EDITORIAL

Abstract

You are looking at this year’s second issue of Contemporary Military Challenges dedicated to individuals in the armed forces and those of us who come in contact with them. At the beginning of the year, we entered the fifteenth year of publication, and the Editorial Board’s wish was to prepare some subjects on public relations and military psychology. We wanted to learn more about the perception and functioning of individuals in the armed forces as team members. We also wanted to learn about relations in military teams and about the functioning of military teams in domestic and international security environment. The group of those who come in contact with them includes their family members, colleagues, neighbours, villagers, repre- sentatives of the media and various institutions, Slovenian and international public, as well as residents of the areas where international armed forces are located. In a swift glance, one may get an impression that this is a completely normal working environment with indoor and outdoor activities, and a multitude of relationships build within that. However, armed forces differ from other organizations and working en- vironments. It is thus no surprise that, in the beginning of the previous century, "the father of public relations", Edward Luis Bernays, strengthened his skills in the team of the then U.S. President Thomas Woodrow Wilson, where he was responsible for public relations at a time when the First World War raged through Europe. Bernays defined U.S. efforts and activities as bringing democracy to Europe. Many of the prominent authors in the field of public relations, military sociology and psychology, tested and perfected their professional skills in the military or in direct connection with them. The authors in this issue refer to the knowledge and experien- ce of these authors, as well as add their own. In the article The complexity of defence and military environment requires strategic public relations management, the author Nada Serajnik Sraka shares her experien- ce acquired during her employment in the Communication Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and her participation in the communication activities su- rrounding Slovenia’s accession to the European Union and NATO. Nina Raduha presents the experience of the Slovenian Armed Forces regarding the establishment and organization of work in social networks. In her article Social networks as a challenge of communication in the Slovenian Armed Forces, she presents the results of the implemented communication strategy and compare them with the experiences of others. In her article Evaluation of Slovenian Armed Forces public affairs Liliana Brožič presents four different projects carried out to evaluate communication activities of the armed forces in various patterns. Their results have shown why public confiden- ce is important for the Slovenian Armed Forces and identified opportunities for the future. Miran Barovič and Uroš Rošker wrote the article Military from the point of view of basic social psychology terms, where they provide an insight into the essential cha- racteristics of military teams, their most important rules and what in terms of social psychology makes them different from other teams. Slovenian contingent in Kosovo is a case study used by Petra Resman in her article Psychological operations – military operations or applicable social psychology? In order to explain the basics of psychological operations and present its practical value, the author introduces key concepts and findings and explains some termino- logical confusions. Janja VUGA invited her students to participate in the preparation of the article Social, institutional and organisational support in greedy institutions: satisfac- tion of Slovenian military families. They carried out a survey among the partners of Slovenian Armed Forces members to find out how they perceive their absence during deployments in international operations and missions. Mateja Kopač, Jelena Juvan and Maja Garb wrote the article Gulf War Syndrome. Quite some time has passed since the Gulf War; however, some of the war partici- pants still suffer the consequences. The authors analyse and present them in a syste- matic manner.