(Dis-)Empowered Military Masculinities? Recruitment of Veterans by PMSCs Through YouTube

Abstract

State militaries are a central, but not the only site for the construction of military masculinities. In this chapter, we examine how Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs), which increasingly provide security-related services to armed forces and recruit former military employees, partake in the construction of these masculinities through their social media use. Based on a qualitative content analysis of the YouTube recruitment videos aimed primarily at veterans by two major U.S.-based companies – DynCorp International and CACI – we illustrate how these PMSCs, while affirming traditional notions of military masculinity, challenge its traditional meaning as well by fashioning the rival ideal of the ‘corporate soldier’. In addition to upgrading the otherwise marginalised masculinities of veterans by allowing them to be hero warriors, disabled, and civilian employees all at the same time, this ideal also boosts the corporate masculinity of these companies and enables them to define themselves as both legitimate contractors and superior security providers.