<p> The U.S. military has struggled with the implementation of diversity efforts throughout history and a key factor supporting this failure is the lack of information collected from its minority groups. An extensive examination of women and gays in the military illustrated a continued disadvantageous environment for both minority groups, which was created by the military's sexual based discrimination. More specifically, the history of sexual orientation discrimination of gays in the military coupled with the lack of research available indicated a need for additional exploration in this field of study. Seminal research efforts provide little insight to the gay service members' perspective within the military. Additionally, current research is excessively narrow, focusing on military readiness, cohesion, and overall military effectiveness. In an effort to close the gap in literature, this qualitative study explored the perspectives of 11 gay men and their experiences as gay service members, before and after the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT). The results of this phenomenological research indicated, as per social identity theory, participants struggled with being gay in the U.S. military. Based on the in-depth interviews, participants felt DADT was an unfair policy which silenced them as a minority group. The DADT policy created family issues and a hostile work environment where participants were subject to sexual orientation discrimination, leading to a sense of alienation, a reduction in job participation, and a decrease in overall job satisfaction. After the repeal, participants reported a slow and sometimes forced attempt at cultural change which resulted in continuing discrimination and ongoing family issues. Out of fear of military retaliation, only some of the participants chose to reveal their sexual orientation following the repeal. Some of the participants who chose to come out of the closet reported continued harassment from their peers and leadership. These gay servicemen suffered from minority stress related to their experiences and expressed concerns regarding their future treatment in the U.S. military. </p>

<p> Currently, there is an increase in veterans returning to colleges, yet little understanding exists of their unique circumstances. Limited resources, programs, and staff for veteran services, along with physical injuries, cognitive impairments, and emotional disturbances due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and military sexual trauma (MST) further complicate the transition to college. Further, female student-veterans have additional pressures, such as women's health issues and motherhood, creating additional exigencies which affect their return to college. </p><p> Few studies have specifically sought to understand female student-veterans transitioning to college. Obtaining insight on the experiences of female student-veterans, utilizing the life story framework (Giele, 2010; Weber, 2011) and Schlossberg's transition theory (1984), allows for the discovery of how one's life course impacts the transition to college. </p><p> Therefore, this exploratory study uses a qualitative, phenomenological approach. Using semi-structured interviews, this study sought to examine the experiences and challenges of female student-veterans, as well as their identities, relationships, motivation, adaptability, strategies employed, and the role of health to determine the impact on transition from the military to college. </p><p> 17 women participated in the study. Findings indicated a need to be different than family expectations or education level, with many female student-veterans being first-generation college attendees. Relationships played an important role in supporting and mentoring female student-veterans. Having a strong drive to succeed, pursue career goals, and obtain a better life were the prevalent motivating factors for college education attainment. Female student-veterans demonstrated the ability to be adaptive to many demands and milieus, although transitioning to college presented many challenges. Anxieties were further escalated when the added responsibility of motherhood compounded demands, and created work-life-school balance issues. </p><p> In understanding that there are individual factors in the perceptions of work, life, and school demands, as well as strategies employed to cope with these obligations, a greater awareness and understanding can be realized. Further research in this area is necessary to develop a greater cognizance, discover additional issues, and ultimately inform and develop policies, programs, and services that can be implemented to meet the needs of female veterans transitioning from the military to college.</p>

<p> This thesis employs heuristic and hermeneutic methodologies to explore the lives of military wives from a depth psychological perspective. The author investigates the obstacles inherent within the military lifestyle that may hinder military wives&rsquo; journeys through the complex process of individuation. The hindrances explored include dependence, marginalization, and myriad psychological challenges such as depression, anxiety, stress, and grief that result from frequent separations from loved ones, transiency, deployments, lack of control, and loss of identity. This thesis posits that individuation is critical to achieving wholeness and a healthy psyche; however, for military wives, their lifestyles place them at a distinct disadvantage in the individuation process as compared to civilian women. Informing psychotherapists of this unique population&rsquo;s struggles enables therapists to work more effectively with military wives. This work suggests possible clinical applications of the findings and discusses the clinical implications of the research.</p>

