Military Service Experience Research Articles

Gendered experience of military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (on the example of a military unit X 0000)

Over the past 10 years, the Ukrainian state has provided opportunities for women to serve in the army on an equal basis with men at the legislative level. Meanwhile, the army may still be identified as a maledominated institution, as Ukrainian servicewomen still face challenges during their service because of their sex.The empirical frame of the study was a case study (containing qualitative and quantitative components) of the experience of military service in the military unit X 0000. Based on the analysis of secondary sources and our own empirical research, we managed to identify gendered challenges specific to the experience of servicewomen in the Armed Forces, including during the Russian-Ukrainian war.The key gendered challenges of serving in the military unit X 0000 for women were vertical and horizontal gender segregation; the need to correspond with masculine standards and to combine the status of a military with the status of a woman, wife, and mother that sometimes have opposite role expectations, which can lead to role conflict; the need to combine childcare and household duties with work; stereotypes about servicewomen that exist within and outside the army; sexism and violence (psychological abuse and sexual harassment). The case study results allowed us to confirm empirically, illustrate with examples, and clarify the range of gendered challenges in the army, outlined in the analysis of secondary sources.The study highlights the special challenges for military women that arise during the period of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For example, women, unlike men, may be protected and prevented from working in ‘male’ positions. The article also shows that servicewomen may themselves uphold traditional gender roles, try to conform to patriarchal norms, and oppose gender equality. All this leads to the reproduction of gender inequality in the army.

Military Intervention in Civil Wars: Individual-Level Explanation of Leaders’ Decisions

Why are some national leaders more likely to intervene in a civil war than others? In this paper, I suggest that prior military service and combat experience can influence leaders’ risk perception by altering what they expect the result of their (in)action to be, as well as making militaristic means more mentally accessible, creating a militaristic heuristic for judgments. Analyzing national leaders from 1875 to 2004, I find that 1) leaders who have a military service background are about 3.86 percent more likely to engage in third-party intervention compared to those without; 2) leaders who were deployed in combat are around 4.53 percent more likely to intervene than those who either do not have any military experience at all or have military service experience but were never deployed; and 3) leaders’ military service experience without deployment in combat shows almost no impact especially when the standard error was taken into consideration. By examining how individual leaders’ experiences impact third-party intervention, this study aims to contribute to the agent-structure debate in IR and the debate on political decision-makers and their personal backgrounds.

No Women's Land: Australian Women Veterans' Experiences of the Culture of Military Service and Transition.

Women's experiences of military service and transition occur within a highly dominant masculinized culture. The vast majority of research on military veterans reflects men's experiences and needs. Women veterans' experiences, and therefore their transition support needs, are largely invisible. This study sought to understand the role and impact of gender in the context of the dominant masculinized culture on women veterans' experiences of military service and transition to civilian life. In-depth qualitative interviews with 22 Australian women veterans elicited four themes: (1) Fitting in a managing identity with the military; (2) Gender-based challenges in conforming to a masculinized culture-proving worthiness, assimilation, and survival strategies within that culture; (3) Women are valued less than men-consequences for women veterans, including misogyny, sexual harassment and assault, and system failures to recognize women's specific health needs and role as mothers; and (4) Separation and transition: being invisible as a woman veteran in the civilian world. Gendered military experiences can have long-term negative impacts on women veterans' mental and physical health, relationships, and identity due to a pervasive masculinized culture in which they remain largely invisible. This can create significant gender-based barriers to services and support for women veterans during their service, and it can also impede their transition support needs.

From combat boots to running shoes: The role of military service in shaping masculine identity in Israeli long-distance running groups

This study examines the social construction of masculinity within the Israeli society, focusing on the associations between masculine identity, prior military service, and current involvement in long-distance running. A 2-year ethnographic research design was utilized, involving two running groups, which incorporated participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and running websites. The findings shed light on the significance of military service experience and the utilization of military discourse as strategies employed by runners to navigate the challenges of long-distance running and to reinforce their masculine identity. Through an analysis of the runners’ military discourse and behavior, it becomes evident that the integration of women into traditionally masculine domains of intense physical activity poses a threat to masculine dominance, eliciting various responses from men, such as intensified sports training and the use of sexist and aggressive language. These coping mechanisms contribute to the perpetuation of male dominance within the long-distance running sphere while simultaneously providing male runners with a pseudo-corrective experience associated with their personal history of non-combat military involvement.

