This thesis charts the military education of junior Edwardian army officers, moving chronologically through key aspects of the process. It examines the detail of curricula at Sandhurst and Woolwich, the prevalence of entry via auxiliary forces and the military knowledge of men who gained commissions by that route, the training and study officers undertook after commissioning, and the education available at Camberley and Quetta. It thus offers a holistic examination of officer education. It concludes that there was a strong and growing professionalism among the junior commissioned officers, founded on their acquisition of skilled expertise and their expectations of advancing in their careers on the basis of professional merit. This thesis contributes to broader debates in three ways. Firstly, by going beyond existing studies which focus heavily on the upper echelons of the officer corps, it allows a more complete examination of the competence and military capacity of the Edwardian army. Secondly, it contributes to discussions on professionalism and processes of professionalization at the beginning of the twentieth century. Thirdly, it considers the nature of the training and education that the Edwardian Army undertook and seeks to locate this within discussions on the proper form and objectives of officer education.

This thesis examines the contribution of the Private Military and Security Industry (PMSI), as an element of the United States (US) total force, to the US military capability in pursuing Phase IV Operations in Iraq from 2003 until 2011. In order to do so, the study proposes a typology of five types of contribution categories which define the link between the ends demanded by the US government (strategic goals) and the use of the PMSI as a tool to help achieve them. By incorporating a model from the operations management field, the Hayes and Wheelwright's Four-Stage model, this thesis identifies the categories of Assistant, Implementer, Crucial Supporter, Driver, and Spoiler as distinct forms of engagement, constituting a framework for the assessment of the nature of the relationship between the contractors’ activities and the strategic goals they sought to help achieve. Applied to the case studies of armed private security services and base support services, this framework reveals that contractors became the Crucial Supporter of the US military efforts in Phase IV Operations in Iraq. In the aftermath of the ill-planned regime-change, followed by unforeseen operational circumstances on the ground, and constrained by the US domestic policy reservations towards prolonged nation-building efforts, the US government found both armed security contractors and base support contractors to be a critical asset of the US military strategy on the ground. Through their constructive contribution towards the size of the deployable force, the available timeframe, the objectives and the strategic goal of these operations, they became a key partner of the US military efforts in Iraq. Utilising a descriptive and exploratory approach, and relying on a range of sources, including official documents, semistructured interviews and publicly available video testimonies of US veterans from Iraq, this thesis highlights the PMSI’s strategic value in a complex expeditionary operation while providing a detailed insight in the complexity of modern warfare.

On battlefields and within organizations, a fog obscures subordinate activity from superior observation, producing an information asymmetry endemic to most superior-subordinate relationships. A superior’s ability to observe, to peer through this fog, distinguishes different types of organizations, largely determining what tasks an organization may accomplish and how superior control is balanced against subordinate autonomy (James Wilson, 2000). Yet modern technology is lifting this fog, with each day increasing the detail and depth of what superiors may observe. This thesis explores superior control with modern technology, by introducing and assessing a new term, nanomanagement—where superiors use technology to control, in ever-increasing detail, the actions of all of their subordinates. Through interviewing mid-level officers of the U.S. and British armies, who served in Iraq between 2003 and 2008, this qualitative study explores two questions. “Why nanomanagement?” seeks to understand the causes, or what may motivate nanomanagement. “How does nanomanagement influence superior control and subordinate autonomy?” seeks to understand the effects of nanomanagement. This thesis employs five factors—organizational culture, ex ante controls, ex post controls, hierarchical control and exogenous factors—as different theoretical frameworks to understand nanomanagement. Trackers, drones and long screwdrivers, modern variants of police patrols that reduce transaction costs and may reverse information asymmetry, are introduced. This thesis also suggests three terms to describe when nanomanaging superiors take action undermining traditional hierarchical control: shifting (focusing attention on subordinate levels), drifting (acting at subordinate levels), and grifting (cheating the hierarchy by controlling actions at levels beneath their immediate subordinates). These actions signal a new form of hierarchical control by exclusion—ex claudere control. By analyzing a case where much of the fog separating superior from subordinate thinned and lifted, this thesis assesses and updates the long fought battle between superior control and subordinate autonomy.

