In times of need for increased military capability, the Swedish Armed Forces faces in the next few years a challenge in the personnel supply, due to a shortage of newly graduated officers combined with a large number of retiring officers. To meet the demands of the increased recruitment of military officers, and being able to adapt the recruitment campaigns, an important task is first to identify what motivates young soldiers and recruits to embark on a military officer career.  The aim of this quantitative study is to investigate the motivation of Swedish recruits to apply for Military Academy Karlberg (MHS K), or what brings them to the opposite choice. To this end Herzbergs motivation-hygiene theory, and the postmodern-/modern-/paleomodern-categories of Battistelli, have been applied in order to measure motivation among recruits. The results indicate that both those recruits that have applied for MHS K, and those who have not, are motivated mostly by postmodern factors related to self-fulfilment. Applicants seem to be motivated by, for example, personal- or leadership development, while those who do not apply often have other plans usually involving civilian work and education. In addition, the study found that among those who apply, women and non-combat units appear to have a stronger postmodern motivation than men and combat units.

In times of need for increased military capability, the Swedish Armed Forces faces in the next few years a challenge in the personnel supply, due to a shortage of newly graduated officers combined with a large number of retiring officers. To meet the demands of the increased recruitment of military officers, and being able to adapt the recruitment campaigns, an important task is first to identify what motivates young soldiers and recruits to embark on a military officer career.  The aim of this quantitative study is to investigate the motivation of Swedish recruits to apply for Military Academy Karlberg (MHS K), or what brings them to the opposite choice. To this end Herzbergs motivation-hygiene theory, and the postmodern-/modern-/paleomodern-categories of Battistelli, have been applied in order to measure motivation among recruits. The results indicate that both those recruits that have applied for MHS K, and those who have not, are motivated mostly by postmodern factors related to self-fulfilment. Applicants seem to be motivated by, for example, personal- or leadership development, while those who do not apply often have other plans usually involving civilian work and education. In addition, the study found that among those who apply, women and non-combat units appear to have a stronger postmodern motivation than men and combat units.

Den 1 juli 2010 avskaffades värnplikten i förmån för ett yrkesförsvar, varpå premisserna för utbildningen av soldater förändrades. Idag har män och kvinnor från 18 år möjlighet att genomföra s.k. Grundläggande Militär Utbildning (GMU) under tre månader på frivillig basis. De nya premisserna kan m.h.t. frivilligheten ställas i paritet med civil vuxenutbildning, där båda upplever exempelvis avhopp till följd av motivationsbrist. Syftet med studien är delvis att identifiera officerarnas upplevda utmaningar på GMU avseende rekryternas tidigare erfarenheter, motivation samt lärarrollen. Därtill syftar studien till att undersöka om de är desamma för civil vuxenutbildning. Intervjuer av åtta officerare har genomförts för att identifiera de utmaningar som föreligger på GMU, samt en komparativ analys mellan dessa utmaningar och bland annat Knowles andragogikteori, som i den här studien representerar utmaningarna för den civila vuxenutbildningen. Resultatet visar att det föreligger utmaningar på GMU som är desamma för civil vuxenutbildning, särskilt tydligt vad gäller elevens/rekrytens motivation, men å andra sidan visar resultatet på att det föreligger utmaningar på GMU som inte förekommer i samma omfattning som i vuxenutbildning, och vice versa. / In July 2010 Sweden abolished conscription in favor of an all-volunteer military force, whereupon the prerequisites for the recruitment and training of soldiers changed. Today, men and women from the age of 18 can sign up for a so-called Basic Military Training (GMU) for three months on a voluntary basis. The new prerequisites can, with regard to voluntariness, be on par with civilian adult education, both of which are, e.g., experiencing drop-outs as a result of lack of motivation. The purpose of the study is partly to identify the officers’ perceived challenges at GMU regarding recruits earlier experience, motivation and the teacher’s role. In addition, the study aims to examine whether these challenges are the same as for the civilian adult education. Interviews of eight officers have been conducted to distinguish the challenges that exist at GMU, as well as a comparative analysis between these challenges and theory of adult learning, including Knowles’s andragogy model, which in this study represents challenges for the civilian adult education. The result shows that there are challenges at GMU that are the same as for the civilian adult education, particularly evident in terms of the motivation of the pupil/recruit, but on the other hand, the result shows that there are challenges at GMU that do not occur in the same extent as in adult education, and vice versa.