The American Volunteer Soldier: Will He Fight. (A Provisional Attitudinal Analysis)

Abstract

The study is devoted to the development of a profile of the volunteer American soldier, a characterization of some of his prevalent attitudes and a projection of those attitudes into combat behavior. As a framework for determining the attitude of the volunteer soldier a conceptual model was developed which characterized the external variables most likely to influence the soldier's attitude and behavior. The variables used are leadership, training, discipline, group relationships, ideology and social influence. A survey was administered to 400 junior enlisted soldiers in four combat units; airborne infantry, infantry, ranger and tank battalions. Assessment of the data indicates that the volunteer soldier will fight as well as or better than the draftee; however, just how much better is difficult to project.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 02, 1975
Accession Number
ADA017047

Entities

People

  • Charles W. Brown

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Air Force
  • Army Personnel
  • Data Analysis
  • Enlisted Personnel
  • Families (Human)
  • Military Research
  • Psychology
  • Second World War
  • Social Psychology
  • Social Sciences
  • Societies
  • Sociology
  • United States
  • War
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Military Science and Technology Research and Modernization.
  • Naval Personnel Management