This thesis is an examination of how the nature of the British soldier is constructed/imagined in contemporary British society if a spectrum of meaning is imagined that posits a warrior existing at one extreme and a weapons platform at the other. Located within a philosophical setting and indebted to Charles Taylor’s modern social imaginaries, a number of sub-questions function as the mechanism used to explore the thesis question in the six research chapters which are: 2, Identity and Narrative; 3, Being and Doing; 4, Clausewitz, Trinitarian War and New Wars; 5, Selected Societal Factors (Death, Risk, and Post-heroicand Feminised Society); 6, The Future Nature of Conflict; and 7, Future Technology. This thesis provides a basis by which to evaluate the cultural, practical, philosophical and intellectual pressures affecting how the British soldier is envisaged in the UK social imaginary. It also offers a functional framework to understand those roles British society is prepared to tolerate and validate when deploying and utilising the generic soldier. The main conclusions of the research chapters are contained in the following six propositions: 1. The identity of the warrior requires a narrative of war(fare) validated by the society with whom he/she is in relationship. The identity of the soldier does not necessarily require a narrative of war. 2. The distinction between the warrior and the soldier is best framed in the language of ‘being’ and ‘doing’. For the warrior their ‘being’ is intuited in combat; whereas the soldier requires a narrative that validates the required/expected output. 3. New wars are non-Clausewitzian. Any Western narrative will suffer narrative deflation in the soldier’s daily experience in non-Western operational settings. 4. Post-modern, risk averse, post-heroic societies will struggle to generate a nonapocalyptic narrative capable of tolerating significant casualty numbers. 5. The question of intervention in a non-Western, non-permissive operational setting will examine the depth of liberal values in Western societies. 6. Though pragmatic, the development of robotic weapons stands in contradiction to the authenticity of the warrior and robs the West of the vitality of its liberal values.

Many military children face obstacles during their lives, and these obstacles can affect their classroom environment due to their mobility, social-emotional behavior, and academics. The purpose of this study was to identify challenges, if any, that teachers indicate exist while educating military-connected students in public schools and teacher actions to address any challenges. Existing literature on military connected students and teacher perceptions of military-connected challenges was reviewed. This study examined teacher perceptions of the challenges, responses to challenges and training these teachers experienced while teaching military-connected students. A Likert-type survey of questions was administered through an online survey tool to elementary school teachers in two public school divisions in Virginia. The survey instrument was developed by Mittleberg (2014). After collecting the data, the researcher examined and analyzed data based on the survey responses. The following research questions were addressed: What challenges do teachers identify related to educating military-connected students? What practices do teachers use to address the perceived challenges? What do teachers indicate as their level of training to teach military-connected students? The study concluded with eight findings and eight implications. The findings provided teachers with the tools necessary to address the needs of military-connected students as well as provided schools and school divisions with information that could impact their professional learning decisions. Findings included but were not limited to how teachers perceived that assessment of students' background knowledge was a challenge when teaching military-connected students, how filling in students' knowledge gaps was a challenge, and how adjustment to students leaving and arriving at various times during the school year were a challenge when teaching military-connected students. A few implications were, school leaders should investigate ways to assist teachers in assessing students' background knowledge. It should be a consideration that personnel be provided with resources to help focus on meeting the needs of the students who have knowledge gaps and the development of a handbook of team building and getting to know you resources should be given to teachers to assist in building a strong classroom environment. / Doctor of Education / There are many public school divisions in the United States that service military-connected students. Of the 132 school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, there is at least one military-connected student in each school division. According to Wykes (2015), Virginia is one of the top 10 states for military presence with 10% (Wykes, 2015, p. 23). Teachers in these school divisions face perceived challenges that need to be addressed. Some of those challenges include mobility, academics, and the social-emotional well-being of the military- connected student. This quantitative study focused on the perceived challenges public school teachers face when teaching military-connected students. Data were collected using a Likert-type survey with participants from two school divisions who service military-connected students. There were limitations in this study beyond the researcher's control such as the accuracy and honesty by the respondents and response rate. This study produced eight findings and eight implications. Of the eight findings, three were teachers perceived the adjustment to students leaving and arriving at various times, having a routine in place when new military-connected students arrive into the classroom after the start of the school year, and receiving the level of training needed to prepare them to support parents/guardians of military connected students in their classroom were a challenge. A few of the implications included, the need for teacher preparation programs to address the challenges military connected students face, the development of a handbook of team building activities for teachers to use in the classroom as a resource and the need for resources that could focus on meeting the needs of students' knowledge gaps to support those military connected students.

Purpose: To describe well-being in military reserve health care providers post deployment or mobilization Background: A comprehensive literature review exhibited that during a deployment or mobilization, military health care providers endure stressful and uncomfortable situations, spend time away from their family, friends and usual home comforts leaving them feeling completely changed. These circumstances can negatively affect a provider’s well-being. Moreover, although the literature outlines military and psychological symptoms including combat stressors, mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety, job stress, work performance and resiliency, there is a gap in the literature regarding well-being among military health care providers post deployment or mobilization. Methods: This project used a qualitative descriptive methodology with face-to-face interviews to describe the phenomenon of well-being among three United States reserve military health care providers post deployment or mobilization. Data was collected using semi-structured, open ended questions, allowing the participants an opportunity to discuss and further elaborate on their experiences, perspectives and feelings. Each interview began with pre-established questions and further questions and discussions were guided by the participants’ earlier responses. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed into text, allowing me to identify commonalities of experiences, perspectives and feelings among the participants. Results: Analysis of the interview data revealed information associated with transitions and can be grouped into five categories. The categories that impacted the participants’ well-being post deployment or mobilization include: separation from family and friends, austere living conditions, exhaustion from long work hours, consecutive work days without days off and being unprepared for what was to come. Implications: This project describes well-being in military reserve health care providers post deployment or mobilization. Findings from this small project may be used to develop research studies to describe and understand the concept of well-being among military health care providers. Armed with better understanding, we could then develop interventions to prepare our military health care providers to deliver high quality care during overseas deployment or mobilization while also maintaining their physical and mental well-being.

From 1994, the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) undertook a number of cooperative regional military projects with the support of numerous Western countries. In particular, the Baltic Peacekeeping Battalion (BALTBAT) was an example of efficient Western defence cooperation to generate outcomes in order to achieve military and political goals. BALTBAT became the template for other Baltic programmes: the Baltic Naval Squadron (BALTRON), the Baltic Air Surveillance Network (BALTNET) and the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL). This thesis analysed the Baltic programmes, particularly BALTBAT, as a case study for identifying the elements of a model for effective military assistance projects. The focus was on the broad political decisions agreed upon by the donor and recipient states, such as the selection of development of peacekeeping capabilities, as the basis for military assistance, which provided the foundation for these initiatives. The value of the Baltic programmes as a case study and basis for identifying the elements of a model was enhanced by the fact that they succeeded at a delicate time in a sensitive region. The Baltic states had virtually no military forces upon regaining independence. Russia objected to Baltic state membership in NATO and was sensitive about a build-up of military capabilities close to Russian borders. In spite of these obstacles, the Baltic projects achieved outcomes which supported the military and political goals of the donor and recipient states. Analysis of the Baltic projects highlighted the importance of broad political decisions between donor and recipient states for military assistance initiatives. It also indicated the major factors (subsequently called Mechanisms) resulting from those decisions which were important to the outcomes from these programmes. These Mechanisms comprise the elements of a model which could be of value to academics and practitioners working in the area of military assistance.

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