Combat Experience Research Articles

Pedagogical conditions for soft skills development in future officers: evidence from the National Guard of Ukraine during wartime

This study investigates the effectiveness of pedagogical conditions for developing soft skills among future officers of the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU) during wartime. Through a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies, we examined the development of essential military leadership competencies in a 12-month pedagogical experiment at the Kyiv Institute of NGU. The study involved 132 participants divided into experimental (n=64) and control (n=68) groups, with the experimental group receiving enhanced soft skills training through specialized pedagogical interventions. Results demonstrate significant improvements in the experimental group across multiple competency areas, including communication skills (31% increase), critical thinking (23%), teamwork (31%), lifelong learning (64%), professional ethics (31%), and leadership abilities (33%). Statistical analysis using the χ2 criterion confirmed the significance of these improvements at the 0.05 level. The findings suggest that structured pedagogical interventions, particularly those integrating combat experience and mentorship approaches, can effectively enhance military officers' soft skills development. This research contributes to the growing body of evidence supporting the importance of systematic soft skills training in military education, especially during periods of active conflict. The study's implications extend beyond the Ukrainian context, offering insights for military education programs globally while highlighting the need for continued research into long-term skill retention and cross-cultural applications.

Autocratic Leaders, Combat Experience, and Interstate Conflict: Evidence From Iraq

Autocratic Leaders, Combat Experience, and Interstate Conflict: Evidence From Iraq

Enhancing combat readiness via evidence-based pedagogical innovations in National Guard of Ukraine officer training

This study examines the effectiveness of innovative pedagogical conditions in enhancing combat readiness among future officers of the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU). Utilising a quasi-experimental design, we implemented and evaluated a set of pedagogical interventions integrating recent combat experience into officer training at the Kyiv Institute of the National Guard of Ukraine. The study involved 74 trainee officers divided into experimental (n=35) and control (n=39) groups. Results demonstrated significant improvements in the experimental group across functional, psychological, and reflective components of combat readiness, with increases of 43%, 25%, and 32%, respectively, in high-level readiness. These findings underscore the importance of rapidly integrating field experiences into military education, offering valuable insights for enhancing officer training in dynamic conflict environments. The study contributes to the broader understanding of adaptive military education strategies and provides a framework for implementing evidence-based training reforms in military institutions globally.

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.

To the issue of the legal status of war veterans and their labor guarantees

Problem setting. For war veterans, as a socially vulnerable group of the population, it is extremely important to realize the right to work with the help of labor guarantees established by law, since work can be an effective way to return a war veteran to civilian life, providing him or her with adequate mental and/or physical activity and distraction from the military past. Labor law is faced with the task of defining the specifics of the legal status of war veterans in terms of realization and observance of their labor rights, and ensuring proper protection of their rights in case of violation. Purpose of research is to analyze the concept of “war veterans” and its composition, to study the legal status of persons recognized by law as war veterans and to improve it, and to review labor guarantees for war veterans as an important element of their legal status. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The doctrine of labor law studied the rights, freedoms and obligations of servicemen, for example, we note the monographic study of V. Pashynskyi, L. Medvid, B. Shamrai, devoted to the legal status and social protection of servicemen, the article of M. M. Shumylo, which examined the guarantees of labor rights of persons called up to the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the war, and the article by N. V. Khortiuk, which focused on the concept and features of military personnel as subjects of labor law. At the same time, no scientific research has been conducted on labor rights and guarantees of war veterans as subjects of labor law. The closest in terms of subject matter is the scientific article by V.P. Kokhan, which is devoted to the mechanisms of employment of war veterans based on the results of professional adaptation. Article’s main body. The article analyzes the concept of “war veterans”, its composition, examines the legal status of persons recognized by law as war veterans, and proposes to improve the legal status of war veterans. The author determines that the legislation links the granting of veteran status with the time limits of a particular war. The disadvantage of this approach is that the separation of the time of experience gained by military personnel leads to an unfair comparison of the contribution of the military who stood up for defense in other historical periods, and as a result, these categories of persons and their family members receive different compensation payments and benefits. This situation is a violation of the principles of equality and fairness of social security law and a manifestation of discrimination in the field of social protection against war veterans. Conclusions and prospects for the development. The article proposes to change the legislative approaches to the concept of “war veterans” and to determine the legal status of this category of persons on the basis of their combat experience rather than the timeframe of military conflicts. The author reviews the labor guarantees of war veterans as an important element of their legal status. It is noted that labor guarantees are an important tool for protecting the labor rights of war veterans who have returned to civilian life, since they are an effective legal mechanism for realizing the social and labor rights of this category of persons. In the field of labor, additional labor guarantees established for war veterans help not only to protect labor rights, but also facilitate a painless and quick transition from military service to civilian life.