NONCOMBAT AND COMBAT MILITARY SERVICE EXPERIENCES, HEARING DIFFICULTY, AND DIFFICULTY REMEMBERING/CONCENTRATING

Abstract Hearing difficulty is widespread among U.S. veterans. Research documents a strong association between hearing difficulty and a range of cognitive outcomes. Most research that examines cognitive outcomes in older adults does not distinguish veterans from non-veterans or non-combat from combat veterans. We use data on Sample Adults aged 50+ from the 2021 National Health Interview Survey to examine: the associations between military service experiences (non-veteran, non-combat veteran, combat veteran) and difficulty remembering/concentrating (none, some, a lot/cannot do at all) net of sociodemographic controls; the extent to which observed associations are mediated by hearing difficulty (none, some, a lot/cannot do at all); whether military service experiences moderate the association between hearing loss and difficulty remembering and concentrating. This latter hypothesis is motivated by the notion that service-related hearing loss may occur earlier in the life course and therefore be more detrimental to cognitive outcomes. Analyses are weighted; standard errors are adjusted for the complex sampling design. Preliminary results from multivariable ordinal logistic regression models that include sociodemographic controls indicate that: non-combat and combat veterans have significantly more difficulty remembering/concentrating than non-veterans; the associations between non-combat and combat military service experiences and increased difficulty remembering/concentrating are reduced 20% when hearing difficulty is added to the model, but remain statistically significant; hearing difficulty is strongly associated with difficulty remembering/concentrating; and military service experiences moderate the associations between hearing difficulty and difficulty remembering/concentrating. For example, the highest level of hearing difficulty is more strongly associated with difficulty remembering/concentrating among combat veterans than non-combat veterans.

LATER-LIFE EXPERIENCES OF VETERANS AND THEIR CAREGIVERS

Abstract Military service is a defining life-course event that is consequential for the well-being of older adults and their caregivers. Although there has been increased attention to veteran status differences in later-life experiences, critical gaps in knowledge persist. This symposium features four presentations that address existing gaps from various perspectives. Kurth and colleagues use data from an online survey of community-dwelling combat veterans. They find that Vietnam Veterans exhibit more PTSD symptoms than veterans in two younger cohorts, and observed cohort differences are explained by military and post-service experiences. Spiro and colleagues examine later-adult trauma re-engagement (LATR) across multiple samples of Vietnam-era veterans and find that there is variation in LATR by gender and warzone experience. London and colleagues analyze data from adults aged 50+ in the 2021 National Health Interview Survey and find that: non-combat and combat veterans have more difficulty remembering/concentrating than nonveterans; hearing difficulty mediates some of the association between military service experiences and remembering/concentrating; and combat experiences moderate the relationship between hearing difficulty and difficulty remembering/concentrating. Haverhals and colleagues assess the Redefining Elder Care in America Program (RECAP) piloted recently in two VA health care centers and find that combat veterans and their caregivers reported shortcomings and challenges associated with program participation even though they were satisfied overall. Collectively, these papers underscore the enduring influence of combat exposure on older adults and the importance of innovative health care service models that are designed to provide support to caregivers. This is an Aging Veterans: Effects of Military Service across the Life Course Interest Group Sponsored Symposium.

Shifting from Post-Truth to Truth in Jonathan Lichtenstein’s The Pull of Negative Gravity

The concept of post-truth, popularised especially in 2016, exerts its influence across various areas from everyday life to diplomatic relations. Although its use and examination have notably increased in the last decade, the concept was used in the early years of the twenty-first century. For instance, during the 2003 Iraq War, both politicians and the ordinary public as well used this concept and produced both pro-war and anti-war post-truth discourses. Additionally, playwrights have represented post-truth discourses in their plays, both challenging prevailing political discourses and conveying their own messages through theatrical productions. One of these works, which scrutinise the post-truth discourses regarding the Iraq War, is Jonathan Lichtenstein’s play The Pull of Negative Gravity staged at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh in 2004 and published by Nick Hern Books in the same year. The play deals with the financial, familial and psychological difficulties of a Welsh farming family who sends one of their members to the Iraq War. The soldier’s experience of war and military service is glorified through post-truth narratives prior to his return from Iraq. However, upon his paralysed return from the war, the family members are compelled to face the undeniable realities, and all those positive discourses are replaced by factual truths. Thus, the play conveys to its audience/reader the message that emotionally-charged post- truth imaginations can be challenged through visible and objective realities. Considering such. Considering such viewpoints, the objective of this article is to examine both how Lichtenstein’s play unveils the post-truth discourses in the society concerning the Iraq War, and the strategy it follows to contend with such discourses.

