Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Dietary Nitrate Supplementation On Physical And Cognitive Performance During Load Carriage In Military Cadets, Nicholas C. Bordonie

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on physical and cognitive performance during exercise conducted under heavy pack load in military cadets. Methods: Ten college-aged males (VO_2max 56.2 ± 3.7 ml/kg/min) consumed 140mL/d of concentrated beetroot juice (BRJ; containing 12.8 mmol of dietary nitrate) or a placebo (PL; flavor, color, energy, and texture-matched with no dietary nitrate) for six days preceding an exercise trial. The trial consisted of 45 min of constant-load exercise on a treadmill at 4.83 km/h and 1.5% grade, followed immediately by a 1.6-km time-trial completed at maximal …

Military Religions In Roman Dacia: Patterns Of Epigraphic Dedications In Urban Centers, Jamie Bone

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Roman Dacia, as a frontier province of the Roman Empire, contained a substantial military population throughout its occupation. While this allowed the military to begin as the dominant agent in religious dedications, economic advancement and population growth allowed for a shift to a civilian-oriented dedicant base in major urban centers. This project looks to the epigraphic and archaeological record to examine the demographic information concerning the dedicants to four “military” deities: Mithras, Sol Invictus, IOM Dolichenus, and Mars. Doing so allows for an exploration into the dedicatory participation of the military and civilian populations, particularly in the case of gods …

The Army National Guard: Recruitment, Retention, And The Balance Of Life, Stephanie N. Ashwell

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

The National Guard is an institution with a history older than the United States. Members are drawn to Guard service for a variety of reasons, and they face a range of difficulties as they manage their experiences in the Guard and in their civilian lives. This project offers a small case study, based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews, with six current or former Guard members. Findings highlight that these members experienced a range of frustrations that clustered around issues of recruitment, retention, and the balance of life. The purpose of this study was to gain a better idea of what are …

Serialized Soldiers And The New Archetype: America’S Portrayal Of Soldiers In The Post-Vietnam Era, Rachel Childers

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In post-Vietnam War popular culture, a fundamental shift in how Americans portrayed soldiers in media occurred. A new soldier archetype was created that allowed Americans to reintroduce patriotism and heroism into stories about a deeply controversial war. These fictional soldiers embodied the political and cultural turmoil of their time as well as America’s complicated relationship with Vietnam and its own self-image. This project looks at serialized media in the late 1960s-1980s, primarily utilizing popular television shows such as M*A*S*H, to follow the development of these characters, their part in shaping American memory of the war, and to understand why …

Post-Civil War Peace Durability: The Role Of Domestic Infrastructure And Military, Alexandra Wilson

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Since 1945, approximately half of the world’s states have been engaged in some type of civil conflict. The aim of this research is to understand why some post-civil war states fail to establish peace durability while others thrive. Through quantitative research of civil wars globally and a qualitative analysis of Iraq, this thesis argues for the necessity of post-civil war policy to focus on the renewal of domestic infrastructure in addition to military investment which suppresses grievance-driven violence. A logistical regression model of all civil wars since 1945 shows that variables, such as healthcare, are evidently associated with more durable …

The Private Navy Of The United States: The Effects Of Privateers On The War Of 1812, Anthony Green

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The declaration of war in June of 1812 brought more questions than it did answers for the United States. Economically, the government was not prepared to fund a war with multiple fronts. To make matters worse, the government’s primary source of income was through import duties, which they expected to decrease drastically as the war progressed. Militaristically, the United States Navy was too small to offer the protection that was needed from Britain, who possessed the world’s strongest navy at the time. Luckily for the United States, Congress in conjunction with President James Madison authorized privately owned ships to participate …

Form Over Function: How The Confederate Oligarchy's Pretense Of Conventional Military Legitimacy Abandoned The Legitimate American Military Spirit, Jacob D. Harris

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

In the Summer of 1864, Confederate General Robert E. Lee tasked Major General Jubal Early to protect the Army of Northern Virginia’s rear by defending the strategically vital Shenandoah Valley from Union conquest. By the Fall, Early was losing decisively, hopelessly outnumbered, and making no strategic refinements. He never seriously attempted to synchronize his Valley operations with Colonel John S. Mosby’s nearby 43^rd Ranger Battalion, despite ominous reversals and Mosby’s attempts to cooperate.