Grief on pain and quality of life in combat veterans with PTSD

ABSTRACT Background: Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder (PCBD) comprises a set of grief symptoms that are often linked to other psychological conditions such as PTSD and depression, may be prevalent in Veterans with combat experience, and may also impact general health. Objective: This study investigated the association between grief and sleep, pain, PTSD, and depression, among Veterans participating in a clinical trial for PCBD treatment. Method: Data from 155 Veterans receiving treatments for PCBD were analysed to explore the association between PCBD and symptoms of sleep pain, PTSD, and depression. Veterans experiencing grief reported symptoms related to physical health, emotional problems, energy, and fatigue, emotional well-being, social functioning, presence of pain, and general health. PCBD appeared to have a specific association with pain and physical functioning, independent of other variables. Conclusions: This study examined the potential independent association of PCBD on physical and mental health in Veterans with PTSD. PCBD appeared to have a very specific and significant association with pain and physical functioning. In other words, the pain of grief was related to ratings of physical pain. Future research on PCBD should address the potentially bidirectional association with bodily pain, particularly chronic pain, in relation to loss, with specific attention to potential mechanisms underlying this relationship.

Post-traumatic stress disorder among military personnel admitted at the Northwest Command Level Three Military Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 2022: an institution-based cross-sectional study.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common mental health problems that military personnel encounter. It could be lifelong and affect every aspect of military personnel, including their mental and physical health, family and social interactions, and their work. However, in Ethiopia, the magnitude and its associated factors have not been well investigated. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of PTSD and its associated factors among military personnel, who were admitted at the Northwest Command Level Three Military Hospital, Bahir Dar, Northwest, Ethiopia, 2022. An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 21 June to 21 July 2022, at the Northwest Command Level Three Military Hospital. A computer-generated simple random sampling technique was used to select a total of 627 participants. The 17-item Military Version Checklist was utilized to measure PTSD. The Patient Health Questionnaire, Brief Resilience Coping, and Critical War Zone Experience scale were utilized to measure depression, resilience, and combat exposure, respectively. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate binary logistic regressions with odds ratios and a 95% confidence interval were used. The level of significance of the association was determined at a p-value < 0.05. A total of 612 respondents participated, with a response rate of 97.6%. The prevalence of PTSD in this study was 21.9% (95% CI: 18.6, 25.2). In multivariable regression, female sex [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.3, 95% CI; 1.3, 3.87], combat personnel (AOR = 2.75, 95% CI; 1.44, 6.36), handling dead bodies (AOR = 2.5, 95% CI,1.24, 5.02), having 4-5 deployments (AOR = 2.94, 95% CI, 1.63, 5.32), having ≥6 deployments (AOR = 3.4, 95% CI, 1.95, 6.17), low resilience coping (AOR = 2.02, 95% CI; 1.16, 3.53), poor social support (AOR = 2.46, 95% CI, 1.39, 4.35), very high combat exposures (AOR = 4.8, 95% CI, 2.03, 11.93), and depression (AOR = 2.8, 95% CI, 1.68, 4.67) were significantly associated with PTSD. PTSD is markedly prevalent among the Ethiopian military population, with key risk factors identified as being female, poor social support, low resilience coping skills, handling dead bodies, multiple deployments (four or more), high combat experiences, and depression. Healthcare professionals must prioritize the early diagnosis and intervention of PTSD in vulnerable groups of military personnel.

Nationalism, Internationalism, and Interventionism: How Overseas Military Service Influences Foreign Policy Attitudes

Abstracts How does military experience change individual foreign policy preferences? Prior research on military service focuses on the effects of combat experience on political participation and policy preferences, but combat is not the only military experience that influences attitudes. Living overseas is a common military experience with the potential to shape foreign policy preferences. Using observational data from a sample of military elites and original survey data from a sample of military veterans, I leverage semi-random and non-voluntary assignments to overseas military bases to investigate the relationship between overseas exposure and foreign policy preferences. The data provides evidence that overseas military service increases the likelihood of calling for international engagement, decreases nationalist attitudes, and increases the willingness of military members to assist individual allies. The ability to shape the preferences of military members has important implications for the development of foreign policy and the stability of international engagement.

