Att med militära medel försvara vårt rike då det föreligger ett hot mot vår direkta existens kräver ingen större motivering. Inte heller att soldater stupar i samband med detta. Men med en ny försvarspolitik lämnar vi det fokus som legat på det nationella försvaret. Nu är vi med andra premisser och försvara något som inte akut berör vår egen existens och därav är det inte lika självklart med förluster. I samband med deltagandet i internationell tjänst har Sverige lidit förluster och nu senast i Afghanistan. Till följd av svenska förluster i internationell tjänst har naturligt följt en debatt. I denna uppsats tittar jag på den debatt som följt efter att svenska soldater vid två olika tillfällen stupat i Afghanistan, år 2005 och år 2010. Syftet med denna uppsats är att jämföra de debatter som uppstått till följd av att svenska soldater stupat i internationell tjänst i Afghanistan, detta för att undersöka om skillnader i debatterna kan påvisas och vad dessa kan bero på. Resultatet visar att en skillnad i debatterna föreligger och att den huvudsakliga orsaken till detta är den försämrade säkerhetssituationen i Afghanistan. / By military means to defend our realm where there is a direct threat tor our existence requires no more justification. Neither the soldiers killed in this context. But with a new defence policy, we leave the total focus that has been on national defence. Now we are with other premises and defend something that in not urgent concerns our own existence and hence it is not as obvious with losses. In connection with its participation in international service, Sweden has suffered losses and, most recently in Afghanistan. As a result of losses in the Swedish international service has naturally followed a debate. In this essay I look over the debate which followed after the Swedish soldiers at two different times was killed in Afghanistan in 2005 and 2010. The purpose of this study is to compare the debates that have arisen as a result of Swedish soldiers were killed in international service in Afghanistan, in order to investigate if a difference in the debates can be shown and what they can depend on. The results show that a difference exists in the debates and that the main reason for this is the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.

Based on a year of ethnographic fieldwork, this dissertation explores the inextricable relationship of the ordinary and extraordinary which characterizes the lives of U.S. soldiers severely injured in Iraq and Afghanistan and rehabilitating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. in 2007-2008. Living among their fellows and families at Walter Reed, the precariousness which marks injured soldiers’ bodies and lives takes on a feeling of ordinariness. And though these injured soldiers and their families do not quite coalesce into a community, their shared experience of being in common with each other—of sharing Walter Reed’s particular and precarious ordinary—helps make life there bearable. Through a poetics of the extra/ordinary I explore how injured soldiers’ ordinariness bristles against inescapable invocations of patriotic sacrifice; the ways soldiers’ everyday movements are marked by being post-traumatic; and the reconfigurations of intimate social relations and masculinity such experiences occasion and out of which the possibilities and limits of a future life emerge. I show that in this moment of life—one which unfolds in a space saturated with narratives of heroic patriotic sacrifice and histories of war and the remaking of men—ordinariness becomes central to injured soldiers’ current experiences and also to the future selves and social configurations they are oriented towards. I demonstrate how injured soldiers’ lives are also always attached to something that exceeds the ordinary; that they are extra/ordinary. But I argue that such extra/ordinariness is an amplification of life’s less notable uncertainties; that all lives are extra/ordinary. Against the over-determining frames of heroism and trauma within which U.S. soldiers are figured, especially in post-9/11 America, I argue that injured U.S. soldiers’ experiences are neither simply knowable, nor unimaginable but recognizable as specifically tethered to, commensurable with, and distinguished from, more ‘ordinary’ others.

Based on a year of ethnographic fieldwork, this dissertation explores the inextricable relationship of the ordinary and extraordinary which characterizes the lives of U.S. soldiers severely injured in Iraq and Afghanistan and rehabilitating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. in 2007-2008. Living among their fellows and families at Walter Reed, the precariousness which marks injured soldiers’ bodies and lives takes on a feeling of ordinariness. And though these injured soldiers and their families do not quite coalesce into a community, their shared experience of being in common with each other—of sharing Walter Reed’s particular and precarious ordinary—helps make life there bearable. Through a poetics of the extra/ordinary I explore how injured soldiers’ ordinariness bristles against inescapable invocations of patriotic sacrifice; the ways soldiers’ everyday movements are marked by being post-traumatic; and the reconfigurations of intimate social relations and masculinity such experiences occasion and out of which the possibilities and limits of a future life emerge. I show that in this moment of life—one which unfolds in a space saturated with narratives of heroic patriotic sacrifice and histories of war and the remaking of men—ordinariness becomes central to injured soldiers’ current experiences and also to the future selves and social configurations they are oriented towards. I demonstrate how injured soldiers’ lives are also always attached to something that exceeds the ordinary; that they are extra/ordinary. But I argue that such extra/ordinariness is an amplification of life’s less notable uncertainties; that all lives are extra/ordinary. Against the over-determining frames of heroism and trauma within which U.S. soldiers are figured, especially in post-9/11 America, I argue that injured U.S. soldiers’ experiences are neither simply knowable, nor unimaginable but recognizable as specifically tethered to, commensurable with, and distinguished from, more ‘ordinary’ others.