Mosby was a gifted tactician who patterned his actions after his revolutionary hero, Brigadier General Francis Marion. He achieved his dream of being a “partisan” like …

Military Connections, Shannon M. Malloy

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

There is a long tradition of research on children from military families, which has focused on observations that these children often exhibit both internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. One of the emphases over that last several decades as the military moves to an all-volunteer force, is a recognition that the military is no longer largely staffed by single males. An emphasis on military families has been exhibited at many different levels. This research compared university students with and without a parental history of military service on extroversion, self-esteem, and attachment style. The hypothesis regarding higher rates of extroversion among children …

Causes Of Third Party Military Intervention In Intrastate Conflicts, Hailey Bennett

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Since the conclusion of World War II, the number of expansive interstate wars has decreased while devastating intrastate wars and conflicts have increased exponentially. The Cold War ushered in an era of international stability in the bipolar balance of power, but proxy wars, wars of succession and independence, genocide and civil war made the era anything but peaceful. These conflicts proved to be breading grounds for third party military interventions, which increased simultaneously. In this thesis, I attempted to determine what factors encouraged third party states to intervene militarily in the affairs of other states in the post-World War II …

Factors Driving North Korean Military Provocations, Adam F. White

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper examines the causal factors underlying North Korea’s decision to use military actions against South Korean and U.S. personnel, both military and civilian, from the post-Korean War until the present day. It tests hypotheses at the systemic, domestic, and individual levels of analysis and draws conclusions as to what forces and theories appear to explain North Korean behavior across three different leaders. It concludes that North Korea is largely leadership-driven and that there has been a shift away from military provocations since the time of Kim Il-Sung in favor of nuclear weapons development.

Military Families’ Reintegration And Resiliency: An Examination Of Programs And Civilian Counselor Training, Jaime Grove

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Military members and their families have many potential issues to face, both during deployment and reintegration. Some of these issues include mental health problems, relationships with family members, employment, etc… This paper will include a review of the literature regarding current concerns of military members and their families, an overview of some of the existing programs aimed to help this population, interviews with three counselors working with the military population, and conclusions and recommendations for future programs. Findings included differences between programs in the research and what techniques counselors may be using and strategies for developing effective programs.

Examining The Efficacy Of The Same Sky Sharing Program On Worry And Academic Performance In Military Children Experiencing Parental Deployment, Francine E. Torres

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

This study sought to investigate the effectiveness of the Same Sky Sharing Program on decreasing anxiety and academic difficulties in students experiencing parental deployment. Student participants completed the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale, Second Edition prior to participation in the Same Sky Sharing program, and then completed it once again following completion of the program. Teachers of participating students provided information regarding student performance in the classroom, including any academic strengths or difficulties. An analysis of pre and post RCMAS-2 scores indicated that the mean student anxiety scores remained in the average range after participation in the Same Sky Sharing …

Soldiers In An All Volunteer Force, Joshua Aaron Webster

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This work focuses on several themes that deal with the idea of motivation in the military. The primary focus is to view the soldiers in the “all volunteer” force in order to examine their sources of motivation. The majority of sources came from interviews conducted with active duty, reservist, and retired soldiers who were deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan. The work examines how the evolution of the “all volunteer” force has changed since its inception in 1973, primarily focusing on the soldiers who were involved in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are several reasons for why a citizen …

There Is No Such Thing As An Ex-Marine: Understanding The Psychological Journey Of Combat Veterans, Melinda A. Morgan

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have turned national attention to the prevalence of invisible wounds in service members returning from combat. This surge in mental health care needs has resulted in a shortage of mental health care providers in both military and veteran’s hospitals (Barlas, 2007). Clinicians in the civilian sector have an opportunity to help address this shortage by taking on service members and veterans as clients; however, they need to be prepared to work with such a specialized population. The entire process of being part of the armed forces - from the decision to join, to the …