B - 24 Assessing Cognitive Impairment within a High-Blast Risk Military Force

Abstract Objective Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) is a military occupational specialty that is particularly high risk for blast exposures as well as psychologically traumatic combat experiences. We explore cognitive performance, symptom profiles, and blast exposure history of this group. Methods Participants were recruited from an active duty TBI rehabilitation center. Of 123 participants, 12 were EOD (Other N = 111). Learning and memory (HVLT-R), sustained attention (PASAT) and executive functioning (DKEFS) were assessed. A Global Deficit Score (GDS) was calculated to determine impairment. Neurobehavioral symptoms (NSI), PTSD and depressive symptoms (PCL-M and PHQ-8), combat (CES) and blast exposures (BETS) history were also assessed. Results When comparing EOD to Other, age, number of mTBIs, and blast exposures were comparable (p’s &amp;gt; 0.05). There was a trend for EOD to report fewer symptoms and more combat deployments. EOD reported greater exposure to combat (CES p = 0.004, d = 0.90) and performed stronger cognitively. HVLT-R-Total (EOD M = 48.50, SD = 9.46; Other M = 39.13, SD = 11.67; p = 0.008, d = 0.82), HVLT-R-Delayed (EOD M = 45.75, SD = 11.11, Other M = 38.61, SD = 13.76; p = 0.09, d = 0.53) and PASAT (EOD M = 54.10, SD = 7.37; Other M = 46.56, SD = 10.21; p = 0.014, d = 0.76). 50.4% of the overall sample and 16.7% of the EOD sample were determined to have cognitive impairment (GDS p = 0.015). Conclusions Results highlight the importance of baseline assessment for higher functioning specialized populations. EOD performed better than general forces on cognitive measures, including memory domains previously identified to be impacted by blast exposures. EOD presents with greater kinetic combat experiences that expose them to psychologically traumatic events despite reporting fewer symptoms. Most notable is the high rate of cognitive impairment in an active military force.

Deployment and combat experiences and their impact on partner substance use

Despite burgeoning evidence of the negative effects of service experiences on service members’ spouses/partners, limited research has examined these effects in the context of substance use. Additionally, a strong literature demonstrates the protective role relationship satisfaction can play for health-related outcomes. The goal of the present research is to examine relations between service experiences (e.g., deployment, combat exposure) and partner substance use, as well as how relationship satisfaction may buffer these effects. Data from 275 civilian partners were drawn from Operation: SAFETY (Soldiers And Families Excelling Through the Years), a longitudinal study examining health among U.S. Army Reserve/National Guard (USAR/NG) soldiers and partners. Analyses examined relations between soldier service history (baseline) and civilian partner alcohol/drug use (2-year follow-up), as well as interactions with relationship satisfaction. Models controlled for civilian partner sex and age and soldiers’ self-reported posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and substance use. Results revealed interactions between service experiences and partner satisfaction for models predicting alcohol consumption and heavy drinking. Greater relationship satisfaction mitigated overall alcohol consumption and heavy drinking frequency among partners of soldiers with two or more deployments and among partners of soldiers with greater combat exposure. Soldier service experiences were unrelated to civilian partner drug use. The effects of deployment and combat exposure extend beyond the service member to negatively influence civilian partner alcohol consumption and heavy drinking, with relationship satisfaction buffering these risks. Interventions that assist USAR/NG soldiers and spouses in strengthening their relationships may also help protect against spouse substance use related to soldier service experiences.

Military Command In Multi-Domain Environment

Abstract The practice of military command roots in the past. There were always trends to follow the footsteps of the great captains of earlier eras such as Alexander the Great, Caius Julius Caesar or Napoleon Bonaparte. With the birth of the modern scientific method historians and theorists tried to identify the essence of good leadership and the personal requirements of being a good leader. In the 18th century the notion of coup d’oeil and of the military genius were considered the key to success on the battlefield. The military education traditionally focused on the development of leadership skills, but the skills and practices being taught were drawn from experiences of previous military engagements and exercises. In periods of peace command experience stagnates or even deteriorates due to lack of combat experience, meaning that the command practices lose their touch with the realities of the present. This article argues that the growing complexity of the operational environment requires the alteration of the existing command practices and military education agenda to create leaders capable of achieving the desired successes in future wars. In our view a highly digitalized multi-domain command post requires a certain kind of leaders that beside tactical and operational proficiency must have a skill to efficiently apply the available high-tech assets, the digital coup d’oeil.