In this thesis I report an investigation into the psychological, emotional and social impact of British military foreign postings on accompanying spouses. I adopted an ethnographic methodology utilising a four phase mixed method approach consisting of one quantitative and three qualitative components. The thesis was based on research data collected in Phase 1 from a systematic review of British and US military research focusing on the experiences of accompanying spouses on overseas postings. Data from Phase 2 focused on the experiences from 34 British military spouses based in one location in southern Europe and were collected via individual interviews or focus groups. In Phase 3 data were collated via an online forum from 13 other British military spouses, who had experienced postings to alternative worldwide locations, rather than the single one identified in Phase 2. The final phase represented the study’s quantitative component, which further examined the findings from the previous qualitative phases through 136 responses to an online survey. The systematic review highlighted that the impact of a foreign posting could be detrimental to the military spouse’s well-being particularly if support resources were inadequate. Thematic analysis of data from Phases 2 and 3 corroborated the importance of support networks on international postings, but also identified the fundamental influence of individual differences and personal meaning-making of the military spouse. Ultimately, in Phase 4 multiple linear regression analysis determined that a person’s level of tough-mindedness, their self-efficacy and available instrumental support were all significant predictors of the perceived level of support provided by the British military. Overseas relocations are not beneficial for all military spouses. To have a greater understanding of this impact, it is necessary to examine and combine principles in the domains of sociology and psychology. The outcome of this then feeds into adjustment theories and contributes to the field of healthcare practice. Nonetheless, the military are in a constructive position to maximise the effectiveness of support resources alongside health professionals to provide the holistic support that military spouses may need. Specifically, regular informal checks from a healthcare professional or a support worker to assess the well-being of the military spouse could help early identification of any coping problems. This together with cross-cultural awareness training and a greater involvement of the military spouse throughout the relocation process could enhance their foreign posting experience.

It is critical that anyone responding to a traumatic event must be able to fulfill his or her purpose in the situation. The US Army Chaplain must be prepared to provide valued minisry during times of traumatic injury and death in a combat environment. The purpose of the investigation was to establish core ministry actions based upon identified common expectations and standards between chaplains, officers, and Soldiers of their command relating to ministry during times of traumatic injury and death in a combat environment. The intent was met though a series of steps beginning with the identification of the problem that US Army Chaplains have not been adequately prepared for the task of Combat Trauma Ministry. A review of current scholarship in the field demonstrated that significant works on Combat Trauma Ministry are almost non-existent. In order to accomplish the investigation two research methodologies were employed. There was use of quantitative data and large scale use of qualitiative research. The qualitative research provoed to be particualrly useful becauise of its focus on the study of problems in the social context. Research of the issue began with an examination of chaplain qualifications. This included a rebiew of the educational and ministerial prerequsities applicants must meet. A study of the training provided by the Army to those newly entering the US Army Chaplain Corps follows. This process revealed the challenges posed in trying to teach clergy from civilian parishes tom minister in the Army context of which many have no experience. The heart of the research is the body of interviews of chaplains, officers, and Soldiers. These personal accounts of ministry done, and failing to be done, with the theological impetus behind it provided the groundwork from which to draw the research conclusions. The research concludes that preparation for Combat Trauma Ministry within theArmy is still lacking but improving. In order to covercome remaining deficiencies individual chaplains, supervisory chaplains, and the US Army Chaplain Corps need to personally and professional augment training to ensure that the Chaplain Corps' Core Competencies Continuum - Nuture the Living, Care for the Wounded, and Honor the Dead - are adequately performed. The research identified three priorities of ministry to accomplish this intent. They are: Maintain Composure, Give them Something Tangible, and Share in the Burden. Finally, there is the recognition that the US Army Chaplain Corps must become more stringent in three specific concerns: Training and Qualification standards, developing self and supervisory care for chaplains, and prepating for the long-lasting effects of combat exposure and PTSD with a Soul Care emphasis.

This work examines tissue oxygenation (StO2), as measured by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), as tool for assessing trauma patients, with particular emphasis on its use in the deployed military environment. Resting StO2 values were examined and found to vary significantly between monitoring sites. Exercise was associated with a significant increase in StO2. Comparing the sensitivities of different NIRS monitoring sites in detecting simulated hypovolaemia, the forearm and deltoid were found be the most sensitive sites. The thenar eminence and brain were not sensitive to mild degrees of hypovolaemia. The administration of morphine was found to attenuate the StO2 response to hypovolaemia at all sites. In a porcine trauma model changes in StO2 recorded from both injured and uninjured muscle sites phase led those of base excess and lactate by 31–37 minutes, and demonstrate that injured monitoring sites can be used to accurately track patients’ response to resuscitation. In the deployed military setting NIRS was found to be a robust, easy to use technique for the initial assessment of patients. Although StO2 was not demonstrable superior to a combination of pulse rate and blood pressure it has several practical advantages that make it a useful adjunct to contemporary trauma care.