Military service and war experiences in the personal documents of Polish Tatars

This paper analyses memories of military service and life experiences from the time of World War II, present in the social consciousness of Polish Tatars. The memories of representatives of this small ethnic group have been preserved through personal documents (including diariesand memoirs), which have been made public and published in print. The content analysis included a collection of sources consisting of 13 items.

Social Connectivity and Coping Among Vulnerable Veterans During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic dramatically changed how people socialized. However, little is known about the extent to which the pandemic changed the social connections of people with tenuous interpersonal relationships at baseline, including homeless-experienced people and people with psychotic disorders. We sought to understand how these populations experienced changes in their social connectivity and to identify coping strategies employed. We conducted 43 semi-structured interviews with 27 vulnerable participants (11 homeless-experienced people and 16 people with psychotic disorders) and 16 comparison group participants, all of whom used services at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Vulnerable participants in both groups had sparse prepandemic social connectedness; few perceived pandemic-related social network changes. While many homeless-experienced participants struggled with transitioning to technology to communicate, participants with psychotic disorders used technology to stay connected. Resilience derived from military service experiences was adaptive during the pandemic, complemented by VA services that provided supports.

The Problem of the Legitimacy of the Political Elite

The object of this study is the problem of the legitimacy of the political elite. The subject of the study is the views of a number of Western and domestic researchers on the political elite. The study aims to generalize the views of theorists from different countries and periods of time regarding the qualities of the political elite as a legitimizing foundation. The dialectical method, which was used in the analysis of the categories of "political elite" and "legitimacy," their essence and interrelation, played a decisive role in achieving the goal of this study. This method has become key in understanding the texts of the works under study. The method of system-structural analysis allowed us to explore the views of the philosophers in question holistically—when the authors' positions complement each other and create a general picture of the understanding of the legitimacy of the political elite. The conclusion of the study is as follows: in the modern world, the main method of legitimizing the political elite is a democratic election procedure, but the choice of citizens should be based on a clear idea of the qualities of a political leader, confidence that the candidate has serious professional competencies, as well as deep moral convictions and moral principles. This will help to avoid falling under the power of amateurs who put their incompetence and lack of values, stability, and security in society at risk. The result of the study of the ideas of domestic and Western philosophers is the confirmation of the judgment that the legitimate political elite should be considered people with high moral and spiritual values acquired or consolidated as a result of traditional upbringing, classical education, military service, and long-term work experience in the social and political sphere.

КАДРОВЫЙ СОСТАВ ОФИЦЕРСКОГО КОРПУСА ПОЛЕВЫХ ПОЛКОВ СИБИРСКОЙ ДИВИЗИИ В КОНЦЕ XVIII В.

The paper attempts to identify the features inherent in the military reforms of Emperor Paul I (1796–1801) on a regional scale, on the territory of Siberia. The personnel composition of the staff and chief officer ranks of the field regiments of the Siberian Division is considered according to the data for 1798–1799. The parameters such as the age and social origin of officers, the time of their military service and combat experience, disciplinary indicators are analyzed. As a result of the research, it was found that not all of Paul I’s innovations were put into practice in the field units of the Russian army stationed in Siberia by the end of the 18th century. In particular, the Russian nobles made up a significant but not dominant group among the officers, and most of them belonged to small-scale or had no serfs at all. The group of hereditary military, persons of non-noble origin, staff and chief officers’ children, was increased. Neither the widespread idea of the predominance of foreigners in command positions during the reign of Paul I, nor the popular thesis about the massive spread of severe disciplinary punishments in the Russian army, could be confirmed. In addition, the reforms resulted in decreasing to a certain extent the combat capability of these units, as evidenced by the significant rejuvenation of the personnel of their officer corps and the obvious lack of experience of participation in hostilities among most officers.