This study examined two research questions: 1) Is the Taylor-Johsnon Temperament Analysis (TJTA) instrument an effective instrument for predicting soldier maladjustment as measured by early discharge from the Army, and 2) Can counseling techniques be effectively employed to facilitate soldier adjustment? These research questions were answered by administering the TJTA instrument to an experimental group (N=80) and to a control group (N=149) during their first week of training. The data collection took place over a 23-month period under standardized conditions. Soldiers in both the control and the experimental groups were assigned randomly to their training units. In the control group, soldiers received normal training but the TJTA instrument results were not known by the training staff. In the experimental group, soldiers received normal training, but those who scored high in those areas of the TJTA instrument which predict maladaptive behavior were referred to a doctoral-level therapist for counseling. For both groups the TJTA did not identify or predict which soldiers would be discharged for maladjustment problems. A second study was conducted from among soldiers of other units whohad demonstrated maladaptative behavior to a degree serious enough to result in early discharge. This group was subjected to a 4-week training program designed to enhance soldier self-concept. This program was administered under the direction of drill sergeants who had received a 2-day training course in counseling techniques. More than eighty percent of these soldiers originally slated for discharge succeeded in making positive adjustments to the Army and graduated successfully into the Army.The following conclusions result from the analysis of findings of this study:1. The TJTA instrument was not predictive of maladaptive behavior of soldiers sufficient to require their discharge. 2. Formal counseling by a doctoral-level therapist was not effective in reducing maladaptive behavior. 3. Self-concept improvement training was effective in developing positive attitudes and motivations to remain in military service among soldiers who were scheduled to be eliminated from the Army for maladaptive behaviors.

This dissertation engages the historiography of American citizenship and identity, republican traditions in American life and thought, and explores the evolution of military leadership in American society during the American Civil War. The nature, experiences and evolution of citizen-soldiers and citizen-officers, both Union and Confederate, reveal that the sentimental, often romantic expectations and ideologies forged in the American Revolution and modified during the antebellum era were recast, adapted, and modified under the extreme pressures of four years of conflict. Civil War citizen-officers experienced extreme pressures to emulate the professional officers of the regular army and to accommodate the ideological expectations of the independent, civic-minded volunteers they led. These junior leaders arrived at creative, often ingenious solutions to overcome the unique leadership challenges posed by the tension between antebellum democratic values and the demands of military necessity. Though the nature and identity of the officers in both armies evolved over time, the ideological foundations that informed Civil War Americans’ conceptions of military service persisted throughout the conflict. The key to the persistence of the citizen-soldier ethos and citizen-officer image during and after the Civil War era lies in the considerable power of antebellum Americans’ shared but malleable republican tradition. By focusing on the experience of volunteer company-grade officers in the Civil War era, we discover how the ordeal of the Civil War forced Americans to reevaluate and reconcile the role of the individual in this arrangement, both elevating and de-emphasizing the centrality of the citizen-soldier to the evolving narrative of American identity, citizenship, and leadership.

