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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Military life & institutions > General
This book provides an in-depth analysis of sexual assault in the
military from historical and contemporary perspectives, offering
suggestions that could change the existing culture and approaches
that will reduce or eliminate sexual assault in the armed forces.
Sexual assault has been an aspect of the U.S. military historically
and is today widely recognized as a significant problem with
far-reaching repercussions. How does sexual assault negatively
impact not only the victims themselves but also the U.S. military's
strength, readiness, and morale? This book answers these questions
and documents the problems with reporting and prosecuting sexual
assault complaints within our armed forces, examines the current
policy and laws to identify what changes are needed, and analyzes
recent efforts to prevent sexual assault. Author Rosemarie Skaine
introduces the subject with a historical perspective that covers
women, men, gays and lesbians, and non-military personnel as the
subjects of sexual assault and provides readers with clear
definitions of sexual harassment and sexual assault. The chapters
explain how sexual assault negatively affects the military's
performance as a whole, thereby serving to undermine national
security; and covers preventative approaches and legislation
intended to change the current military culture. The book also
includes a bibliography, tables of key figures, and footnotes and
endnotes that fully document the data presented. Provides
fact-based analyses of one of the most pressing issues facing
today's U.S. military that will aid informed policy guidance for
policymakers in the military as well as those in higher
education-another institution grappling with the challenges of
eradicating sexual assault Written by a noted author on topics
regarding issues surrounding women who serve in today's military
Presents input from military contributors who add credibility and
invaluable insight into the problem of sexual assault within the
U.S. military
This book investigates the demobilization and post-war readjustment
of Red Army veterans in Leningrad and its environs after the Great
Patriotic War. Over 300,000 soldiers were stood down in this
war-ravaged region between July 1945 and 1948. They found the
transition to civilian life more challenging than many could ever
have imagined. For civilian Leningraders, reintegrating the rapid
influx of former soldiers represented an enormous political,
economic, social and cultural challenge. In this book, Robert Dale
reveals how these former soldiers became civilians in a society
devastated and traumatized by total warfare. Dale discusses how,
and how successfully, veterans became ordinary citizens. Based on
extensive original research in local and national archives, oral
history interviews and the examination of various newspaper
collections, Demobilized Veterans in Late Stalinist Leningrad peels
back the myths woven around demobilization, to reveal a darker
history repressed by society and concealed from historiography.
While propaganda celebrated this disarmament as a smooth process
which reunited veterans with their families, reintegrated them into
the workforce and facilitated upward social mobility, the reality
was rarely straightforward. Many veterans were caught up in the
scramble for work, housing, healthcare and state hand-outs. Others
drifted to the social margins, criminality or became the victims of
post-war political repression. Demobilized Veterans in Late
Stalinist Leningrad tells the story of both the failure of local
representatives to support returning Soviet soldiers, and the
remarkable resilience and creativity of veterans in solving the
problems created by their return to society. It is a vital study
for all scholars and students of post-war Soviet history and the
impact of war in the modern era.
When we met, Sam shared his own story with me and explained his
growing passion to help other Soldiers suffering from
post-traumatic stress. I encouraged him to expand his efforts, and
we kept in touch after he retired. He shared with me the feedback
he received from Soldiers and their families after they had heard
his presentations, and he gave me a copy of his first book,
Changing the Military Culture of Silence. I could only be impressed
as he carried his message across the country. George W. Casey
General, US Army (Ret) Former Army Chief of Staff With our veterans
committing suicide at an epidemic rate of 22 suicides per day, the
chains of stigma must be broken. This book is a reflection of Sam
Rhodes s personal experiences; he wears the proverbial tee-shirt.
