The Will to Fight - Evaluation of Dutch Morale Research during Several Missions Since 1997

Abstract

Every commander tries to accomplish his/ her mission by applying a contribution to a military product, called military capacity or fighting power. This military product contains 3 components. These are the conceptual component, the physical component and the mental component. The mental component can be described, as the will to fight and contains three major aspects: leadership, motivation and military conduct. Military literature and my own experience shows that it's more difficult to asses the quality of leadership, cohesion, hardiness etc., within a unit, in contrast to the conceptual and the physical component. In 1997 the BSSC (Behavioural Sciences Services Centre) developed a morale questionnaire to support commanders to measure mental elements and to give them advice to improve. This morale research has been developed and improved, resulting in the product the BSSC now works with. The Dutch definition of morale is; the mental state of the individual soldier, in a task oriented group, in relation to maintaining the assignment and the operational tasks his group stands for. In 2001 the questionnaire has been evaluated and validated. In 2005 the BSSC conducted a second evaluation using interviews with several commanders who have been served in Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan between 2003 and spring 2005. The goal of this evaluation was to check the quality of the Dutch morale research and the process. It also gave the possibility to collect opinions of commanders and to find out if the product still covers the needs of the commanders concerning this subject. The third goal was to do an inventory which other needs there are among the commanders concerning research of the mental component in general. The aim of this article is to inform about the meaning commanders have concerning morale and the process used by the BSSC.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA472704

Entities

People

  • Rejanne Eimers-van Nes

Organizations

  • Ministry of Defense

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Air Force
  • Applied Psychology
  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Cohesion
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Information Operations
  • Leadership
  • Measurement
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Psychology
  • Psychological Phenomena And Processes
  • Psychology
  • Test And Evaluation

Readers

  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.