An article written by an MFRI research associate has been published in an online edition of Armed Forces and Society (AFS), a scholarly journal that concentrates on topics related to military service, peacemaking, and conflict management.
“Anticipating Army exit: Identity constructions of final year UK career soldiers” focuses on aspects of military-to-civilian life transition. It was authored by David I. Walker, a research associate who currently works on MFRI’s Family Journeys research project.
Published on Feb. 29, Walker’s article was researched in 2007-2008 and written in 2010, prior to his employment at MFRI. The article provides qualitative analysis of interviews with 28 British regular Army career soldiers and officers, six of them female, and all of whom were within 12 months of separating from service.
“David Walker’s research speaks to the challenges of leaving military service and (re-)constructing a civilian life,” said Dave Topp, director of research for MFRI. “As the military draws down and the post-9/11 volunteers return to civilian life, these issues become salient for those who have served.”
The article argues that the final year of service is an important time for working on matters of self-identity, as concerns about transition to civilian life begin to emerge.
“Leaving the military is widely associated with matters of personal adjustment,” the article states. “Successfully finding a way forward must surely be linked, in some ways at least, to how civilian futures are personally imagined and constructed during this time.”
Walker’s research suggests that while soldiers did not expressly talk about their shifting identities, the topics they brought up were nevertheless invested in matters of identity. Their concerns focused on future housing, employment and adjustments to non-absent parenting. Additionally, the article identifies five types of pre-exit soldierly orientation, which incorporate “a range of personal properties that these leavers applied to themselves” as a result of their military service.
A native of the UK, Walker served for 23 years in the British Army and retired in September 2007 as a Warrant Officer Class I. He earned his doctorate in social policy and sociology at Durham University’s School of Applied Social Science. He began work at MFRI in September 2011.
Contact Sage Journals for information on how to obtain a copy of the article.