Soldiers' Status within Society

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The recently published United Kingdom Armed Forces Covenant - Government Response states that a 'robust, well planned and high quality Service personnel research programme is fundamental to developing evidence-based policies that deliver the human component of military capability and meet the aspirations of Service personnel' (Ministry of Defence UK, 2011). Personnel constitute of a third of the UK Defence budget and half of the Canadian Defence budget. While governments have established cooperation programmes such as The Technical Cooperation Program between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, they lack similar cooperation programmes relating to personnel issues - the human dimension of national defence. The governments have a vested interest in the wellbeing of their soldiers and this project is designed to begin understanding how soldiers perceive their place within society, as a result of their military career. This project will provide not only a forum for academics studying military sociology, politics, international relations and psychology, but will also provide a voice for soldiers that may help the militaries, the governments and academics understand how soldiers perceive they are supported by society and potentially have an effect on how soldiers are treated in the future. These issues potentially have an impact on morale and retention, in that if a soldier does not feel valued they may feel an increased desire to leave the military. The Project Coordinator received an ESRC PhD studentship to investigate how soldiers perceive their place within society in the United Kingdom, Canada and France, and whether military training or combat experience has an effect on these perceptions. There has been a recent rise in research projects investigating the welfare, morale, and status of soldiers within society, both in the academic sphere as well as the practitioner sphere; however a formal network has not yet been established to facilitate knowledge exchange on these issues. The current situation provides a timely opportunity to engage in exchanging the research findings of the Project Coordinator's PhD research as well as the work of other academics and practitioners in this field. The project will provide a bridge between soldiers, the policy initiatives of the government, the initiatives of the Armed Forces Community Covenant Teams, the assistance provided by Service charities and research being conducted regarding civil-military relations. The project will also provide a forum for leading and upcoming researchers as well as the non-academic user communities to discuss recent issues in the field. Current events have generated an increased interest in the welfare of soldiers with numerous groups conducting research or engaging in initiatives to assist soldiers. This project will enable these different groups to come together and discuss their current research and initiatives.The proposed activities would build a multidisciplinary and international network between academics, practitioners and officials regarding the issues surrounding the status of soldiers in Europe and North America. Understanding any disparities that may exist between nations with regards to a soldier's perceived status within society is valuable for morale issues, especially when soldiers must work in multinational coalitions and exercises or on peacekeeping missions with other nation's soldiers who may possess different feelings of societal value. Therefore, although the project will emphasis British soldiers, the project will be international in nature, including participants from Canada, France and the United States. The results of the project could have direct impact on issues relating to personnel retention, the ability of soldiers to work well with coalition soldiers, and the integration of Territorial Army or Reserve Force personnel with Regular Force personnel.