C. Moldjord, Paal Kristian Fredriksen, L. Browning
{"title":"Fear and Pride Among Fighter Pilots: Combat Emotions During a Bombing Campaign","authors":"C. Moldjord, Paal Kristian Fredriksen, L. Browning","doi":"10.1177/0095327X20986925","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X20986925","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyzes the combat emotions of Royal Norwegian Air Force Fighter pilots (hereafter RNoAF) during their bombing campaign over Libya in 2011. Using grounded theory in our interviews with them, we identified 12 categories of their emotions and behaviors, with variations in pride and fear emerging as the two key themes. We show how those two emotions thread through the literature of emotions in combat, and show further how our data, and the resulting matrix from an analysis of it, both apply to and extend that literature. We also show how the high and low variations of pride and fear interact to both support and counter each other. Our findings thus make an important contribution to the combat emotions literature on the action and behavior of fighter pilots.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"23 1","pages":"522 - 541"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86161307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Celeste Raver Luning, P. Attoh, Tao Gong, James Fox
{"title":"A Culture of Organizational Grit From the Perspective of U.S. Military Officers: A Qualitative Inquiry","authors":"Celeste Raver Luning, P. Attoh, Tao Gong, James Fox","doi":"10.1177/0095327X20985197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X20985197","url":null,"abstract":"With the backdrop of the utility of grit at the individual level, speculation has begun to circulate that grit may exist as an organizational level phenomenon. To explore this potential construct, this study used an exploratory, qualitative research design. This study explored grit at the organizational level by interviewing leaders’ perceptions of what may be a culture of organizational grit. Participants included 14 U.S. military officers. Seven themes emerged relative to the research question: “What do U.S. military officers perceive as a culture of organizational grit?” Themes included professional pride, team unity, resilience-determination, mission accomplishment, core values, growth mindset, and deliberate practice. This study indicated that a culture of organizational grit is likely a combination of converging organizational elements. Overall, findings indicate that there may be a culture of organizational grit in the military and at the least, more research examining the concept is warranted.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"107 1","pages":"542 - 570"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86254261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Military Autonomy and Balancing in Political Crises: Lessons From the Middle East","authors":"Oren Barak, D. Miodownik","doi":"10.1177/0095327X19861738","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X19861738","url":null,"abstract":"This article argues that autonomous militaries can play a balancing role during major internal political crises. However, when militaries’ autonomy is curtailed by political leaders before the crisis, militaries cannot maintain the political balance between rulers and opponents, thereby increasing the risk of armed conflict. The article first explains the main concepts relevant to the discussion (autonomy, political crisis, balancing role), exploring their possible interlinkages and presenting several hypotheses. Subsequently, it discusses four relevant cases from the Middle East before and during the Arab revolts of 2010–2011: Egypt in 2011 and Lebanon in 1958, which demonstrate the balancing capacities of autonomous militaries during major political crises, and Lebanon in 1975 and Syria in 2011, which reveal that nonautonomous militaries cannot play a balancing role in such circumstances. The article concludes with several observations regarding the military’s balancing role during major internal political crises in divided and homogenous states.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"6 1","pages":"126 - 147"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77032922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Virtues of Military Politics","authors":"D. Coletta, T. Crosbie","doi":"10.1177/0095327X19871605","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X19871605","url":null,"abstract":"Sociologists and political scientists have long fretted over the dangers that a politicized military poses to democracy. In recent times, however, civil–military relations experts in the United States accepted retired or indeed still serving generals and admirals in high-ranking political posts. Despite customary revulsion from scholars, the sudden waivers are an indicator that military participation in momentous national security decisions is inherently political without necessarily being partisan, including when civilian authority defers to a largely autonomous sphere for objective military expertise. Military politics is actually critical for healthy civil–military collaboration, when done prudently and moderately. Janowitz and Huntington, founders of the modern study of civil–military relations, understood the U.S. military’s inevitable invitation to political influence. Here, we elaborate on two neglected dimensions, implicit in their projects, of military politics under objective civilian control based on classical virtues of civic republicanism: Aristotle’s practical wisdom and Machiavelli’s virtú.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"13 1","pages":"3 - 24"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73475681","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Diversity Management and the Postdiversity Vision: An Applied Pragmatist Approach","authors":"Thomas P. Galvin, C. D. Allen","doi":"10.1177/0095327X20920311","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X20920311","url":null,"abstract":"The U.S. Military institutionalized diversity management to ensure equality of treatment and opportunity for members while eliminating discrimination in all its forms. But progress toward diversity goals has been inconsistent. For example, the U.S. Military’s implementation of the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law was less successful in integrating transgender soldiers. Meanwhile, recent sexual harassment scandals show that progress is similarly fleeting in gender relations. In this article, we argue that while the aims of diversity management are important, they need an accompanying vision of what the future looks like after achieving those aims. The postdiversity vision includes more than the elimination of discriminatory behaviors; it describes what the defense establishment looks like and how it functions when diversity management is no longer required. Expressing this vision allows for more reliable and durable measures of performance and effectiveness of inclusion efforts.