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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Military life & institutions > General
It was 2006, and eight hundred soldiers from the Canadian Armed
Forces (CAF) base in pseudonymous "Armyville," Canada, were
scheduled to deploy to Kandahar. Many students in the Armyville
school district were destined to be affected by this and several
subsequent deployments. These deployments, however, represented
such a new and volatile situation that the school district
lacked--as indeed most Canadians lacked--the understanding required
for an optimum organizational response. Growing Up in Armyville
provides a close-up look at the adolescents who attended Armyville
High School (AHS) between 2006 and 2010. How did their mental
health compare with that of their peers elsewhere in Canada? How
were their lives affected by the Afghanistan mission--at home, at
school, among their friends, and when their parents returned with
post-traumatic stress disorder? How did the youngsters cope with
the stress? What did their efforts cost them? Based on questions
from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth,
administered to all youth attending AHS in 2008, and on in-depth
interviews with sixty-one of the youth from CAF families, this book
provides some answers. It also documents the partnership that
occurred between the school district and the authors' research
team. Beyond its research findings, this pioneering book considers
the past, present, and potential role of schools in supporting
children who have been affected by military deployments. It also
assesses the broader human costs to CAF families of their enforced
participation in the volatile overseas missions of the twenty-first
century.
The rights of pregnant workers as well as (the lack of) paid
maternity leave have increasingly become topics of a major policy
debate in the United States. Yet, few discussions have focused on
the U.S. military, where many of the latest policy changes focus on
these very issues. Despite the armed forces' increases to
maternity-related benefits, servicewomen continue to be
stigmatized for being pregnant and taking advantage of maternity
policies. In an effort to understand this disconnect, Megan
McFarlane analyzes military documents and conducts interviews with
enlisted servicewomen and female officers. She finds a
policy/culture disparity within the military that pregnant
servicewomen themselves often co-construct, making the policy
changes significantly less effective. McFarlane ends by offering
suggestions for how these policy changes can have more impact and
how they could potentially serve as an example for the broader
societal debate.
Life is tough for veterans, especially female veterans. They have
much to deal with and much to heal from: combat, physical and
psychological wounds, sexual harassment and assault, trauma,
stress, chains of command, the VA. Now more than ever these
veterans are facing their problems head on. In this inspiring new
book, Kirsten Holmstedt, trusted chronicler of women soldiers and
veterans, tells the ups-and-downs stories of veterans struggling
with the aftereffects of military service.
Until now scholars have looked for the source of the indomitable
Tommy morale on the Western Front in innate British
bloody-mindedness and irony, not to mention material concerns such
as leave, food, rum, brothels, regimental pride, and male bonding.
However, re-examining previously used sources alongside
never-before consulted archives, Craig Gibson shifts the focus away
from battle and the trenches to times behind the front, where the
British intermingled with a vast population of allied civilians,
whom Lord Kitchener had instructed the troops to 'avoid'. Besides
providing a comprehensive examination of soldiers' encounters with
local French and Belgian inhabitants which were not only
unavoidable but also challenging, symbiotic and uplifting in equal
measure, Gibson contends that such relationships were crucial to
how the war was fought on the Western Front and, ultimately, to
British victory in 1918. What emerges is a novel interpretation of
the British and Dominion soldier at war.
This book takes a case-based approach to addressing the challenges
psychiatrists and other clinicians face when working with American
combat veterans after their return from a war zone. Written by
experts, the book concentrates on a wide variety of concerns
associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including
different treatments of PTSD. The text also looks at PTSD
comorbidities, such as depression and traumatic brain injury (TBI)
and other conditions masquerading as PTSD. Finally, the authors
touch on other subjects concerning returning veterans, including
pain, disability, facing the end of a career, sleep problems ,
suicidal thoughts, violence, , and mefloquine "toxidrome". Each
case study includes a case presentation, diagnosis and assessment,
treatment and management, outcome and case resolution, and clinical
pearls and pitfalls. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Related
Diseases in Combat Veterans is a valuable resource for civilian and
military mental health practitioners, and primary care physicians
on how to treat patients returning from active war zones.