Gateways and gatekeepers: Two factors that influence the use of performance and image enhancing drugs (PIEDs) among UK military veterans

Recent reports have identified that PIEDs use is rising within the Armed Forces leading to concerns over health and concomitant operational risks. The aim of this study was to identify the roles of gateways and gatekeepers on PIEDs use among a cohort of UK military veterans. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 ex-Service personnel. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed using NVivo12 software. Common themes were identified around the ways in which the veterans were introduced to PIEDs and how they accessed them. Gateways consisted of two categories of Circumstances and Behaviour, including excessive gym use, the need to cope with fitness demands of military service, overseas deployment, and previous experiences with nutritional and body-building supplements. Gatekeepers included friends, colleagues, and mentors and their roles were captured in two categories of Procurement of PIEDs and Information Dissemination. Recommendations include the need for further research on the roles of gatekeepers and gateways as important pathways to PIEDS use. Additionally, there is a need to build on themes suggested by earlier researchers to identify social, cultural, and economic factors that underpin motives for PIEDs use in the uniformed services. These two recommendations would inform the design and evaluation of PIEDs-related interventions.

Mothers Over Nangarhar by Pamela Hart

Reviewed by: Mothers Over Nangarhar by Pamela Hart Tracy Crow (bio) mothers over nangarhar Pamela Hart Sarabande Books https://www.sarabandebooks.org/titles-20192039/mothers-over-nangarhar-pamela-hart 80 pages; Print, $15.95 In 2012, I sent out a call for memoir submissions that would appear in an anthology two years later as Red, White, and True: Stories from Veterans and Families, World War II to Present. The intent for this book had been to create a more circular representation of military service and its cross-generational impact as influenced by combat experiences, moral injury, survivor's guilt, even the lasting impact of military traditions and customs on the psyche. Frankly, the whole idea was little more than a hunch at the time. My editor and writer-friends asked why it was necessary to include the voices of family members. Wouldn't it be easier just to include essays by veterans? Probably. But as a Marine Corps veteran with no military family background and the author of a new military memoir, my curiosity had been stirred years earlier after hearing memoirist and poet Rebecca McClanahan publicly read her poignant essay "Dependent," about the influence her father's Marine Corps service had on her childhood and on her choices made during early adulthood. Until then, I'd never considered that dependents held agency in the genre of military writing. And I knew of no other essays written by military family members. Fortunately, the hunch paid off. Sifting through the flood of submissions from veterans and family members, I kept gravitating toward the family-related essays, reasoning that my personal military experience produced an expected degree of familiarity with the service-related ones. But the heart-wrenching essays penned by spouses, children, and grandchildren—and in most cases never previously shared with anyone—read often like pleas or, dare I say, prayers for forgiveness about what they'd not said, asked, or appreciated regarding their loved one's military service experience. The flames of anger, bitterness, and resentment had been snuffed to barely glowing embers, [End Page 58] thanks to years-long journeys of internal and external exploration across unmapped geography. In the end, thirty-two essays, divided nearly equally between veterans and family members, found their way into Red, White, and True. But … of this I'm certain, looking back—had McClanahan's "Dependent" been a poem rather than an essay, Red, White, and True would have surely included poetry. Such is the history that influenced my reading of Pamela Hart's Mothers Over Nangarhar, winner of the 2017 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry. In this debut poetry collection, Hart, an artist by training, weaves together literary, political, musical, metaphysical, and geographical references as a way to explore her wandering, maze-like journey as the mother of a son deployed to Afghanistan. For Hart, the process involves "writing backward to figure out forward." Throughout, one cannot escape the undertones of longing for news, of the weight from dread and worry that surely every parent endures when a child has been sent to a war zone. For constructs, Hart employs meditations, photography, news articles, support group meetings, family interviews, and letters. During the collection's first of five parts, she often relies on geographic references in the meditative prose poem "Cities & Signs & War," in which she reveals a relatable yearning to reconcile her son's new environment with her personal surrender: If all cities are Venice and all Venice is memory then where will you be deployed. Will you see Venice in Kabul. … Your M4 over your shoulder. Marco Polo tells Khan the streets are written pages; the city says everything. … The signs are signs of other things. What do I as your mother know of this. Nothing. In another prose poem, "River of Painted Rocks," the inciting incident also intersects memory with place—"Along the Chattahoochee we walk"—and compares her son there as "You were a blond baby" to his now being a soldier. "We don't visit Carson McCuller's home," she writes. "She married a soldier from Fort Benning." In perhaps one of the collection's most compelling poems, "War Games," Hart recalls, "My son's...