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"144 1","pages":"48 - 76"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86638201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Difficulties With Emotion Regulation in the Contemporary U.S. Armed Forces: Structural Contributors and Potential Solutions","authors":"Elizabeth A. Stanley, K. Larsen","doi":"10.1177/0095327X19848018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X19848018","url":null,"abstract":"The ability to regulate negative emotions is especially necessary for service members in the contemporary U.S. armed forces, since they routinely face situations that elicit negative emotions while executing their professional roles. Yet difficulties with regulating emotions, which are associated with stress and mood disorders, suicidality, and impairments in work performance, remain prevalent across this group. This article surveys research in five domains—recruitment and selection effects, military cultural pressures and coping strategies, training, common chronic stressors, and the contemporary operational environment—to highlight structural contributors to the heavy stress loads that U.S. service members often bear, which may contribute to their difficulty with emotion regulation (ER). It concludes with several recommendations that the military could implement to mitigate service members’ stress loads and facilitate ER. Enhancing their ER skills may offer a long-term strategy to improve their resilience and performance.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"30 1","pages":"77 - 105"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77397236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Building Security through Insecurity: The Nigerian Military and Counter-Violence Campaigns in the Fourth Republic","authors":"S. Joshua, D. Gberevbie, Kester Onor","doi":"10.1177/0095327X20934005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X20934005","url":null,"abstract":"Since independence on October 1, 1960, Nigeria has been a victim, at one time or the other, of intra-ethnic, inter-ethnic, religious, and communal conflicts which have undermined the human security of her citizens. Nigeria’s corporate existence had also been threatened by 3 years (1967–1970) civil war which impacted negatively on the well-being of its people. In addition, the inability of the Nigerian Police to cope with the magnitude of the surge of violence in recent years has brought about the idea of involving the military, a core component of traditional security apparatus to deal with internal insecurity. This article is anchored on human security paradigm with reliance on secondary data to analyze the operations of the Nigerian Military in counterviolence campaigns between 1999 and 2017. This article points out that the involvement of the military in internal security has worsened the problem of insecurity due to the military’s unprofessional approach and, at times, deliberate targeting the civilian populace which it is supposed to protect. It, therefore, recommends among others, the need for the Federal Government of Nigeria to urgently review the role of the armed forces in addressing internal security situations in a way that will bring about respect for the rule of engagement in internal security operations and adherence to global best practices.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"44 1","pages":"177 - 200"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76255378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"I Am a Warrior: An Analysis of the Military Masculine-Warrior Narrative Among U.S. Air Force Officer Candidates","authors":"James J. Do, S. Samuels","doi":"10.1177/0095327x20931561","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327x20931561","url":null,"abstract":"This qualitative study examines how cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy make sense of their experiences, form attitudes and beliefs, construct identities, and how a vocal minority of men create and perpetuate a biased gender norm. Despite an institutional intention of egalitarianism, cadets construct a highly masculinized culture. Focus group and interview analyses show how cadets perpetuate the military masculine-warrior narrative in sensemaking and the construction of gender differences. We argue that the narratives become an acceptable way to express gender biases, overriding the actual reason for the existence of fitness testing. We conclude by addressing the contradiction between policies promoting the inclusion of women in the military and the sexism described above. Acknowledging the lived experience of military personnel would allow for better perceptions of gender equality and suggests potential directions for policy, practice, and future research.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"143 1","pages":"25 - 47"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77448519","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Female Combatants and Wartime Rape: Reconsidering the Role of Women in Armed Conflict","authors":"Marius Mehrl","doi":"10.1177/0095327X20981696","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X20981696","url":null,"abstract":"Whereas existing research posits that the presence of female fighters in armed groups decreases their propensity for wartime rape, one recent study tests this claim quantitatively and is unable to detect a statistically significant effect. This leads the author to conclude that female combatants do not decrease rape. Using that study’s original data, this article reexamines the evidence for the relationship between female rebel combatants and wartime sexual violence. Replications of the original models suggest that they make strong functional form assumptions regarding numerous independent variables and time dependence and that relaxing them results in substantively different findings. Namely, women’s participation in armed groups decreases groups’ use of wartime rape. In support of Loken’s organizational theory of rape, results also suggest that this effect is moderated by group norms. These findings contribute to the literature on female participation in rebel groups and beyond.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"9 1","pages":"464 - 479"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90111538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social Media as an (Un)Supportive Resource for Military Partners Coping With Military Lifestyle Challenges","authors":"Kelly R. Rossetto, Jennifer Owlett","doi":"10.1177/0095327X20974391","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X20974391","url":null,"abstract":"The current study explored how romantic partners of active-duty service members perceived social media as (un)supportive when dealing with military lifestyle challenges. This study also explored coping and support paradoxes as they play out when military partners are using social media to help them cope. Twenty-four partners (female, n = 22; male, n = 2) participated in interviews. Participants reported mostly using Facebook (e.g., spouse groups) for dealing with military lifestyle challenges. Supportive functions included seeking and providing support and relational maintenance and development. Unsupportive functions included reinforced boundaries and support breakdowns. Findings are discussed with a focus on communal coping and coping and support paradoxes.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"72 1","pages":"440 - 463"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81763303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}