Soldiers' Status within Society

最近出版的“联合王国武装部队公约--政府回应”指出，“强有力的、精心规划的和高质量的服役人员研究方案对于制定以证据为基础的政策至关重要，这些政策能够提供军事能力的人的组成部分，并满足服役人员的愿望”(英国国防部，2011年)。人员构成了英国国防预算的三分之一和加拿大国防预算的一半。虽然各国政府已经建立了澳大利亚、加拿大、新西兰、联合王国和美国之间的技术合作方案等合作方案，但它们在人员问题--国防的人的层面--方面缺乏类似的合作方案。政府对士兵的福利有既得利益，这个项目的目的是开始了解士兵在他们的军事生涯中如何看待他们在社会中的地位。该项目不仅将为研究军事社会学、政治学、国际关系学和心理学的学者提供一个论坛，还将为士兵提供声音，这可能有助于军队、政府和学者了解士兵如何认为他们得到了社会的支持，并可能对未来如何对待士兵产生影响。这些问题可能会对士气和留任产生影响，因为如果一名士兵感到不受重视，他们可能会感到更想离开军队。项目协调员获得了ESRC博士学位，目的是调查英国、加拿大和法国的士兵如何看待他们在社会中的地位，以及军事训练或战斗经验是否对这些看法产生影响。最近，无论是在学术领域还是从业者领域，调查军人在社会中的福利、士气和地位的研究项目有所增加；然而，尚未建立一个正式的网络，以促进关于这些问题的知识交流。目前的情况为交流项目协调员博士研究的研究成果以及该领域其他学者和从业人员的工作提供了一个及时的机会。该项目将在士兵、政府的政策举措、武装部队社区契约小组的举措、军种慈善机构提供的援助和正在进行的军民关系研究之间架起一座桥梁。该项目还将为主要的和即将到来的研究人员以及非学术用户社区提供一个论坛，讨论该领域的最新问题。目前的事件引起了人们对士兵福利的更大兴趣，许多团体正在进行研究或参与援助士兵的倡议。该项目将使这些不同的小组能够聚集在一起，讨论他们目前的研究和倡议。拟议的活动将在学者、从业人员和官员之间建立一个关于欧洲和北美士兵地位问题的多学科和国际网络。了解国家之间在士兵在社会中的地位方面可能存在的任何差异，对于士气问题很有价值，特别是当士兵必须在多国联盟和演习中工作，或与其他国家的士兵一起执行维和任务时，这些士兵可能具有不同的社会价值观。因此，尽管该项目将侧重于英国士兵，但该项目将具有国际性，包括来自加拿大、法国和美国的参与者。该项目的结果可能对人员保留、士兵与联军士兵良好合作的能力以及领土军队或预备役部队人员与正规部队人员的整合等问题产生直接影响。

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.