A narrative inquiry into the resettlement of armed forces personnel in the Arabian Gulf: a model for successful transition and positive mental well-being

Background: The study sought to explore the lived experiences of individuals having served in the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia, as they made the transition to civilian life and sought new employment opportunities. Methods: Researchers carried out qualitative research in the form of narrative inquiry. Narratives were collected from eleven in-depth interviews conducted in Saudi Arabia in 2021, allowed for insight into participant experiences. Existing literature on military retirement was also investigated. Results: Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed concurrently using thematic analysis to identify patterns or themes. The researchers adopted thematic synthesis as an analytical framework though which descriptive themes from the literature on military retirement were generated. Overall, this approach allowed for the comparison of themes in literature with those of narrative interviews. Conclusion: The study identified challenges encountered by veterans during the resettlement and transitional phase from military to civilian life. There was a general consensus, however, that military life equips individuals with valuable skills that are transferrable to successful post-military employment, known as Positive Transferable Adaptability for Employability (PTAE), (Mottershead, 2019), which can greatly empower those making the transition. These findings led the researchers to develop a new model for veteran career paths that meet the contemporary employment needs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: the REVERE Transition Model, which identifies six career paths.

What Do You Want Us to Know?: Learning From Life Stories to Improve Veterans’ Healthcare Experiences

My Life My Story (MLMS) is a national Veterans Health Administration (VA) life story interview program that aims to provide more humanistic care for veterans by focusing on the patient as a person. Our project took place at the Pittsburgh VA Healthcare System and had 3 main goals: (1) describe themes that emerge in MLMS interviews from the prompting question, what do you want your healthcare provider to know about you?; (2) identify topics of importance to veterans and suggest ways for healthcare providers to explore them; and (3) foster a culture at the Pittsburgh VA that places not only the health but also the personal triumphs, hardships, and aspirations of veterans at the center. Veterans provided verbal consent to have their previously recorded stories used in this study. Stories were coded and then analyzed for patterns and themes. A total of 17 veterans participated in our study. Themes that emerged from the stories include (1) Early Hardships; (2) Economic Disadvantage; (3) Polaroid Snapshots; (4) Around the World; (5) Haunted by Combat; (6) Life-altering Moments; (7) Homecoming; (8) Romantic Beginnings & Obstacles; (9) Inequity across Gender & Race; and (10) Facing Mortality. This study's findings underscore the need to address the traumas associated with military service, as well as the challenges faced with re-integration into civilian life, when working with veterans. The MLMS interviews explored in this study can help clinicians identify topics of importance to veterans, strengthen their relationships with their patients, and improve the care that veterans receive.

Walkable City and Military Enclaves: Analysis and Decision-Making Approach to Support the Proximity Connection in Urban Regeneration

Accessibility and urban walkability are the cornerstones of urban policies for the contemporary city, which needs to be oriented towards sustainable development principles and models. Such aims are included in the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, as well as in the ambitious objectives of the ‘European Green Deal’. These concepts are closely linked to the paradigm of a sustainable city—livable, healthy and inclusive—based on a system of high-quality public spaces and on a network of services and infrastructures, both tangible and intangible, capable of strengthening and building new social, economic and environmental relationships. It is necessary to recognize potential opportunities for connection and permeability in consolidated urban environments. These are very often fragmented and are characterized by enclaves of very different kinds. Ghettoes and gated communities, old industrial plants and military installations and facilities, to cite a few, represent examples of cases where closures on urban fabrics are realized, impeding full walkability and accessibility. Within such a framework, the present research is aimed at focusing on a particular set of enclaves, such as those represented by the military sites being reconfigured to civilian use, a phenomenon that characterizes many urban areas in the world; in Europe; and in Italy, in particular, given the recent history and the Cold War infrastructure heritage. In such a sense, the city of Cagliari (Sardinia Island, Italy) represents an interesting case study as it is characterized by the presence of a series of military complexes; real ‘enclaves’ influencing the proximity connections; and, more generally, walkability. Building on previous research and analysis of policies and projects aimed at reintroducing, even partially, this military asset into civilian life (Green Barracks Project (GBP)-2019), this paper proposes and applies a methodology to evaluate the effects of urban regeneration on walkability in a flexible network logic, oriented to the ‘15 min city’ model or, more generally, to the renewed, inclusive, safe “city of proximity”, resilient and sustainable.

Transition from military to civilian: Identity, social connectedness, and veteran wellbeing

Military identity and a sense of social connectedness may help explain differences in contemporary veteran wellbeing following transition from military to civilian life. However, it is unclear how these constructs interrelate. The current study quantitatively explored the role of social connectedness in the relationship between military identity and subjective wellbeing among contemporary ex-serving Australian Defence Force veterans. To facilitate analyses, data from 358 veterans were used to first explore the suitability of the factor structure of the Warrior Identity Scale. Subsequently, the potential moderating and mediating effects of social connectedness in the relationship between military identity and wellbeing were explored via path analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis of the Warrior Identity Scale revealed support for the multidimensional construct of military identity, and a revised six-factor measurement model was found suitable for further path analysis. Consistent with past research, social connectedness positively related to quality of life and negatively related to psychological distress. There was no support for a moderation effect of social connectedness. However, results indicated military identity indirectly influenced wellbeing and distress via differential relationships with social connectedness. Specifically, private and public regard for the military and not feeling like an outsider positively related to social connectedness. In contrast, interdependence with other veterans, viewing the military as family, and the centrality of military identity negatively related to social connectedness. The results suggest nurturing the protective aspects of military identity and addressing inhibitory aspects of military identity may support a sense of social connectedness and wellbeing among ex-serving veterans.

