Research Facilitation: From Military to Civilian Life - The case of Retired Special Forces Operators (original) (raw)
Related papers
Special Operations Research: Out of the Shadows
Special Operations Journal (Vol. 1, No. 1), 2015
There has been a proliferation of special operations forces over the past twenty years as states seek to gain the status and capabilities that come from such units. While the importance of special operations seems apparent, research in the field is still very much in a nascent stage. The authors argue that a forum for the exchange of ideas is critical to the formation of a research community centered on special operations, and, furthermore, suggest that the planning and conduct of special operations can benefit from rigorous historical and social science research. While acknowledging that significant contributions in this regard have been made, they suggest that much of this research has remained limited in its reach and has not fostered a critical mass of scholarship in the field. They explain how the Special Operations Journal can become just such a forum and help achieve this and other objectives.
2017
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Military retirement: Reflections from former members of special operations forces
2013
This article explores the impact of military identity and culture on the retirement and reintegration of members of Special Operations Forces (SF) into civilian life. The experience of retirement is explored through interviews with five former members of the SF. These interviews were analysed to identify the shared experience of retirement including the causes, context and consequences. The data indicated that personal attachment to the unit was heightened by key aspects of SF culture (camaraderie, intensity, elitism and distinctiveness from the mainstream community). After leaving the regiment, participants described the experience of grief and subsequently employed a variety of psychological approaches to managing this emotional response and adapting to civilian life. In general, these approaches sought to replicate the military culture in the civilian environment and avoid triggers that would excite or remind former SF soldiers of their past military identity. This study seeks to...
The Next Generation of ‘Special Operations’?
What has this book told us about "special operations"? The vocabulary and con-cepts of special operations forces have been shaped by the United States and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom as the major players in this exclusive game. The authors of this collection, five of them American, have focussed largely on what are sometimes described as the "kinetic" aspects of special operations: fast-moving, high-energy, exciting and adventurous missions for small, specially selected and highly trained groups of mature young men. Civil affairs, psycho-logical operations, advice to foreign military forces, and other applications are less glamorous and slower-paced but are included in the missions assigned to US SOF. These are doctrinal and organizational constructs, however, that need not constrain those outside the American military community. Numbering about 47,000, the US SOF community is larger than the armies of many of the countries that have to structure them...
M1 The case for and against Special Forces (July 1996)
U K Defence Forum website - archives, 1996
Nic Marsh writes : There are two types of special forces:- 1. Shock troops who fight in an infantry role but who either due to the hazardous nature of the operation or their method of arrival on the battlefield require above average fitness, determination and initiative, and are trained to a high standard in battle craft. Examples in HM Forces are :-Parachute Regiment Royal Marines There is direct recruiting to these units but the selection process during basic training is much more physically demanding than for conventional infantry. 2. Troops who specialise in clandestine operations of various types, the underlying principle being that a small group of highly trained men can, in given circumstances, achieve greater success than a much larger force. In HM Forces these roles are filled by:-Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) from the army, often from the Parachute Regiment. Special Boat Squadron (SBS) from the Royal Marines These units, in HM Forces, only recruit from serving experienced troops who must establish their suitability for the further necessary training by passing a selection procedure that demonstrates exemplary infantry skills, determination and powers of immense physical endurance. This paper describes and discusses Special Forces mainly from a UK perspective
Retaining a Precarious Value as Special Operations Goes Mainstream
The Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) provides its publications to contribute toward expanding the body of knowledge about joint special operations. JSOU publications advance the insights and recommendations of national security professionals and the Special Operations Forces (SOF) students and leaders for consideration by the SOF community and defense leadership.
Social Research and the Military
Handbook of the sociology of the military, 2006
The reason why this research is presented in a handbook is to let the reader know who carries out research in the sociology of the military and in what conditions. As the reader can see from the pages that follow, there are common traits that characterise this research in the various countries as well as distinguishing ones: together, thanks to the good number of countries represented in the research, they provide a useful world overview on the subject.