Military service and alcohol use: a systematic narrative review.

BackgroundDespite research highlighting the role of alcohol in military life, specifically in relation to mental health and certain combat experiences, there is no synthesised evidence looking at the relationship between military service and alcohol use.AimsTo synthesize and examine evidence exploring the relationship between military service and alcohol use.MethodsSix databases were examined across a 10-year period. Papers were included if they involved a military population and focused on alcohol use. From 4046 papers identified, 29 papers were included in the review.ResultsMilitary characteristics and experience were linked to high levels of alcohol use across military populations. Societal and cultural factors also played a role in alcohol use in military populations. Predatory behaviour of alcohol establishments, pressures to conform, an acceptance of alcohol use, and the role of religious services and military affiliated social networks were all considered. Excessive drinking impacted physical and mental health. Those diagnosed with PTSD and associated symptoms appeared to have greater alcohol use.ConclusionsThis review identified certain characteristics and experiences of military service that are associated with higher levels of alcohol use. It is important to identify risk factors for alcohol misuse to develop appropriate policy, targeting prevention.

Sufficiency of Health Information During Pregnancy: What's Missing and for Whom? A Cross-Sectional Analysis Among Veterans.

Background: Women Veterans often experience trauma and physical and mental health conditions that increase risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Information provision during pregnancy may facilitate improved outcomes. However, little evidence exists about information women Veterans receive during pregnancy, and their perceptions of it. Materials and Methods: We recruited pregnant Veterans from 15 Veterans Affairs medical centers. Through telephone surveys, women (N = 851) provided information about sociodemographic characteristics, military service, health, and pregnancy experiences. We asked postpartum women whether, during pregnancy, they received sufficient information about nine health topics. We calculated a composite score (range: 0-9) that reflected sufficiency of information received. Multivariable logistic regression models identified determinants of perceived sufficiency of information. Results: Mean age was 32.1 years. Most reported being White (56.3%), non-Hispanic (80.3%), married/living with a partner (85.1%), and employed (54.4%). Most (54.6%) had been diagnosed with depression (54.6%); one-quarter reported current depressive symptoms. Mean sufficiency of information score was 6.9. Topics that women most reported they did not receive sufficient information on included, what to expect during delivery (32.3%) and how their spouse/partner might support them during labor (40.3%). History of depression (β = -0.35, p = 0.03), current depressive symptoms (β = -0.66, p = 0.001), military sexual trauma (β = 0.37, p = 0.03), and experience of violence (β = 0.66, p = 0.03) were associated with lower sufficiency of information scores. Conclusion: Results indicate need for enhanced and tailored provision of information for Veterans during pregnancy, particularly among those with experience of trauma, past depression diagnoses, and current depressive symptoms. This may include optimizing care coordination and increasing access to childbirth education classes and doula support.

Military service experiences and reasons for service separation among lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals in a large military cohort

BackgroundThe well-being of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals is a topic of increasing concern within the military where significant institutional barriers, targeted aggression, and differential organizational policies such as “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” have historically contributed to experiences of exclusion and discrimination. However, limited research has examined specific military and post-separation experiences among LGB service members and veterans. The goal of this study was to examine differences in military and service separation experiences by sexual orientation among a large representative sample of United States service members and veterans.MethodsSurvey data from the 2016 Millennium Cohort Study follow-up questionnaire were used to assess sexual orientation and multiple outcomes of interest: military experiences (morale, feelings about the military, missed workdays) and service separation experiences (reasons for separation, post-separation employment). The associations between sexual orientation (LGB versus heterosexual) and each of these outcomes were evaluated in a series of adjusted logistic regression models, stratified by sex when interactions were observed.ResultsOf the 99,599 participants, 3.4% identified as LGB. In adjusted models, LGB service members had significantly higher odds than heterosexual service members of feeling: unimpressed by the quality of unit leadership, unsupported by the military, and negative about the military overall. Bisexual women were more likely than heterosexual women to feel less unit camaraderie; both gay and bisexual men felt less camaraderie than heterosexual men. LGB veterans were more likely than heterosexual peers of the same sex to separate from service due to unplanned administrative reasons. Compared to heterosexual women, lesbian and bisexual women were more likely to separate from service due to dissatisfaction with promotions/pay and disability/medical reasons, while bisexual women specifically separated due to dissatisfaction with leadership and incompatibility with the military. Gay and bisexual men also reported separating due to incompatibility with the military, but only bisexual men were more likely to report separating due to disability/medical reasons compared to heterosexual men.ConclusionsLess positive military- and separation-specific experiences disproportionately affected LGB service members in this study. Promoting inclusion and increasing support for LGB service members may improve satisfaction with military service and retention.