Inriktningen från den svenska statsmakten är att övergå från ett plikt- till ettfrivilligt försvar. Huvudorsak till denna transformering är behovet av en ökad användbarhetav det svenska försvaret, en användbarhet som det nuvarande värnpliktssystemet inte ansesmedge. Syftet med studien är att undersöka och diskutera hur Försvarsmaktens framtidasvenska soldatförsörjningsmodell ter sig i norsk komparation och vilka eventuellakonsekvenser den valda svenska vägen kan tänkas få på användbarheten. Utifrån detta syfteär huvudfrågan med studien formulerad på följande sätt: Hur kan Försvarsmaktensanvändbarhet tänkas påverkas av det framtida soldatförsörjningssystemet?Studien jämför det svenska framtida soldatförsörjningssystemet med dagens norska syftandetill att beskriva skillnader och likheter kopplat till begreppet användbarhet. Vidare så jämförockså studien skillnaden mellan de norska intentionerna med sitt soldatförsörjningssystemmed de dragna erfarenheterna. Resultaten från dessa båda jämförelser analyseras, tolkas ochdiskuteras sedan för att bilda grund för svaret på huvudfrågan med uppsatsen.Resultatet av studien visar att användbarheten i huvudsak påverkas positivt avseendetillgängliga förband här och nu vilket ligger helt i linje med vad den svenska statsmakten vill.Dock finns vissa tveksamheter om huruvida rekryteringsbehovet för att uppnå dennatillgänglighet av förband kommer att uppnås. Vidare visar resultatet att man kan hysa enfarhåga över den förkortade grundutbildningens negativa påverkan på förmågebredden ochdärmed användbarheten av de anställda svenska soldaterna och sjömännen. / The aim and direction from the Swedish government is to go from conscription- toprofessional defense. The main reason for that transformation is the growing requirements ofutility of the Swedish defense, a utility that the existing duty defense system, according to theSwedish government doesn’t permit. The purpose of this essay is to look into and discuss howthe Swedish Defense Forces future system of recruiting soldiers will stand in comparison withthe Norwegian one, and what the eventual consequences the selected Swedish path might be,and how this will affect the utilization. On the basis of this purpose, the formulation of thecore question of this essay is: How might the Swedish Defense Forces utility be affected bythe implementation of the planned system of recruiting soldiers?The essay compares the planned Swedish system of recruiting soldiers in the future with theNorwegian one, aiming to describe distinctions and parities coupled to utility. Furthermore,the essay will also compare the differences amongst the Norwegian intentions with theirsystem of recruiting soldiers with the actual outcome. The results from these comparisons willbe analyzed, interpreted and discussed in order to answer the core question of the essay.The result of the essay shows that the utility of the Swedish Defense Forces planned systemfor the near future is essentially positively affected by the number of immediate accessibleunits. This is in line with what the Swedish government wants to accomplish. However, thereare curtain doubts as to whether the actual need of recruited soldiers will be obtained in orderto withhold that number of accessible units. Furthermore the result of the essay indicates thatthere are reasons to bear some worries concerning how the shortened basic training of theemployed/professional Swedish soldiers and sailors will influence their ability, and by thatalso their utility. / Avdelning: ALB – Slutet Mag. 3 C-upps. Hylla: Upps. ChP 07-09

This thesis is concerned with the lived life-world of Swedish soldiers that have worked in Afghanistan as part the ISAF mission. It studies the soldiers' experiences by drawing on five qualitative, open interviews and analyses these from a phenomenological perspective. In the thesis some existing research on soldiers is reviewed critically and it is argued that there is a need for an exploratory study of those that execute international peace operations. The analysis of the soldiers' experiences results in a thematic understanding around, first; reasons for going to Afghanistan and how they handle the different life-style and level of control they have on their work and situation. Second, how they perceive their stay in Afghanistan which mostly consists of working, with small possibilities and desire to relax, apart from working out and play games. The third theme concerns perceptions of their bodies, thoughts about being and having been there as well as gender differences. Lastly it is noted that the soldiers hold rather limited experiences of the Afghan people, both the security forces and civilians.It is also argued that their experiences can be understood in a wider context as, first, a self- realizing job or adventure rather than a vocation, and second as being divided along modern and post-modern logics consisting of different values and regimes of control of the individual.

The recruitment, enlistment and use of children younger than fifteen to participate actively in hostilities is prohibited in customary international law as well as in several international legal instruments. The use of child soldiers is, despite of the prohibition, a widespread phenomenon with 300 000 as the estimated number of child soldiers in national armies as well as in various rebel and insurgent groups in the world today. Although the problem is world-wide; most recent focus have been on Africa where children have served and still serve in ongoing conflicts in various functions including but not limited to front line soldiers, messengers, guards and sex-slaves. Many of the world‟s child soldiers are girls that are facing the risks of sexual abuse and discrimination. In this thesis the 1996-2002 civil war in Sierra Leone will serve as an example of a conflict were children were used as soldiers.Prohibition against the use of child soldiers can be found in international legal instruments in both human rights law and international humanitarian law. It can also be found in instruments in the fields of international labor law and prohibition against slavery. The provisions differ in their definition of a child soldier; concerning age limit as well as the child‟s function during the conflict. There are also differences in the responsibility of states to protect children against being used as soldiers. This particularly affects girl soldiers since they often have their primary tasks behind the front line and thus are not usually included in the more narrow definitions of child soldiers.Two courts; the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) are used as examples of enforcement mechanisms. The SCSL as being the first court to deliver convictions for the use of child soldiers as well as thoroughly discussing the illegality of the use of child soldiers has been of importance in the fight against the use of child soldiers. The ICC will be the enforcement mechanism of the future and it has already prosecuted for the use of child soldiers. The SCSL has raised the awareness and started the struggle against impunity for those responsible for using child soldiers but it is the ICC that will have to continue the fight, although with some obstacles to overcome.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 220 p. : col. ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-220).

Thesis (M.A.)--Cleveland State University, 2009. / Abstract. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jan. 13, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-37). Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center and also available in print.