In July 2013 the British Government unveiled its Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) policy, which aimed to radically change the role and function of the Army Reserve by making it both more capable and more deployable. One of the policy’s central organising principles was its focus on outsourcing military logistics capability previously held in the regular army to reserve forces in order to save costs. Reserve logistics transformation was therefore deemed central to the success of FR20. This thesis examines the origins, evolution and impact of FR20 as an attempt to organisationally transform the British Army Reserve’s logistics forces. In first detailing the historical, political and conceptual origins of FR20, it argues that reserve transformations rarely succeed in the manner envisaged; that the intensely political origins of FR20 have shaped the policy during each step of its development; and that the radical change in the delivery of military logistics since 2000 which underpins FR20’s emphasis on logistics is best understood through a post-Fordist analytical framework. Examining the impact of FR20 at the reserve sub-unit level, it argues that many units will struggle to deliver the capability required of them, but in other areas, such as integration with the regulars and increased professional opportunities, FR20 is succeeding. Quantitative evidence is presented to support these arguments. It then details how reserve logistics cohesion is different from that of regular combat forces, and shows how such inherent micro-level organisational factors can influence transformation. Finally, the wider implications of FR20 as a transformative attempt are discussed. This thesis’s central argument is that the political origins of FR20 within Parliament, and the Army Reserves’ organisational nature, have undermined the policy’s ability to deliver the key military capabilities it envisaged of reserves logistics units. However, in some important cultural/normative aspects, FR20 is slowly transforming the reserves. To date, FR20 has therefore been a ‘partial transformation’. In making this argument, this study contributes to the literature on the British Army Reserves, and military logistics, cohesion and transformation.

This dissertation is a study of the dynamics of armed mobilization and participation in non-state armed organizations in the province of South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It asks one of the fundamental questions of the study of violent conflict: Why do people participate in armed groups? In addressing this central question, it also addresses the inter-related questions of how do people come to participate in armed groups and who participates in these groups. I make three main arguments. First, contemporary armed mobilization is driven by two ‘macro’ factors in rural eastern DRC, the necessity to organize and provide protection to the sociopolities that constitute rural eastern Congo on one side, and the more accumulative dynamics of labour mobilization and control that have long characterized the region and have taken novel forms with the development of an economy of predation. The protective dimension in particular has often been left out in recent accounts that have focused or economic agendas of armed groups. Second, the ‘social architecture’ of armed mobilization in the region has changed to reflect the social implantation of armed organizations in rural eastern Congo, resulting from the novel roles they play in these societies and the adaptation of these societies to their presence. As a result, modes of recruitment and control reflect the multi-faceted influence that these organizations have over rural societies. Third, I argue and show that individual determinants of participation are not time invariant, they evolve over time and reflect the changes in outlook and motivations of participants that results from the social implantation of armed organizations, but also as a result of the process of participation. In order to make these arguments, I use a mixed methods approach that combines a qualitative analysis based on interviews carried out during 9 months of fieldwork in the province of South Kivu, and a quantitative analysis based on original panel data collected through a survey of 1072 individuals and 134 villages of South Kivu.