Depression and mental health service use among 12–17 year old U.S. adolescents: Associations with current parental and sibling military service

ObjectiveTo examine whether having a parent and/or a sibling currently serving in the military is associated with major depression and use of mental health services among 12–17 year old adolescents in the United States. MethodDescriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses are conducted using pooled data from the 2016–2019 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Analyses are weighted and standard errors are adjusted for the complex sampling design. ResultsAdolescents are more likely to have a sibling than a parent currently serving in the military. Having a sibling currently in the military increases the likelihood of having a lifetime and a past-year major depressive episode (MDE), but not a past-year MDE with severe role impairment or use of mental health services. Having a parent in the military is not associated with any measure of MDE, but increases use of specialty outpatient, specialty inpatient/residential, and non-specialty mental health services net of MDE and sociodemographic controls. ConclusionConsiderable attention has focused on risk and resilience among the dependent children of current service members. A better understanding of how the current military service experiences of siblings, as well as parents, influences related adolescents’ mental health, mental health care service use, substance use, and health behaviors has the potential to contribute to programs and interventions that can enhance the well-being of youth with intra-generational, as well as inter-generational, connections to the military. Adolescents who have a sibling currently serving in the military are an at-risk population for MDE and potentially other mental and behavioral health problems.

The Role of Military Service and Childhood Adversity in US Law Enforcement Officer Health and Wellness

This study is the first attempt to systematically examine the impact of prior military service and childhood adversity on physical and psychological health outcomes during subsequent law enforcement employment. Given that at least one in five US law enforcement officers (LEOs) is a military veteran, and many law enforcement agencies provide preferential status for veterans in the hiring process, understanding the effects of prior military service on LEO physical and psychological well-being is important for supporting officer safety and wellness. Using nationally representative data, we examine the interrelationships between prior military service, combat deployments, childhood adversity, and three health outcomes during subsequent LE employment—PTSD, sleep problems, and suicidality. Contrary to prior research and our hypotheses, we found that prior military service and combat experience were not associated with an increased risk of PTSD, sleep problems, or suicidality. Furthermore, while greater exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among non-veteran LEOs was linked with increased odds of PTSD, among veteran LEOs, greater ACE exposure was significantly linked with reduced odds of PTSD. We offer several possible explanations to account for these findings.

The effectiveness of military service experience on job experience

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the military service experience on the job experience. Although people have passionately focused on discussions on the transition of the conscription system, relatively few studies have been conducted on the relationship between the military service experience and the individual job experience. In addition, prior studies on the relationship between the military service experience and the job experience have produced inconsistent results, and have narrowly focused on quantitative labor market variables such as pay and employment status. To fill these research gaps, we conducted this study by simultaneously using the following quantitative and qualitative outcome variables: pay, employment status, job satisfaction, and perceived job-required capacities. In addition, we explained the study results using distinct halo and sigma effects from antecedent studies that used human capital theory and the screening effect for applying national differences between the USA and South Korea.

Between Order and Execution: A Phenomenological Approach to the Role of Relationships in Military Culture

Despite the growing recognition that military identity and veteran identity are interrelated, there is scant literature that seeks to describe or define military culture—perhaps an indication of the degree to which veterans and civilians alike take military culture for granted as a factor in veteran identity. One important factor in veteran identity is relationship: relationships amongst veterans and between veterans and civilians. In the latter case, trust is often wanting, and that lack of trust seems to be connected to the experience of military service. To explore a possible connection between military culture and veteran experience, in-depth interviews were conducted with a diverse group of veterans to develop an understanding of the phenomenon of relationship, or relationality, within military service. Close attention was paid to the daily routines and rhythms of military life. Veterans were given wide latitude to discuss both the positive and negative relationships that they regarded as key to their military experience. The results, presented here as case studies, suggest that relationships of trust in military service often develop out of routine training experiences and are grounded in unique military expectations regarding the public performance of common skills. This phenomenological study is a first step in developing a more comprehensive understanding of the many ways that military experiences may become veteran expectations with respect to relational ideas such as trust.