Digital Commons Network^™

Listening To The Ranks: Perceptions Of The U.S. Air Force Occupational Health And Safety Training, Melissa Jo Breunig

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Occupational health and safety hazards are abundant in military environments. Due to the hazardous occupational settings, injuries remain a public health concern in the United States military. Public health plays a critical role in injury reduction by addressing the need for comprehensive safety education training, and more specifically, exposure related injuries. A secondary data analysis was completed using Communication Theory as the overarching framework to analyze 13 qualitative interviews conducted with Airmen to gain their perceptions of the occupational health and safety training at Nellis and Creech Air Force Base (AFB). Pedagogy and training content were the two main themes …

Exploring The Inner Experience Of Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Stacy Reger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Military veterans have returned from combat changed by exposure to trauma for as long as history has been recorded. The field of psychology contains a vast literature describing and attempting to understand Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its detrimental effects on the lives of individuals with the disorder. Despite the volume of study dedicated to PTSD in the literature, in-depth accounts of the lived experience of individuals with PTSD are rare. The current study utilized Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES), a method based on apprehending high-fidelity accounts of momentary inner experience, to explore the inner experience of eight Operation Iraqi Freedom …

Research Brief: "Well-Being And Suicidal Ideation Of Secondary School Students From Military Families", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief summarizes a scholarly article of the same name. It reviews research which discusses the impact of military deployment of a parent on secondary schoolchildren, and the implications of deployment on military families mood and emotional states.

Research Brief: "The Effect Of 21st Century Military Service On Civilian Labor And Educational Outcomes", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study aims to understand the effect military service post-9/11 has on veterans, as it found veteran status positively affects minorities and women. In practice, 21st century veterans are as employable and satisfied with their civilian occupation as their non-veteran counterparts, and veterans seeking employment and career opportunities should continue utilizing VetSuccess. In policy, the VA and policymakers might evaluate current services, and focus on employment experiences and reasons veterans seek education post-service. Suggestions for future study include improving the external validity by using larger samples, as well as including datasets with older 21st century veterans to better account for …

The State Partnership Program: States As Global Actors: The Implications Of Nonaggressive National Forces, Ellen Ahlness

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States sought to increase its influence in Western Europe and Central Asia. The primary military mechanism used to increase presence and ideological influence was the State Partnership Program. This program, modeled heavily after the Norwegian Reciprocal Troop Exchange, used reserve forces instead of active duty forces to lessen the aggression levels perceived by Russian command. This use of reserve forces gave individual American states a greater degree of involvement in international military operations. Since the creation of the State Partnership Program, 65 state/country partnerships have been established. The goals have also …

Impact Of Transformational Leadership On Job Satisfaction And Organizational Commitment And The Re-Enlistment Intention Of Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers, Kervin Gregory Sider

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

A key component to the success of the Army National Guard (ARNG) is the retention of its soldiers. The ARNG must maintain enough soldiers to accomplish their mission of supporting the active duty Army. Leadership is one of the important factors that influence soldiers' level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment and ultimately their intention to remain or leave the ARNG. This research study sought to determine the impact of transformational leadership on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and re-enlistment intention. The research questions guiding this study included: (1) Does transformational leadership impact the re-enlistment intention of first term soldiers, mid-term …

Research Brief: "Expedited Citizenship For Sale: Estimating The Effect Of Executive Order 13269 On Noncitizen Military Enlistments", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study utilized empirical data to analyze the impact of Executive Order 13269, a recruiting strategy enacted by former president George W. Bush that provides expedited citizenship to non-citizens who join the U.S. military, and it found that there was no overall effect of the Executive Order on the number of non-citizen enlistments into the military. In practice, non-citizens interested in U.S. citizenship should consider military enlistment as an alternative to the typical path to citizenship, and both non-citizen and citizen veterans should familiarize themselves with the plethora of resources available to them. In policy, the Department of Defense might …

About Face: A Perspective On Civilian Military Relations Through The Lens Of The Principal-Agent Theory, Randall Swain

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

- 55 - About Face: A Perspective of Civil-Military Relations through the Lens of Principal-Agent Theory Randall D. Swain Eastern Kentucky University This essay uses the principal-agent theory to offer a framework for explaining shirking tendencies by the U.S. military in civil-military relations. Through the lens of the framework presented here, the principal-agent theory explains why shirking tendencies by the U.S. military is more likely to occur when a Republican occupies the White House, than when it is occupied by a Democrat. Besides providing a framework for conceptualizing civil-military relations, the importance of this work lies in the manner in …

Predictors Of Perceived Belonging Among U.S. Military Men And Women, Heidi M. Pfeiffer