Cette thèse questionne les choix de politiques publiques relatifs à l’organisation spatiale de la production de défense en tant que bien public. Notre cadre d’analyse permet d’intégrer le facteur spatial dans la modélisation de cette production.Comment intégrer l’espace en économie de la défense ? Comment l’espace structure-t-il l’organisation de la production de défense ? Et inversement, comment la production de défense structure-t-elle l’espace ? Notre travail s’intéresse plus particulièrement au cas de la France et plus précisément de la maintenance ou Maintien en Condition Opérationnelle (MCO) des matériels de défense. En France, selon la Direction Générale de l’Armement, les coûts de MCO se situent généralement entre 35 % et 50 % du coût global de possession des matériels. En 2012, ils représentaient environ 15 % du budget de la défense. La maîtrise de ces coûts est devenue un enjeu de premier ordre depuis les années 1990. Ils constituent un problème d’actualité : sur la période 2010-2014, ces dépenses vont augmenter de 8,7 % en moyenne. La bonne maîtrise du MCO vise à maintenir – ou améliorer – la disponibilité des matériels de défense tout en réduisant les coûts du MCO. Dans cet objectif, l’organisation spatiale du MCO est une dimension structurante d’un point de vue statique comme dynamique, compte tenu des évolutions à la fois du format des armées et de leurs équipements. La thèse est organisée autour de quatre chapitres : Le premier chapitre fait une revue de la littérature concernant les relations entre les activités de défense et les territoires dans lesquelles elles s’inscrivent. Le deuxième chapitre examine les transformations contemporaines de la défense française en termes de doctrine, de budget et de dimensionnement des armées pour identifier les conséquences géographiques de ces transformations. Le troisième chapitre s’intéresse à l’évolution du MCO des matériels de défense depuis la fin de la guerre froide. Nous étudions plus spécifiquement la disponibilité des matériels, l’évolution des coûts du MCO et les réformes mises en place par le décideur public pour améliorer le MCO. Le quatrième chapitre questionne l’organisation spatiale optimale du MCO. Notre modélisation montre que l’espace peut être un instrument d’optimisation des coûts du MCO des matériels de défense. Cependant, il demeure une contrainte dont il est difficile de s’affranchir en raison de l’existence de coûts de transport, mais aussi et surtout de la nature même des activités de défense. Nous modélisons alors une contrainte stratégique sous la forme d’un coût social opérationnel. Cette contrainte tient compte des spécificités intrinsèques des activités militaires (e.g. disponibilité des matériels, localisations stratégiques imposées). Elle nous permet de souligner et de discuter l’équilibre de forces qui existe entre agglomération et dispersion dans la production de MCO. L’apport de cette thèse est de permettre d’intégrer le facteur spatial dans la modélisation de la production de défense. Nous défendons l’idée que la compréhension de l’organisation de la production de défense ne peut se faire en faisant abstraction de l’espace. L’optimisation de l’effort de défense repose sur une dimension spatiale inhérente au concept même de défense et de territoire à défendre. En conséquence, les recherches sur l’optimalité de l’organisation de la production de défense ne peuvent que s’inscrire dans un cadre d’analyse spatiale. Cette méthodologie peut s’appliquer à d’autres dimensions de la défense que le MCO et dans un cadre multinational entre deux pays, plusieurs pays ou au sein d’une alliance. / This research discusses public policies related to the spatial organization of defense production as a public good with industrial dimensions. Our framework enables to incorporate the spatial factor in modeling such a production. How to integrate geographical space in defense economics? How does space structure the organization of defense production? Conversely, how does defense production structure space? Our research deals with the case of France and more particularly with the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) of French defense equipment. In France, according to the Direction Générale de l’Armement, MRO costs represent between 35% and 50% of the whole life cycle cost of defense equipment. In 2012, they accounted for about 15% of total French defense budget. Optimizing MRO costs has become a top priority issue since the beginning of the 1990s. Such costs are still of concern during the 2010-2014 period, since maintenance equipment expenditures are rising about 8.7% on average. A good management of MRO aims at keeping – or improving – the availability of defense equipment while at the same time reducing MRO costs. With this objective and considering the evolution of the sizes of army sections and their equipment, the spatial organization of MRO appears as a structuring dimension from both static and dynamic perspectives. The dissertation is organized in four chapters: Chapter I is a literature review that legitimates the methodological approach adopted in this research. We survey the regional economics literature that has mainly focused on the location of defense activities within their surrounding economic environment. Chapter II examines the contemporary transformations in French defense (doctrine, budget and size of the army) in order to identify the geographic consequences of such changes. Chapter III deals with the evolution of MRO since the end of the Cold War. We study the evolution of the availability of military platforms, the MRO costs evolution and the main reforms that the French State put in place to improve the management of MRO. Chapter IV discusses the optimal spatial organization of defense MRO. Our model suggests that space provides an opportunity to optimize MRO cost. However, it remains a constraint that is hard to cope with, because of transport costs but also due to the military nature of MRO. We model a strategic constraint with an Operational Social Cost.This constraint takes into account the intrinsic specificities of military activities (e.g. availability of military platforms, strategic imposed locations). It allows us to underline and to discuss the balance of forces between agglomeration and dispersion in the production of defense MRO. The main contribution of this research is to incorporate space in modeling defense production. We defend the idea that the organization of defense production cannot be understood without taking space into account. Optimizing the defense effort is based on a spatial dimension inherent to the concept of defense itself and the territory that has to be defended. As a result, economic research about optimality in the spatial organization of defense should fit in a spatial framework. Beyond MRO matters, our methodology can be applied to other dimensions of defense and more particularly in a multinational framework with two countries, several countries or within an alliance.

Modern studies of Classical Greek battle devote little attention to the role and importance of the general in achieving battlefield success. As a result of this the general is reduced to a simple leader of men whose only influential decision was where and when to fight, and whose major role was to provide inspiration by fighting in the front ranks. A modern conception of Hellenic fair play in warfare has further limited the importance of the general to Greek armies: apparently advanced manoeuvring and tactics were deliberately rejected in favour of a simple and direct test of strength and morale. I do not believe this to be the case, and in this study I demonstrate the importance of the general to Greek armies by offering a new analysis of his role in hoplite battle.