War in Ippeisotsu’s by Katai Tayama

The main objective of this research is to analyze the binary opposition contained in Ippeisotsu’s short story to reveal hidden meanings and provide new meanings about the Japan-Russia war of 1904-1905 by using the Jacques Derrida’s deconstructive reading method. This study also connects the context outside the text, namely the historical context to find the position of the work in the midst of the war situation in 1908. Therefore, Michel Foucault’s theory of power regarding discourse is used to see how the discourse related to war, the image of the ideal army, the doctrine of state defense and obedience to the emperor was constructed. Deconstructive reading method will be used to deconstruct the binary opposition found and then describe it by using qualitative descriptive method. The result of this study is there are six binary oppositions found in Ippeisotsu’s short story. These six binary oppositions are used to reveal hidden meanings and to give new meaning to the Japan-Russia war of 1904-1905. The six binary oppositions found are superior (Japan) and inferior (China), leader and follower, subject of command and object of command, brave soldier and fearful soldier, physically strong soldier and physically weak soldier, and the last is the battlefield and civilian life. If this binary opposition is related to aspects outside the text, namely connecting literary works with wartime situations, then the result of the meaning that is revealed in Ippeisotsu’s short story is a critique of the Japan-Russia war.

A narrative inquiry into the resettlement of armed forces personnel in the Arabian Gulf: a model for successful transition and positive mental well-being

Background: The study sought to explore the lived experiences of individuals having served in the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia, as they made the transition to civilian life and sought new employment opportunities. Methods: Researchers carried out qualitative research in the form of narrative inquiry. Narratives were collected from eleven in-depth interviews conducted in Saudi Arabia in 2021, allowed for insight into participant experiences. Existing literature on military retirement was also investigated. Results: Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed concurrently using thematic analysis to identify patterns or themes. The researchers adopted thematic synthesis as an analytical framework though which descriptive themes from the literature on military retirement were generated. Overall, this approach allowed for the comparison of themes in literature with those of narrative interviews. Conclusion: The study identified challenges encountered by veterans during the resettlement and transitional phase from military to civilian life. There was a general consensus, however, that military life equips individuals with valuable skills that are transferrable to successful post-military employment, known as Positive Transferable Adaptability for Employability (PTAE), (Mottershead, 2019), which can greatly empower those making the transition. These findings led the researchers to develop a new model for veteran career paths that meet the contemporary employment needs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: the REVERE Transition Model, which identifies six career paths.

Thank You for Hearing My Voice – Listening to Women Combat Veterans in the United States and Israeli Militaries

The military service of combat soldiers may pose many threats to their well being and often take a toll on body and mind, influencing the physical and emotional make-up of combatants and veterans. The current study aims to enhance our knowledge about the combat experiences and the challenges that female soldiers face both during and after their service. The study is based on qualitative methods and narrative analysis of in-depth semi-structured personal interviews with twenty military veterans. It aims to analyze the narratives of American and Israeli female combat soldiers regarding their military service, with emphasis on the soldiers’ descriptions, in their own words, about their difficulties, challenges, coping and successes during their service and transition to civilian life. A recurring theme in the interviews with the veterans of both militaries was the need to be heard and the fact that societies, therapists, and military institutions do not always truly listen to female veterans’ experiences and are not really interested in what actually ails them. Our research suggests that conventional methods used in research relating to veterans might at times be inadequate, because the inherent categorization might abstract, pathologize, and fragment a wide array of soldiers’ modes of post-combat being. Moreover, female veterans’ voices will not be fully heard unless we allow them to be active participants in generating knowledge about themselves.

Social Isolation Among Older Military Veterans

Social isolation is an increasingly critical issue among older adults and has been found to affect several domains of well-being, including physical, psychological, and cognitive health. Research has found that military veterans often experience hardships in the transition back to civilian life including emotional trauma, depression, substance misuse and pain from combat-related injuries, which have been shown to persist well into older adulthood. As such, this study aimed to examine the prevalence of social isolation among older military veterans and determine which veterans are most at-risk of experiencing social isolation, using the Berkman-Syme Social Network Index as a framework. Data were derived from Round 1 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), an annual longitudinal panel survey of adults aged 65 and older living in the United States. Results showed that about 4.5% of veterans in the NHATS are severely socially isolated while another 20.9% are socially isolated. After controlling for other explanatory variables, being White, being 85 and older, having lower educational attainment, being unmarried/unpartnered and having lower income were associated with an increased risk of experiencing social isolation. Interventions aiming to improve the well-being of older veterans should consider employing both preventative and amendatory measures. These may include the creation and administration of a standardized social isolation scale during visits to veterans’ affairs (VA) medical centers and a general effort to address stressors from military service by destigmatizing and improving access to mental health services.