Influence of Combat Experience on Psychophysiological and Fine Motor Skill Responses in Air Force Warfighters under Acute Stress

This study investigates the influence of experience on stress responses and fine motor skills among professional male military parachutists. We analyzed 132 paratroopers, divided into a non-experienced group (NEG; ≤6 parachute jumps) and an experienced group (EG; &gt;50 jumps). Baseline samples were collected 2.5 hours before participants performed a 500 m jump, with post-jump evaluations conducted immediately after landing. Results indicated that experience significantly influences fine motor skills and stress responses. Non-experienced jumpers showed greater degradation in fine motor skills and higher cortical arousal pre-jump levels, suggesting an increased anticipatory state. In contrast, experienced parachutists maintained more consistent fine motor skills and exhibited a ceiling effect in stress response. Leg strength was higher in non-experienced jumpers, reflecting youth and greater muscle mass, with no significant difference in hand strength. These findings highlight the role of experience in managing stress and maintaining motor skills under pressure. The study suggests further exploration into psychological aspects like motivation and resilience, along with the long-term effects of stress exposure. The importance of experience in high-stress military operations emphasizes the need for targeted training interventions to enhance stress-coping mechanisms in less experienced individuals.

Exploring the Role of Moral Injury and Meaning Pursuit in the Relationship Between Combat Experience and Well-Being Among Active-Duty Military Members in the United States

Exploring the Role of Moral Injury and Meaning Pursuit in the Relationship Between Combat Experience and Well-Being Among Active-Duty Military Members in the United States

Considerations to Optimize Structurally Responsive Work Environments for U.S. Military Specialty Physicians.

Recruitment, training, and retention of wartime critical specialty physicians may be stymied by discrimination and abuse. It is unclear to what extent the US combat specialty physicians witness or experience discrimination and abuse, whether they or others intervene, and if they would subsequently discourage people from entering their field. The present study surveyed US active duty anesthesiologists, emergency medicine physicians, and orthopedic surgeons (N = 243; 21% response rate). A generalized linear model evaluated the extent to which gender, specialty, service, and number of witnessed/experienced negative/stigmatizing comment/event types were associated with burnout. A bootstrapped mediation analysis evaluated whether gender and burnout were mediated by the number of comment/event types. The sample was majority non-Latine White (87%) and men (66%) with tri-service and specialty representation. The most commonly reported negative/stigmatizing comment/event types were related to pregnancy (62%) and parental leave (61%), followed by gender and assigned sex (42%), lactation (37%), and sexual harassment (35%). Of the respondents who witnessed/experienced such comments/events, self-intervention was reported after comments regarding lactation (43%), assigned sex and gender (42%), race and ethnicity (41%), pregnancy (41%), parental leave (37%), and sexual harassment (24%). Witnessing another person intervene was reported after sexual harassment (25%) and comments/events regarding race and ethnicity (24%), pregnancy (20%), assigned sex and gender (19%), lactation (19%), and parental leave (18%). Nonintervention was reported after comments/events related to parental leave (42%), pregnancy (38%), sexual harassment (26%), lactation (26%), assigned sex and gender (26%), and race and ethnicity (22%). Respondents reported moderate-to-high intervening likelihood, importance, and confidence. Respondents reporting neutral to extremely agree on prompts indicating that pregnant active duty physicians are trying to avoid deployment (P = .002) and expect special treatment that burdens the department (P = .007) were disproportionately men (36% and 38%, respectively) compared to women (14% and 18%, respectively). The highest proportion of neutral to extremely agree responses regarding discouraging specialty selection were reported in relation to transgender and gender diverse students (21%), followed by cisgender female students (18%); gay, lesbian, or bisexual+ students (17%); cisgender male students (13%); and racial and ethnic minoritized students (12%). In the primary model, the number of witnessed/experienced comment/event types was associated with greater burnout (0.13, 95% CI 0.06-0.20, P = .001), but women did not report significantly different levels of burnout than men (0.20, 95% CI -0.10 to 0.51, P = 0.20). The number of comment/event types mediated the relationship between gender and burnout (0.18, 95% CI 0.06, 0.34; P < .001). Although reported intervening confidence, likelihood, and importance were high, it is unclear whether perceptions correspond to awareness of intervention need and behaviors. Bivariate differences in burnout levels between men and women were fully explained by the number of comment types in the mediation model. Annual trainings may not effectively address workplace climate optimization; institutions should consider targeted policy and programmatic efforts to ensure effective, structurally responsive approaches.

