In studying the experiences of Muslim Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members by way of ethnographic interviews, I investigate both religious accommodation and feelings of belonging among individuals in this minority faith group. Interviews demonstrate that the CAF and its Chaplain Branch are generally equipped and willing to accommodate the practice of Islam by personnel. I argue, however, that as a result of accommodation, which marks Muslim CAF as “different,” as well as military culture, which conflicts with certain aspects of Islamic doctrine and practice, the experience of unity that is fundamental to the Canadian Armed Forces is limitedly available to Muslim members. This research is the first ethnographic study of a specific minority religious experience in the CAF. It builds on a small, but growing discourse about religiosity and spirituality in the Canadian military that includes the development of the Chaplain Branch as a multifaith service. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

This study aims to explore the perceived value and effect of symbols worn in the military. Since uniforms create uniformity, symbols are one of the few ways individuals can distinguish themselves. These symbols hold more value than just a piece of fabric which serves a practical purpose. Within the Swedish armed forces, this has given rise not only to debates but also incidents regarding the trials in which these symbols are earnt. However, contemporary research on the topic remains limited. Through an interpretive applied-theory approach, using Anthony King's theory as a framework for analyzing empirical data collected from interviews with officers and cadets within the French foreign legion, army, special forces, and infantry several discoveries were made.  Symbols used beyond organizational necessity could be linked to both positive effects such as cohesion, trust, motivation, and pride, as well as negative effects such as shame, exclusion, and prejudice. The study indicates that symbols are often valued based on two concepts: distinction and difficulty in obtaining it. By better understanding the case in the French army, the study contributes to existing research by providing an outline of the area for continued research and a clearer way forward for practical applications of symbols in the military.

Serving in the military is often a disruptive event in the lives of those who join, precipitating a reassessment of the service member’s ethical sensibilities or, tragically, resulting in lasting moral injury and trauma. The military experience compels them to navigate multiple identities, from citizen to warrior and back. Their religious identity, sometimes rooted in a civilian religious community, can be altered by military participation. Those who find faith during service often adopt one rooted in military culture. Still others find faith after leaving the service, providing a salve for the disruption of military experience. In many cases, religious cultural toolkits provide necessary meaning-making frameworks to make sense of war; however, these same frameworks can exacerbate trauma when moral expectations do not reflect reality, resulting in moral injury. Drawing on a series of inductive, in-depth qualitative interviews with forty-eight veterans and six military chaplains, this dissertation explores how varied religious resources and potentially traumatic events affect the lives of post-9/11 veterans who once or currently identified as Christian. Adding to existing research on moral injury, it traces how military chaplains, ethics education, just war theory rhetoric, and formal religious practice supplied by the military alter the course of service members’ moral lives. As these resources aim and re-aim them at the military’s institutional strategic goals, service members come to inhabit the warrior identity. Amid this new identity and the realities of modern warfare, trauma is likely, and service members must navigate an interruption to their deeply held moral beliefs, narratives, and expectations. After service, lasting moral wounds, traumatic experiences, and a loss of identity can make reintegrating to the civilian sector challenging, thus precipitating or exacerbating trauma. These narrative trajectories reveal how veterans use Christian faith or other systems of meaning-making to understand war and their identities as service members and veterans. Drawing on post-traumatic theologies and feminist and womanist ethics, this dissertation argues that these stories uncover tainted theological frameworks and a military culture in need of redemption. / 2023-11-04T00:00:00Z

The Swedish Armed Forces (SwAF) have been making internal efforts to enrol more women through changes in legislation and mandatory conscription, since the adoption of Resolution 1325 in the Swedish Parliament at the turn of the century. Since the alterations, an upward trend of female recruits as well as women making careers and reaching high ranking positions, has been identified. Consequently, raising other issues about how SwAF is making efforts to adapt their prevailing male dominated organization towards their now increasing female personnel.  To achieve the objective of understanding how male normativity is experienced in the Armed Forces, the study derives from explorative semi- structured interviews with female recruits, as well as previous studies conducted in the area, departing from a constructivist and feminist theoretical approach. The result supports, that women are nevertheless experiencing obstacles and are expected to repetitively prove their positions as soldiers, in terms of bodily differences, materiality, language, comradery, and community. It also speaks for continued efforts to broaden the Armed Forces' inclusivity, challenge gender norms and customs, and improve accessibility for female recruits, and female military personnel.

