Development of Trust among Soldiers on a Deployment Mission

Abstract

Trust is important for the army for an external and an internal reason. The external reason relates to the various situations that servicemen may find themselves in during peace operations. They contact the local population and servicemen from other countries, people from various cultural backgrounds. They may come across minefields, or be confronted with suicide attacks. In all these situations they need to act with competence and predictability, and they must count on each other, which relates to benevolence and honesty. In such situations they need to hang on to their mutual trust to survive. The internal reason relates to the fact that they live closely to each other for a longer period of time in the deployment area, on the base. Living so closely together, tensions eventually seem unavoidable, but as they have to cooperate during their mission, trust seems a solid base. Moreover, soldiers may need to operate independently, in small groups, and their behavior cannot constantly be monitored, so their supervisors must trust them.