<p> This study sought to better understand the transformative nature or essence of the experiences of spouses of junior to midgrade enlisted soldiers wounded in combat during the Global War on Terror, how they learned to make meaning of their new life circumstances as a result of profound and dramatic changes in their lives as they struggle with the added responsibility of caring for their wounded warrior amid tremendously increased responsibilities of leading and managing their households, and, from a practical perspective, how society can better support them.</p><p> Within the framework of a qualitative approach, this study lays at the theoretical intersection of transformative learning and the feminist-inspired theory of women's development. The study population included fifteen spouses of junior to mid-grade enlisted wounded warriors. The women represented a diverse group of African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian spouses from nine different geographical locations with a median age of 37.6. Their soldiers were injured in combat operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Syria, or Kuwait. The study used a modified version of Seidman's interview protocol; each participant was interviewed twice using open-ended questions.</p><p> The study found that (a) commitment was the essence of the spouses' transformative experience; (b) the women's transformation was not a linear, rational approach as outlined in the preponderance of the existing transformative literature; (c) there is an alternative perspective on the development level of enlisted spouses in this contemporary environment; (d) the women's epistemology was context-based and depended on the challenge or situation to be resolved; (e) the women had to fight against the institutional constraints that silenced them as they negotiated for a more inclusive involvement in their soldiers' care and well-being; (f) their resistance to the institution served as catalysts for transformation within the institutions; and (g) despite their personal challenges, their transformed perspective propelled them to strive to translate their moral commitments into action out of a feeling of responsibility to their wounded warrior community.</p>

It has been almost 200 years since Carl von Clausewitz wrote On War. Clausewitz’s discussion of war explores four distinct, but related aspects of war: reasons for war (politics), the theory of war (absolute war), war in reality, and the conduct of war. Using his experience as a soldier in the Napoleonic and other wars of the 1700s and 1800s, Clausewitz’s major academic work seeks to provide a comprehensive theory of war. While war has changed dramatically since Clausewitz’s time, war involving states is still a part of everyday life. In this context, this thesis examines the contemporary relevance of Clausewitz with regard to modern interstate warfare, specifically analyzing whether Clausewitz would recognize modern interstate warfare. This was achieved by analyzing whether there was symmetry between the reasons for war and conduct of war variables, as explained in On War, with modern interstate wars waged between 1990 and 2012. The data revealed that both the wars of Clausewitz’s time and the wars of the modern era were varied in the their reasons for war and conduct of war, but that wars from Clausewitz’s time and the modern era still share similar characteristics. Despite the vast differences between Clausewitz’s time and the modern era this study found that Clausewitz’s wars and modern interstate wars do share common variables, making On War still relevant for the study of modern interstate warfare.

<p>Since the end of the Second World War, US troops have served as a powerful tool of US foreign policy. Although there seems to be overwhelming anecdotal evidence indicating the effectiveness of US military intervention in promoting conflict resolution, democracy, and US interests abroad, little is known about the economic impact of US military interventions in countries where US troops have been deployed. This study examines critical factors in determining international Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in countries where US troops are deployed. Using data from approximately 95 countries from 1982 to 2012 the study estimates complimentary effects of the presence of US troops on international foreign direct investments. It finds that US troops have a positive effect on international foreign direct investment in those countries to which they are deployed. These findings suggest that US foreign policy makers might augment or complement US foreign policy applied to those countries affected with the results found in this research. For instances where US troops deploy anyway (e.g., continuing or traditional allied training missions) the complimentary effect is of no additional cost. </p>