One doesn t experience life without experiencing life-changing
events. It s how one handles those changes that counts. This book
addresses ways to handle those changes to effect a positive
outcome. Charles T. Jones Colonel, KYARNG Deputy Chief of Staff
Personnel CSM Rhodes carried the hidden wounds of three combat
tours inside him when he returned to Fort Benning to serve as the
CSM of the Infantry School Training Brigade. After much
soul-searching and anguish, he finally realized and publicly
acknowledged that he suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD). In doing so, he realized that part of his healing needed to
include a concerted effort on his part to give back to the extended
family he had come to know so well, his fellow Soldiers and their
families, and to confront the issues plaguing him. Philip R. Tilly,
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army (Ret)"
For the past decade, suicidal behavior in military and veteran
populations has been a constant feature in the news and in the
media, with suicide rates among active duty American military
personnel reaching their highest level in almost three decades.
Handbook of Military and Veteran Suicide reviews the most advanced
scientific understanding of the phenomenon of active duty and
veteran suicide, while providing a useful, hands-on clinical guide
for those working with this population. This comprehensive Handbook
covers all relevant topics and current research in suicide in
military and veteran populations, including links between suicide
and PTSD, the stigma of mental health treatment in the military,
screening for firearms access in military and veteran populations,
"subintentioned" suicide (e.g. reckless driving and other such
"accidental" deaths), women in combat, and working with families.
Chapters also cover suicide risk assessment, ethical issues in
treating suicidal patients, evidence-based treatments for PTSD,
traumatic brain injury, and managing suicide in older veterans.
Significant issues that may arise in assessing and treating
military and veteran populations who are at risk for suicide are
presented and discussed with evidence-based and practical
recommendations. This Handbook will benefit researchers, policy
makers, and clinicians who work with active duty military and
veteran populations.
Over the past decade, states and international organizations have
shifted a surprising range of foreign policy functions to private
contractors. But who is accountable when the employees of foreign
private firms do violence or create harm? This timely book
describes the services that are now delivered by private
contractors and the threat this trend poses to core public values
of human rights, democratic accountability, and transparency. The
author offers a series of concrete reforms that are necessary to
expand traditional legal accountability, construct better
mechanisms of public participation, and alter the organizational
structure and institutional culture of contractor firms. The result
is a pragmatic, nuanced, and comprehensive set of responses to the
problem of foreign affairs privatization.
Is today's All-Volunteer Force still "This Man's Army"?
In a nation that has seen the rise of feminism, the decline of
blue-collar employment, military defeat in Vietnam, and a general
upheaval of traditional gender norms, what kind of man is today's
military man? What kind does the military want him to be?
In Enlisting Masculinity, Melissa Brown asks whether appeals to and
constructions of masculinity remain the underlying basis of
military recruiting-and if so, what that notion of masculinity
actually is. Are the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines courting
warriors or breadwinners; patriots or pragmatists; dominant masters
of technology, or strong yet compassionate masters of themselves?
Is each military branch recruiting the same model of masculinity?
Based on an analysis of more than 300 print advertisements
published between the early 1970s and 2007, as well as television
commercials, recruiting websites, and media coverage of recruiting,
Enlisting Masculinity argues that masculinity is still a foundation
of the appeals made by the military, but that each branch deploys
various constructions of masculinity that serve its particular
personnel needs and culture, with conventional martial masculinity
being only one among them. The inclusion of a few token women in
recruiting advertisements has become routine, but the
representations of service make it clear that men are the primary
audience and combat their exclusive domain. Each branch constructs
soldiering upon a slightly different foundation of masculine ideals
and Brown delves into why, how, and what that looks like.
The military is an important site for the creation and propagation
of ideas of masculinity in American culture, and it is often not
given the attention that it warrants as a nexus of gender and
citizenship. Although most Americans believe they can ignore the
military in the era of the all-volunteer force, when it comes to
popular culture and ideas about gender, the military is not a thing
apart from society. Building a fighting force, Brown shows, also
means constructing a gender. Enlisting Masculinity gives us a
unique and important perspective on both military service and
prevailing conceptions of masculinity in America.
The period 1902-1914 was one of great change for the British army.