Originally published in 1934, this book presents the content of the
inaugural lecture delivered at Cambridge University by Admiral Sir
Herbert William Richmond (1871-1946) upon taking up the position of
Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History. The text
provides a discussion regarding naval history and its relationship
with the lives and institutions of citizens. This book will be of
value to anyone with an interest in naval or military history.
The Vietnam War, Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine High School
shooting, and attacks of 9/11 all shattered myths of national
identity. Vietnam was a war the U.S. didn't win on the ground in
Asia or politically at home; Oklahoma City revealed domestic
terrorism in the heartland; Columbine debunked legends of high
school as an idyllic time; and 9/11 demonstrated U.S. vulnerability
to international terrorism. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was
intended to separate the victims from the war that caused their
death. This focus on individuals lost (evident in all the memorials
and museums discussed here) conflates the function of cemeteries,
where deaths are singular and grieving is personal, with that of
memorials - to remember and mourn communal losses and reflect on
national events seen in a larger context. Memorials to Shattered
Myths: Vietnam to 9/11 traces the evolution and consequences of
this new hybrid paradigm, which grants a heroic status to victims
and by extension to their families, thereby creating a class of
privileged participants in the permanent memorial process. It
argues against this practice, suggesting instead that victims'
families be charged with determining the nature of an interim
memorial, one that addresses their needs in the critical time
between the murder of their loved ones and the completion of the
permanent memorial. It also charges that the memorials discussed
here are variously based on strategies of diversion and denial that
direct our attention away from actual events, and reframe tragedy
as secular or religious triumph. Thus they basically camouflage
history. Seen as an aggregate, they define a nation of victims,
exactly the concept they and their accompanying celebratory
narratives were apparently created to obscure.
Originally published in 1928, this book presents a concise account
regarding the nature and development of food provision in the
British Army from 1645 onwards. The text was written by the
renowned British military historian Sir John William Fortescue
(1859-1933). Illustrative figures are included. This book will be
of value to anyone with an interest in the development of canteens,
military history and the writings of Fortescue.
Few figures in modern French history have aroused more controversy
than Marshal Philippe Petain, who rose from obscurity to great fame
in the First World War only to fall into infamy during the dark
days of Nazi occupation in World War II. Petain s brilliant
theories of firepower and flexible defense, as well as his deep
empathy for the soldiers of France and the horrific trials they
endured on a daily basis, mark him as one of the greatest Allied
generals of World War I. Yet today he is best remembered as the
nearly senile marshal who was handed the reins of power in France
in the midst of the disastrous 1940 campaign and tasked with
seeking terms from Nazi Germany. His leadership of Vichy France
from 1940 to 1944 and his postwar conviction of treason and
lifetime exile to the Ile d'Yeu made him a scapegoat for the
nation. This later perception forever tainted Petain s military
reputation as a soldier who served France his entire life and led
the French Army through the crucible of Verdun, the morale crisis
of 1917, and on to final victory in the Great War. He was despised
for his actions as an octogenarian in June 1940. With the bulk of
the French Army already destroyed and Paris itself wide-open to
attack, Petain, then eighty-four, immediately sought an armistice
with Germany to halt further bloodshed. While others fled, Petain
took what he considered the braver course by staying and doing what
he could to safeguard the remnants of his army and his nation. So
began his descent into collaboration, treason, and the destruction
of all that he had accomplished and stood for throughout his life.
Originally published in 1927, this book contains the text of
lectures delivered to Cambridge undergraduates between 1920 and
1926, which demonstrate the possible applications of psychological
techniques to the training and deployment of soldiers. Bartlett
examines features in the life of a soldier, including fatigue and
the effects of battle, and offers some suggestions on how modern
psychology can better be employed in the service of the army. This
book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of
psychology and the role psychology can play in the armed forces.