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to identify predictors of perceived belonging within the military unit, a factor which has been shown to promote effectiveness, satisfaction, and mental health. Online survey responses from service members, veterans, and trainees were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. It was found that perceptions of positive military leadership, larger unit size, older age, and active duty (rather than reserve/guard) service were associated with higher perceived belonging, together explaining a significant portion of variance in scores. Male gender was also found to be associated with higher perceived belonging, but the increase in variance explained by the addition of this …

Research Brief: "When Veterans Return: The Role Of Community In Reintegration", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study examines the experiences active duty service members and military veterans face upon their return to civilian life, and reflects that many veterans desire a formal transitional period from military to civilian life in order to help them readjust. Service members should join peer mentor or support groups with other veterans who had similar experiences and feelings about their reintegration into civilian life; policy makers might work with VA administrators to create a comprehensive transitional program for service members who are leaving the military in order to facilitate a smooth re-entry into civilian life. Further exploration of the links …

Peacebuilding After Civil War, Caroline A. Hartzell

Political Science Faculty Publications

Book Summary: This comprehensive new Handbook explores the significance and nature of armed intrastate conflict and civil war in the modern world. Civil wars and intrastate conflict represent the principal form of organised violence since the end of World War II, and certainly in the contemporary era. These conflicts have a huge impact and drive major political change within the societies in which they occur, as well as on an international scale. The global importance of recent intrastate and regional conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Nepal, Cote d'Ivoire, Syria and Libya – amongst others – has served to refocus …

Reinstitutionalizing Families: Life Course Policy And Marriage In The Military, Jennifer H. Lundquist, Zhun Xu

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

The transition to adulthood has become an increasingly telescoped process for Americans with marital formation occurring increasingly later in the life course. It is therefore striking to find a context like the U.S. military where marriage rates bear an anachronistic resemblance to those of the 1950s era. Using narrative data from life history interviews with military affiliates collected as part of a larger study on the impact of institutions on families, we show that the military has reinstitutionalized military families at the same time that civilian families are becoming deinstitutionalized. Structural conditions of modern military service, such as war deployment …

Do Black-White Racial Disparities In Breastfeeding Persist In The Military Community?, Jennifer H. Lundquist, Zhun Xu, Wanda Barfield, Irma Elo

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

Objective: We conduct a comparative analysis of breastfeeding behavior between military and civilian-affiliated mothers. Our focus is on African American mothers among whom breastfeeding rates are lowest. The military context may mitigate conditions associated with low breastfeeding prevalence by a) providing stable employment and educational opportunities to populations who face an otherwise poor labor market and b) providing universal healthcare that includes breastfeeding consultation. Methods: Using Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data for which we received special permission from each state to flag military affiliation, we analyze civilians and military affiliate in breastfeeding initiation using logistic regression and breastfeeding …

What Experience Can’T Tell: How To Show Reality In Young Adult Fiction, A Female Warrior’S Story, Jessica A. Walker

Departmental Honors Projects

Young adult literature is a medium that catapults our youth into fictional realms, gives them courage, and prepares them for realities of our world. As a female warrior, having served as a soldier in Afghanistan, I learned firsthand what a female warrior must be. While there are many YA novels written with women warriors as main characters, there’s a significant lack of female warrior representation that resembles our modern day military and the trials female warriors face in a primarily male-dominated field.

I have examined four authors who have tackled the issue of strong female warriors. While each author depicts …

Factors Influencing U.S Army Personnel Meeting Body Mass Index Standards, Salma Theus

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Factors Influencing U.S. Army Personnel Meeting Body Mass Index Standards

by

Salma Theus

MS, California State University, Dominguez Hills, 2008

BA, La Sierra University, 2005

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Psychology

Walden University

September 2014

U.S. Army Regulations require soldiers to be fit, as excessive weight negatively impacts their readiness, health, and morale. A quantitative study examined if personal, behavioral, and/or environmental factors predict a soldier's self-efficacy and body mass index. Data were obtained from 117 soldiers on 6 scales: the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, the Army Physical Fitness …

Research Brief: "Suicides In The Military: The Post-Modern Combat Veteran And The Hemingway Effect", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about current suicide prevention interventions within the military. In policy and practice, practitioners should monitor the wellness of aging veterans and ensure that a support system exists for their veteran patients, while veterans should participate in social events with other veterans; the VA and DoD should implement programs to ensure that veterans have feelings of belongingness and the VA should monitor veterans' well-being for 2-3 years after service during transitions. Suggestions for future research include examining the communities and veteran service organizations that produce the most useful support for veterans with mental health problems.