Examining factors associated with self-reported cognitive functioning in elite military settings: considerations of combat experiences and post-traumatic stress symptomology

Exposure to traumatic events is associated with post-traumatic stress symptomology (PTSS) in a variety of populations. PTSS is also associated with self-reported everyday cognitive failures, which are acknowledged attentional lapses experienced in one’s naturalistic everyday environment. While a growing literature suggests that PTSS is associated with both traumatic events and attentional functions, little is known regarding similar associations in elite military cohorts, such as Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel. Herein, we investigate if prior combat experience is associated with everyday cognitive failures, while considering the possible mediating role of PTSS. SOF personnel (N = 119) completed self-report questionnaires assessing prior combat experience, PTSS, and everyday cognitive failures. Direct and indirect associations between these metrics were examined using structural equation modeling. Mediation analyses revealed that the correspondence between combat experiences and everyday cognitive failures is mediated by the severity of subclinical levels of PTSS. Such findings suggest that greater attention to subclinical PTSS is warranted due to its significant association with everyday cognitive failures that may contribute to deleterious mission-related failures in high-demand tactical professionals, such as SOF.

Expectant Casualty Care Training Needs for Future Conflicts.

The demands of future large-scale combat operations may require medics and corpsmen to increasingly perform expectant casualty care (ECC). However, no detailed guidelines currently exist for providing ECC within military medicine. To guide the development of education and training guidelines and advance team training of both medics and non-medics, an in-depth understanding is first needed regarding caregivers' experiences providing ECC in recent conflicts as well as perceived training gaps. Therefore, this study explored the experiences of medics and physicians providing ECC and investigated their perceptions of training needs in this area for future conflicts characterized by large-scale combat operations and prolonged casualty care operational settings. We conducted an engaged qualitative phenomenological study to explore ECC training needs for future conflicts. We interviewed 9 senior health care professionals (medics and physicians) who had extensive combat and deployment experiences and served primarily in the Role 1 environment. The interviews averaged 45 min each and were conducted via phone. To analyze this interview data, we reviewed the interview transcripts and then noted terms, phrases, and concepts within the interview transcripts that we found to be salient to answering the research question. Our team then met to review these codes and grouped them into categories. These categories served as the themes of this study that illustrated the participants' perceptions and experiences. Five themes emerged from our data: (1) There is a current gap in ECC training for enlisted Role 1 caregivers throughout the military; (2) ECC training is needed to shift organizational culture; (3) ECC training should be comprehensive; (4) ECC training should be deliberate; and (5) Time is the greatest challenge to implementing ECC training. Our participants noted that developing guidelines and filling training gaps is not only critical for preparing Role 1 providers for effective and ethical military medical decision-making but also for addressing death and dying on the battlefield and building moral resilience across the medical corps. Our results provide direction for development of ECC clinical guidance and collective team training recommendations. Following these guidelines may increase life-saving capabilities on the far-forward battlefield and equip medical directors and medics to provide ethical and compassionate care to those who cannot be saved in the setting of limited resources and evacuation opportunities.