First published in 1922 as the second edition of a 1920 original,
and formed from lectures delivered in the Psychological Laboratory
at the University of Cambridge in 1919, this book attempts 'to put
into a biological setting the system of psycho-therapy which came
to be generally adopted in Great Britain in the treatment of the
psycho-neuroses of war' in the wake of WWI. Rivers suggests a
variety of treatments for war-related psychological disorders,
including hypnotism, and the possible link between of military
duties and 'the neuroses of warfare'. This book will be of value to
anyone with an interest in the history of psychology or in
psychological disorders arising from combat situations.
The literature on trench journalism is well established for Britain
and France during the First World War, but this book is the first
systematic study in English of German soldier newspapers as a
representation of daily life and beliefs on the front. Printed by
and for soldiers at or near the front line these newspapers were
read by millions of 'ordinary soldiers'. They reveal an elaborately
defined understanding of comradeship and duty. The war of
aggression, the prolonged occupation on both fronts and the
hostility of the local populations were justified through a
powerful image of manly comradeship. The belief among many Germans
was that they were good gentlemen, fighting a just war and bringing
civilization to backward populations. This comparative study
includes French, British, Australian and Canadian newspapers and
sheds new light on the views of combatants on both sides of the
line.
In many ways the German soldiers who marched back from the Western
Front at the end of World War I held the key to the future of the
newly-created republic that replaced the Kaiser's collapsed
monarchy. To the radical Left, the orderly columns of front-line
troops appeared to be the forces of the counterrevolution while to
the conservative elements of society they seemed to be the
Fatherland's salvation. However, in their efforts to get home as
soon as possible, most soldiers were indifferent to the political
struggles within the Reich, while the remnant that remained under
arms proved powerless to defend the republic from its enemies. This
book considers why these soldiers' response to the revolution was
so different from the rest of the army and the implications this
would have for the course of the German Revolution and, ultimately,
for the fate of the Weimar Republic itself.
U.S. military conflicts abroad have left nine million Americans
dependent on the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) for medical
care. Their "wounds of war" are treated by the largest hospital
system in the country-one that has come under fire from critics in
the White House, on Capitol Hill, and in the nation's media. In
Wounds of War, Suzanne Gordon draws on five years of observational
research to describe how the VHA does a better job than private
sector institutions offering primary and geriatric care, mental
health and home care services, and support for patients nearing the
end of life. In the unusual culture of solidarity between patients
and providers that the VHA has fostered, Gordon finds a working
model for higher-quality health care and a much-needed alternative
to the practice of for-profit medicine.
Perhaps the first celebrity chef, Alexis Soyer (1810-58) was a
flamboyant, larger-than-life character who nonetheless took his
profession very seriously. As the chef of the Reform Club, he
modernised its kitchens, installing refrigerators and gas cookers.
In 1851, during the Great Exhibition, he prepared spectacular (but
financially ruinous) culinary extravaganzas at his restaurant, the
Gastronomic Symposium of All Nations. In stark contrast, he
organised soup kitchens during the Great Famine in Ireland and
volunteered his services in the Crimea in 1855 to improve military
catering. This work, first published in 1857, gives a vivid account
of his efforts to prepare nutritious meals for the soldiers using a
newly invented portable field stove, which remained in use until
the Second World War. Also reissued in this series are Soyer's
Gastronomic Regenerator (1846) and The Modern Housewife or Menagere
(1849).
Using data from more than 40,000 soldiers of the Union army, this
book focuses on the experience of African Americans and immigrants
with disabilities, investigating their decision to seek government
assistance and their resulting treatment. Pension administrators
treated these ex-soldiers differently from native-born whites, but
the discrimination was far from seamless - biased evaluations of
worthiness intensified in response to administrators' workload and
nativists' late-nineteenth-century campaigns. This book finds a
remarkable interplay of social concepts, historical context,
bureaucratic expediency, and individual initiative. Examining how
African Americans and immigrants weighed their circumstances in
deciding when to request a pension, whether to employ a pension
attorney, or if they should seek institutionalization, it contends
that these veterans quietly asserted their right to benefits.
