s):  
Celeste Raver Luning ◽  
Prince A. Attoh ◽  
Tao Gong ◽  
James T. Fox
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Growth Mindset ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
Professional Pride ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Military

With the backdrop of the utility of grit at the individual level, speculation has begun to circulate that grit may exist as an organizational level phenomenon. To explore this potential construct, this study used an exploratory, qualitative research design. This study explored grit at the organizational level by interviewing leaders’ perceptions of what may be a culture of organizational grit. Participants included 14 U.S. military officers. Seven themes emerged relative to the research question: “What do U.S. military officers perceive as a culture of organizational grit?” Themes included professional pride, team unity, resilience-determination, mission accomplishment, core values, growth mindset, and deliberate practice. This study indicated that a culture of organizational grit is likely a combination of converging organizational elements. Overall, findings indicate that there may be a culture of organizational grit in the military and at the least, more research examining the concept is warranted.

Doctors Playing Gods? The Legal Challenges in Regulating the Experimental Stage of Cybernetic Human Enhancement

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Thibaut Moulin
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Medical Progress ◽  
Unique Nature ◽  
The Military

The emergence of new technologies might challenge our assumptions about biomedical research: medical progress may not only cure but enhance human capacities. In particular, the emergence of brain-machine interfaces will admittedly allow disabled people to move or communicate again, but also has various military applications, such as remote control of drones and avatars. Although there is no express legal framework pertaining to the experimental phase of human enhancement techniques, they are actually constrained by international law. According to international humanitarian law, civilians and prisoners of war may be subjected to experiments only when required by their state of health or for medical treatment. According to international human rights law, experimentations are permissible when they meet two conditions: (i) free consent, and (ii) proportionality (that is, the adequacy of risk and benefit). In light of these conditions, this article assesses the situations in which experimentation involving brain-computer interfaces would be lawful. It also gives specific attention to those experimentations carried out on members of the armed forces. In fact, owing to the military hierarchy and the unique nature of its mission (to protect national security at the risk of their own lives), it is necessary to determine how the military may comply with this legal framework.

scholarly journals Public/community Health Education Professional Accreditation among Stand-alone Baccalaureate Programs

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-77
Author(s):  
Robert A. Chaney ◽  
Kate Hendricks Thomas ◽  
Randall Cottrell ◽  
David A. Birch
Keyword(s):  
Health Education ◽  
Graduate Program ◽  
Academic Program ◽  
Community Health Education ◽  
Program Coordinators ◽  
Quality Assurance Mechanism ◽  
Undergraduate Institutions ◽  
Important Quality ◽  
Undergraduate Programs ◽  
General Concern

Background and Purpose: Formal training for health promotion practitioners often includes academic study in health education. Accreditation is an important quality assurance mechanism. One concern expressed during Council of Education for Public Health (CEPH) professional meetings is the capacity of stand-alone undergraduate programs in health education to meet the demands of accreditation. The purpose of this study was to determine the accreditation knowledge level among the program directors of stand-alone programs, and identify the perceived challenges, support for and value ascribed to accreditation among these programs operating without an affiliated graduate program. Methods: Thirtyfive undergraduate program coordinators identified via the 2009 American Association for Health Education (AAHE) directory completed a 21-item survey instrument. Results: Most program coordinators knew about undergraduate accreditation requirements (82.9%), but program coordinators of self-identified small programs had significantly more concerns about the availability of resources needed to successfully attain accreditation. Conclusion: It is important to consider and provide resources for successful attainment of accreditation among smaller undergraduate institutions. Information regarding this general concern will be important to both the CEPH and academic program coordinators as they move forward with the new stand-alone baccalaureate accreditation initiative.

The National Defence College

2021 ◽  
pp. 162-198
Author(s):  
Vipul Dutta
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
The Military ◽  
Jawaharlal Nehru ◽  
National Defence

The final chapter looks at the National Defence College (NDC) in Delhi that was inaugurated by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1960. It is the last of the military institutional creations designed to meet the training needs of senior ranking Indian officers. This chapter will contextualise the emergence of the NDC in the changing perceptions, roles and responsibilities of the Indian Armed forces. It will dwell at length on the post-independence cohort of senior Indian military officers that represented the ‘constituency’ of the NDC, and re-look at their subsequent assignments which symbolised a paradigm shift in the mandate of the armed forces, thereby offering a fresh perspective on the post-independence phase of the military institutional ‘Indianisation’.

scholarly journals The Figure of the Taṇḍa in Old Javanese Literary and Epigraphical Records

2019 ◽  
Vol 175 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 309-339
Author(s):  
Jiří Jákl
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Hierarchical System ◽  
Controversial Issue ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
High Status ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Standing Army ◽  
The Military ◽  
Professional Standing

Abstract This article offers a detailed analysis of the category of men known as taṇḍa. Widely attested in literary records and known from Old Javanese inscriptions, the function and social status of taṇḍa has been a controversial issue. Two views pertaining to the identity of these men have been advanced so far. According to most scholars, taṇḍa were high-status officials, often interpreted as military ‘officers’. According to an alternative view, they were low-status military figures and their function was to oversee markets, or they were low-status figures associated with music and performances. This article argues that until at least 1200 CE taṇḍa were court-based, active combatants, who had troops of their own followers at their disposal and were responsible for the military expansion of Javanese states. By the Majapahit period they were integrated as regular troops into the progressively more hierarchical system of the professional standing army, which resulted in their reduced social status.

Pens, Politics, and Swords

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica Ricketts
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Military Reform ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Army Officers ◽  
The Military ◽  
Institutional Order

The final chapter discusses in parallel the political histories of Spain and Peru in the final years of imperial rule in South America. Peru did not experience a long national struggle and lacked large elites committed to independence. As in the old metropolis, a constant and violent struggle between men of letters and military officers dominated. After decades of military reform and war, army officers with experience in command and government felt entitled to rule. Old subjects and new citizens were also accustomed to seeing them lead. Men of letters, on the other hand, found limited opportunities to exercise their new authority despite their ambitions. Additionally, both in Spain and Peru, liberal men of letters failed to create a new institutional order in which the military would be subjected to civilian rule. It would take decades for both parts of the former Spanish monarchy to accomplish that goal and allow for peace.

Pageantry, Pioneers, Panics and Punitive Expeditions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Dominy
Keyword(s):  
African Population ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
British Military ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Prestige

This chapter examines the role of the garrison in the British Empire's establishment of a colonial state in Natal during the period 1840s–1860s. It first explains how the garrison transformed Pietermaritzburg from a Trekker settlement to a Victorian colonial capital before considering the ways in which the British Crown used pageantry and propaganda to reinforce the prestige of the colonial state while masking the military weakness of the garrison in relation to the colony's potential enemies. It then discusses the garrison's “punitive expeditions”—almost as an extension of the parading on the barrack square of Fort Napier—in response to panic and rumors of invasions. Ironically, those raids provoked “panics” among the African population; such panics fed the almost pathological fear that the settlers had of a “native” rising or “combination.” The chapter also looks at the appointment of British military officers in various civil posts in the colony and concludes with an assessment of the Zulu invasion scare of 1861 and the question that it raised regarding payment for the garrison.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document