Personnel Psychology and Security

The personnel selection based on ethnoreligious factors, with the readoption of Fulani herders, bandits, and unknown shooters into the defense organization, has challenged Nigerian troops’ perceived individual employability, perceived work ability, and fit between person and vocation. Also, these have made personnel career adaptability a severe challenge for Nigerian soldiers. We examined person-job fit as a moderator in the associations of perceived individual employability, perceived work ability, and career adaptability. Two hundred and fifty-two Nigerian military personnel between eighteen and sixty years of age (M = 39; SD = .964) participated in the study. Through purposeful and convenient sampling techniques, we collected data using the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale, the Self-Perceived Individual Employability Scale, the Perceived Work Ability Scale, and the Person-Job-Fit Scale. Our findings showed that individual employability, perceived work ability, and person-job fit significantly predict military personnel’s career adaptation. Person-job fit moderated the association of perceived individual employability and military career adaptation. However, it did not influence the association between perceived work ability and military career adaptation. Our study showed that person-job fit, individual employability with work ability, and career adaptation are prerequisites for enlistment, deployment for combat, and well-being after combat experiences. Practical implications are that the insecurity challenges in Nigeria would have been mitigated if defense organizations had selected enlisted personnel for military work and deployment based on work ability, employability, and person-job fit so that they could quickly adapt to their careers and fight these insecurity challenges. Also, our study suggests that educational qualifications are not essential for military enlistment and deployment. We highlighted our study’s limitations and suggested further work on the topic.

Структура временной перспективы участников боевых действий с ампутацией конечностей

The relevance of the reported study results from the need to clearly define the target of psychological impact in combatants with amputated limbs. The time perspective being an integral characteristic ensures the life experience integrity: all life events are intertwined within the boundaries of the past, present and future. The study was aimed to assess the time perspective structure in combatants with amputated limbs. The sample consisted of 78 males aged 20–53 years, who had combat experience and underwent treatment or rehabilitation after getting injured. The study involved the use of the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PostTraumatic Stress Disorder, Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, method for event-based reconstruction of a person’s time perspective by V.B. Nikishina and E.A. Petrash, SR-45 method by P.I. Yunatskevich, infantilism inventory by A.A. Seregin. The factor structure of time perspective in combatants with amputated upper limbs includes the factor of non-reflexive future, factor of limited time perspective, and the situational and behavioral risk factor. In cases of amputated lower limbs, the situational future factor, past orientation factor, and situational and behavioral risk factor are represented. In cases of no amputated limbs, the combatants’ time perspective structure includes the factor of reflexive future perspective, factor of limited present fatalistic, and past orientation factor.

Psychological and gender specific correlates of aggressive behaviour in military personnel

Participation in conflicts can have a significant impact on the manifestation of aggression among military personnel, especially those who have had intensive combat experience in war zones. The key aspects of gender psychology and the influence of military factors on aggressive behaviour are considered. The term “gender-based aggression” in military personnel is proposed, which reflects the concept that describes the difference in the manifestations of aggressive behaviour depending on the gender characteristics of a person. It is used to analyse and understand how gender and psychological factors influence the perception and expression of aggression among men and women, particularly in the context of military settings. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyse the psychological and gender factors associated with aggressive behaviour of military personnel. The study was conducted with 89 combatants, including 47 men (first group) and 42 women (second group). To achieve this goal, the Aggression Level Questionnaire by A. Bass and A. Darkey. The mathematical and statistical processing of the results was carried out using Student's t-test for independent samples and Fisher’s angular transformation criterion (φ). It has been empirically found that men have a higher tendency to indirect aggression and a high level of mistrust, while women show less physical and verbal aggression. The aggression index scores of both groups of servicemen are within acceptable norms, which indicates that the overall level of aggression among them is satisfactory. However, the hostility index score was higher than the normative values in both groups, indicating an increased tendency to hostile behaviour and conflict among servicemen. The results emphasise the importance of an individual approach to psychological support for servicemen and women, taking into account their gender identity. The findings of the study can serve as a basis for developing effective strategies for managing stress and conflict in the military environment and are an incentive for further research in the field of gender psychology.

‘That Was How We Lived’: Remembering Childhood and Adolescence in Kursk Oblast during the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1943

Abstract This article examines how noncombatants who lived in the Central Black Earth Region of the Soviet Union during the Soviet-German War (1941–45) remembered their experience of combat and Axis occupation seventy years after the last shots were fired. Based on interviews with over a dozen individuals who were children and adolescents during the war, this study finds that despite an overwhelming and annually celebrated official narrative of the war, the interviewees discuss the war from only their own horizon of observation. With a focus on themes common to all the interviewees (family, childhood, and labor), this essay stresses the fact that while modern warfare is a national (or international) phenomenon, it is always experienced locally by combatants and noncombatants alike. Such an examination highlights the complexity of the experience of warfare and how this complexity is demonstrated in how personal memory of the event diverges from official memory.