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An army of working individualists? : A phenomenological interview study of Swedish soldiers going to, working and being in AfghanistanBrulin, Emet January 2012 (has links)
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.
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The Experience of a Soldier : An Interview Study with Swedish Soldiers’ Serving in MINUSMAMagnusson, Karolina January 2019 (has links)
Since the first peacekeeping operation in 1948, the global security environment has changed and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali - MINUSMA - established in 2013, has come to represent the emerging practice of deploying peacekeeping operations to asymmetric conflicts. Where there are on-going counter-terrorist operations, and no peace to keep. In 2014, the Swedish parliament passed a decision, that Sweden was to contribute with troops to MINUSMA, and nowadays, there is a political ambition for a long-term participation. Thus, the objective of this research is to examine the experiences of Swedish peacekeeping soldiers’ who have served in Mali by conducting a qualitative interview study. To better understand how they perceive and experience their service period and how the factors outlined in the ‘model of UN soldiers’ experience of their daily service’ influence it. The results from the interviews indicate that even though all soldiers’ has their own perception and experience of their service period, there are also many similarities, thus, a number of patterns were possible to discover. Further, all comments could somehow be linked to the service environment, which indicate that how the soldiers’ experience their service environment is dependent on the other factors outlined in the model. Due to Swedens long and well-established experience with peacekeeping operations, future studies could look at other peacekeeping missions.
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"Folk kommer att dö" : Framtida krigsveteraner och hur samhället ska kunna möta deras behov / “People will die” : future war and how society should be able to meet their needs.Andrén, Martin, Gustafsson, Daniel January 2011 (has links)
The aim of our study is to research what the future help-needs and expectations on the civilian society are among Swedish soldiers before they are sent on their first deployment abroad, especially to Afghanistan. The fact that Sweden sends soldiers to a warzone is something that is new nd research according the help-needs from the returning soldiers are missing. This study is based on a qualitative method where the data consists of four focus group interviews with at least two participants in each focus group from three different military bases in Sweden. The results indicate that the soldiers´expectations on the civilian society are low but that they would like to have more support from the civilian society. An important notice during the study, we encountered the fact that the participants in some way feel stigmatized. The results also show that they want the Swedish armed forces to be in charge and provide the care for the soldiers where health professionals involved have som military background. In the results found we also see that they are in different extent thinking and aware of the risks with deployment in Afghanistan and that they are thinking more on the physical risks rather than the psychological. One of the final conclusions is that if they really are stigmatized this might be a new group of people for the Swedish social services to work with.
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Bäste Herr Blom. : Svenska främlingslegionärers röster från västfronten. / Dear Mr. Blom. : Swedish Voices from the Western Front.Olsson, Carl January 2019 (has links)
This essay attempts to bring the experiences of eight soldiers to light, seven of them Swedish and one English, that took part in the fighting on the western front as volunteers in the French foreign legion during World War One. The main source material consists of letters sent between these soldiers and another Swedish ex-foreign legionnaire, Sven Blom, both during Mr. Bloms recovery from wounds which put him out of service in late 1914, and through Mr. Bloms work as first secretary of the Swedish consulate in Paris, with the last letters dating to 1918. The letters, which are part of a large archive left behind by Sven Blom, are transcribed and analyzed in this essay to answer five questions posed in order to ascertain the experiences and mindset of these soldiers. Are there any common themes in the soldiers’ letters? Are there any examples where Swedish national identity is commented on by the soldiers? What is their experience of the war, and what do they choose to tell Mr. Blom about? How do they feel they are treated by the French system and French soldiers? And, what are the soldiers’ opinion of reports from the war, like their fellow Swede Elow Nilson’s articles in the Swedish newspaper Vecko-Journalen?
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