The experience of the South African War (1899-1902) had been a
profound shock and it led to a period of intense introspection in
order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the force. As a
result of a series of investigations and government-led
reorganisation, the army embarked on a series of reforms to improve
its recruitment, standards of professionalism, training, and
preparation for war. Until now many of the studies covering this
period have tended to look at the army in a top-down manner, and
have often concluded that the reform process was extremely
beneficial to the army leading it to be the most efficient force in
Europe by the outbreak of war in 1914. Bowman and Connelly take a
different approach. The Edwardian Army takes a bottom-up
perspective and examines the many difficulties the army experienced
trying to incorporate the reforms demanded by government and the
army's high command. It reveals that although many good ideas were
devised, the severely overstretched army was never in a position to
act on them and that few regimental officers had the opportunity,
or even the desire, to change their approach. Unable to shake-off
the feeling that the army's primary purpose was to garrison and
police the British Empire, it was by no means as well prepared for
European continental warfare as many have presumed.
Based largely on Civil War veterans' own words, this book documents
how many of these men survived the extraordinary horrors and
hardships of war with surprising resilience and went on to become
productive members of their communities in their post-war lives.
Nothing transforms "dry, boring history" into fascinating and
engaging stories like learning about long-ago events through the
words of those who lived them. What was it like to witness-and
participate in-the horrors of a war that lasted four years and
claimed over half a million lives, and then emerge as a survivor
into a drastically changed world? Veterans North and South: The
Transition from Soldier to Civilian after the American Civil War
takes readers back to this unimaginable time through the words of
Civil War soldiers who fought on both sides, illuminating their
profound, life-changing experiences during the war and in the
postbellum period. The book covers the period from the surrender of
the armies of the Confederacy to the return of the veterans to
their homes. It follows them through their readjustment to civilian
life and to family life while addressing their ability-and in some
cases, inability-to become productive members of society. By
surveying Civil War veterans' individual stories, readers will gain
an in-depth understanding of these soldiers' sacrifices and
comprehend how these discrete experiences coalesced to form
America's memory of this war as a nation. Documents how Civil War
veterans' combat experience changed them in ways that allowed them
to become productive members of their communities and leaders in
their sections-a largely overlooked "benefit" to the war Identifies
overarching trends among veterans' experiences while also
underscoring how varied Civil War soldiers' experiences were,
depending on which side they fought for, where they fought, and
their socioeconomic status
The belief that crime declines at the beginning of major wars, as
young men are drawn into the armed forces, and increases with the
restoration of peace, as brutalised veterans are released on to a
labour market reorganising for peace, has a long pedigree in
Britain. But it has rarely been examined critically and scarcely at
all for the period of the two world wars of the twentieth century.
This is the first serious investigation of criminal offending by
members of the British armed forces both during and immediately
after these wars. Its particular focus is the two world wars but,
recognising the concerns and the problems voiced in recent years
about veterans of the Falklands, the Gulf wars, and the campaign in
Afghanistan, Clive Emsley concludes his narrative in the present.
"Don't be too ready to listen to stories told by attractive women.
They may be acting under orders." This was only one of the many
warnings given to the 30,000 British troops preparing to land in
the enemy territory of Nazi Germany nine-and-a-half months after
D-Day. The newest addition to the Bodleian Library's bestselling
series of wartime pamphlets, "Instructions for British Servicemen
in Germany, 1944" opens an intriguing window into the politics and
military stratagems that brought about the end of World War
II.
The pamphlet is both a succinct survey of German politics, culture,
and history and a work of British propaganda. Not only does the
pamphlet cover general cultural topics such as food and drink,
currency, and social customs, but it also explains the effect of
years of the war on Germans and their attitudes toward the British.
The book admonishes, "The Germans are not good at controlling their
feelings. They have a streak of hysteria. You will find that
Germans may often fly into a passion if some little thing goes
wrong." The mix of humor and crude stereotypes--"If you have to
give orders to German civilians, give them in a firm, military
manner. The German civilian is used to it and expects it"--in the
text make this pamphlet a stark reminder of the wartime fears and
hopes of the British.
By turns a manual on psychological warfare, a travel guide, and a
historical survey, "Instructions for British Servicemen in Germany,
1944" offers incomparable insights into how the British, and by
extension the Allied forces, viewed their fiercest enemy on the eve
of its defeat.
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