Shedding new light on the long history of challenges faced by
veterans with disabilities, the book underscores the persistence of
these challenges in spite of the recent revolution in disability
rights.
Dunstan was a prominent ecclesiastical figure in tenth-century
England and - following his death and canonisation in 988 - the
country's most popular saint for over a century; his fame was
eventually eclipsed only by that of Thomas Becket. In life a close
friend of King Edgar, he was influential as the king's advisor and
became archbishop of Canterbury in 959. Published in 1874 as part
of the Rolls Series, this work gathers together the lives, letters
and other fragments of historical interest that were written to or
about Dunstan. As editor, William Stubbs (1825-1901) provides
English side-notes to the Latin text as well as a
characteristically extensive introduction, which includes a
detailed account of English monastic reform. On the subject of
Dunstan, he highlights points of particular interest, ranging from
questions of chronology to matters of misrepresentation and the
mystery identity of biographer 'B'.
They were among the sporting elite of 1914 - the stars of the
Northern Union - idolised by thousands of enthusiastic men, women
and children up and down the land. Yet despite their heroic status
in what was soon to become known as rugby league, these warriors of
the playing field were willing to sacrifice their careers - and
then lives - on the World War One killing fields, for King and
Country. Other sports have honoured their Great War fallen over
these past 100 years, producing Rolls of Honour to ensure that
their ultimate bravery is never forgotten; not so rugby league -
until now. The Greatest Sacrifice - Fallen Heroes of the Northern
Union - rights that wrong. It tells the story of talented sportsmen
who, when war was declared on 4 August 1914, duly departed for
France, Belgium and beyond, never again to see the rugby league
towns and grounds they once so famously graced. Among those who
fell were three members of Great Britain's 1914 summer tour to
Australia and New Zealand. A number of other former internationals
died too, as did many more who had earned top domestic honours with
their clubs. Some of the youngest players were just embarking on
professional careers and therefore never able to fulfil their
potential. Each player featured has a different tale to tell - from
childhood to rugby stardom to enlistment into the British Army and,
finally, the greatest sacrifice of all.
Scholars have argued about U.S. state development in particular its
laggard social policy and weak institutional capacity for
generations. Neo-institutionalism has informed and enriched these
debates, but, as yet, no scholar has reckoned with a very
successful and sweeping social policy designed by the federal
government: the Servicemen s Readjustment Act of 1944, more
popularly known as the GI Bill. Kathleen J. Frydl addresses the GI
Bill in the first study based on systematic and comprehensive use
of the records of the Veterans Administration. Frydl s research
situates the Bill squarely in debates about institutional
development, social policy and citizenship, and political
legitimacy. It demonstrates the multiple ways in which the GI Bill
advanced federal power and social policy, and, at the very same
time, limited its extent and its effects.
We've all heard the axiom that "people" are the greatest asset in
every organization. But are all people "equal"? Designed to be a
bit edgy, this book reveals how some people - today's Veterans -
often bring more positive to the table than their civilian-trained
constituents and how this difference is a benefit to the
organization. Navy veteran Mike Schindler, Founder and CEO of
Operation Military Family, tells the stories of our returning
heroes so that we might gain a true understanding of life for
returning vets and their families. While addressing some of the
hardships of returning vets, Schindler also reveals another side of
America's heroes the side that celebrates the triumphs and hirable
qualities offered by our veterans including: A Strong Work Ethic A
Positive Attitude The Willingness to Do More Strong Job
Preparedness Being Solution Minded High Energy U.S. Veterans in the
Workforce sheds light on the American heroes who come home to new
heroic endeavors the ones that make America worth fighting for. It
creates a bridge between the military and civilian divide and helps
both veterans and civilians understand how their differences
contribute to the overall vision.
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