<p>Although systemic research on National Guard and Reserve (NGR) spouses and families does not exist, the situation is due to change given the expansive role of NGR service members in combat operations over the last decade. In addition, research exploring the effects of deployment on family resilience and social support is limited. The present study employed a predictive correlational design to determine the relationship between resilience and social support for NGR families and five predictor variables (distance from a military base or unit, number of children in the home, employment status of the spouse, rank of the service member, and neighborhood tenure). A sample of 110 spouses of NGR service members with a history of deployment from across 36 states completed a web-based survey instrument. No significant relationships were found between resilience or social support for NGR spouses and any of the five predictor variables. In addition, the results indicate that resilience in NGR spouses is moderately high, as is the level of social support. </p>

<p>The purpose of this action research study was twofold: 1) to investigate the role the Socratic Method of teaching had (if any) on the leadership skills of Junior Reserve Officer Training Cadet (JROTC) leaders at a military boarding school in the Midwest, United States, and 2) to determine if there was any change in the researcher&rsquo;s teaching while implementing the Socratic Method to his JROTC Cadet leaders in his Western Intellectual History class. The researcher defined leadership based on the Five Leadership Practices derived from the Student Leadership Practices Inventory. These practices consisted of Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. Through the collection of data via a pretest and posttest on the leadership skills of the cadet participants, student weekly journal entries, the researcher&rsquo;s weekly journal entries, classroom observations, an end of the year questionnaire concerning the cadet participants&rsquo; self-perceptions of their leadership development, and video-recordings of Socratic discussions, the researcher was able to ascertain the development of leadership skills and his own pedagogical development. The data supported that the cadet participants perceived an improvement in their leadership skills after engaging in the Socratic Method in Western Intellectual History class. Moreover, themes that emerged from the journal entries and answers to the end of the year questionnaire aligned with the leadership characteristics in the Five Leadership Practices. Furthermore, the data revealed that the researcher&rsquo;s pedagogical experience, specifically in lesson delivery, changed during the time he used the Socratic Method of instruction in his Western Intellectual History class. </p>

<p>The need for accurate information about the achievement of students whose military parents are deployed to a war zone or whose military parents are eligible although not currently deployed to a war zone is important in order to ensure that we are providing for the educational wellbeing of these children as their parents defend our nations freedoms. The purpose of this posttest-only comparative efficacy study was to determine the achievement outcomes of sixth-grade students with a military parent deployed to a war zone (<i>n</i> = 10) or sixth-grade students with a military parent not deployed to a war zone (<i>n</i> = 10) compared to same school students whose parents have no military affiliation (<i>n</i> = 10). The study&rsquo;s dependent measures were Academic achievement as measured by end of sixth-grade (1) Nebraska State Accountability Assessment Test-Math, (2) Nebraska State Accountability Assessment Test-Reading, (3) Measure of Academic Performance-Math, (4) Measure of Academic Performance-Reading, (5) Research School District&rsquo;s Descriptive Writing Assessment for (a) Ideas and Content, (b) Organization, (c) Voice, (d) Word Choice, (e) Sentence Fluency, and (f) Conventions, and (6) Research School District&rsquo;s Essential Objectives for (a) Language, (b) Math, (c) Science, (d) Social Studies, (e) Health, (f) Physical Education, and (g) Music. The overall pattern of end of sixth-grade statistical equipoise between group comparisons indicated that the goal of educational wellbeing for these students of military families, and control group students alike, was being met and was reflected in measured proficient and advanced level performance requiring students&rsquo; day-to-day engagement at school and support at home. </p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to analyze the correlation between depression, alcohol use, and drug abuse among military veterans. The researcher examined secondary data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). The study focused on veterans 18 years and older. The data retrieval form used consisted of questions on alcohol use, smoking and demographics. </p><p> The study found a relationship between veterans and depression, feelings of worthlessness and feelings of hopelessness. Results from this study indicated that the younger veterans tended to feel more worthlessness. The study determined that veterans felt more hopelessness when serving less time compared to those who served for 20 years or more.</p>