No description available.

The goal of my project is a detailed analysis of the technological culture of the United States Air Force from a Science and Technology Studies (STS) perspective. In particular, using the metaphor of the Air Force as religion helps in understanding a culture built on matters of life-and-death. This religious narrative—with the organizational roles of actors such as priests, prophets, and laity, and the institutional connotations of theological terms such as sacredness—is a unique approach to the Air Force. An analysis of how the Air Force interacts with technology—the very thing that gives it meaning—from the social construction of technology approach will provide a broader understanding of this relationship. Mitcham's dichotomy of the engineering philosophy of technology (EPT) and the humanities philosophy of technology (HPT) perspectives provides a methodology for analyzing Air Force decisions and priorities. I examine the overarching discourse and metaphor—consisting of techniques, technologies, experiences, language, and religion—in a range of historical case studies describing the sociological and philosophical issues of the Air Force. As the Air Force is the offspring of the U.S. Army, these examples begin with the Civil War era and the invention of the Gatling gun before moving to the interwar period's Air Corps Tactical School and its seminal organizational thinking about the aircraft. Moving to the more modern times after the birth of the Air Force, I describe and compare the Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center and the Air Mobility Warfare Center, two organizations interacting with technology from different organizational archetypes. The final example is the Department of Defense Readiness Reporting System, an information technology application at the focal point of cultural change affecting not just the Air Force but the entire Department of Defense. Finally, I will conclude with a chapter on policy considerations and recommendations for the Air Force based on the Air Force religion, a balance of both people and technology, and with an eye toward the future of U.S. military operations. The primary goal is to answer three questions: is the U.S. Air Force truly a religion? If so, how should that affect its approach to technology and technological change? With an eye toward consciously building the future, how has the Air Force religion shaped the organization in the past? [The attached document is cleared by the Department of Defense for public release (OSR Case 09-S-0496).] / Ph. D.

In examining the military atmosphere of the Soviet Army the author will attempt to get the feeling of the life of the junior officers and enlisted men. The topics covered will include training, army regulations, military law, Party influence and control within the army, career potential, pay, retirement, daily routine, promotions, induction, terms of service, medical facilities, Post Exchanges, and professional schooling available to officers and men, only to list a few. No work will be done on tactics, techniques, or weapons of the Soviet Army.

<p>What determines variation in military behavior toward civilians? In this dissertation, I examine the determinants of military behavior toward civilians, exploring the factors that lead armed groups to brutalize—or respect—civilian populations. I argue that military cultures embodying norms of civilian immunity can shape combatant preferences and, ultimately, military conduct, leading to battlefield restraint toward civilians. Focusing on case studies of the U.S. Army in Vietnam and Iraq and the Ugandan military, I examine the effect of military culture on conflict behavior utilizing detailed qualitative and quantitative data at macro- and micro-levels of analysis, including historical case studies, combatant survey data, field interviews, and a quantitative analysis of U.S. Army war crimes prosecution data. I find that military culture can fundamentally transform the preferences of combatants at all levels of the military organization, increasing combatants’ preferences for respect for civilians and producing restraint toward civilians in conflict. The findings of this research thus show that military cultures based in norms of civilian immunity can lead to the protection of civilians in war, even in the face of significant countervailing pressures that would otherwise produce mass civilian victimization.</p> / Dissertation

No description available.

Family members of service personnel with polytraumatic injuries face a wide range of challenges. Research has shown that family member adaptation and adjustment to the caregiver role has a significant impact on the well-being of the person with the injuries. The Veterans Health Administration is rapidly developing services to meet the needs of severely injured service personnel and their family members. The purpose of the present study was to test the feasibility of a method of assessment to identify the needs of individual family members of service personnel and veterans receiving inpatient rehabilitation services at the Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center (PRC) located within the Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia. Family member needs and emotional distress levels were quantitatively assessed. Qualitative data was collected with the intent of gaining a better understanding of the needs of families of individuals with severe injury from within a military cultural context. Results of this study suggest emotional distress levels of family members of persons receiving treatment on the PRC are not clinically significant. Study participants report overwhelming satisfaction with the program of care offered to patients and family members on the PRC. Furthermore, results of this study suggest that family members benefited from participating in the study. A strength-based family care pathway that utilizes an individual assessment of family needs is proposed and recommended for use with family members of individuals enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration polytrauma network services.