Peacekeeping deployment abroad and the self-perceptions of the effect on career advancement, status and reintegration

ABSTRACT

During the last three decades, international peace operations have multiplied. As a consequence, trainings and deployments for peace missions have become an essential part of the military’s work. Yet the importance of peace operations to the individual soldier’s career development has so far been relatively absent in academic writing. This article attempts to fill this gap by examining how soldiers perceive the effects of their peace operation deployments in terms of career opportunities and status upon reintegration in the home unit. Adopting an inductive approach, the authors analyse 50 interviews conducted with military personnel from the South African Defence Force (SANDF). The findings show mixed responses in terms of the effect of deployments on career development. In general senior staff value the experience acquired more highly than lower ranks who experience multiple deployments as having a negative effect on vertical career mobility. Nor do lower ranked personnel see any marked change in the (in) formal status upon reintegration back into their national armed force, while higher staff officers perceive an enhanced status especially where this is related to operational success. The article argues that peacekeeping deployment should be seen as a process, which has consequences for the individual soldiers’ career long after homecoming, rather than as an independent event during a lifelong career.

About the authors

Nina Wilén is FNRS Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Political Science at Université Libre de Bruxelles. Nina Wilén has written extensively on different aspects of peace operations in Africa and is the author of the book Justifying Interventions in Africa (De) Stabilizing Sovereignty in Liberia, Burundi and the Congo.

Lindy Heinecken is Professor in Sociology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Lindy Heinecken is the author of numerous articles on the South African army, covering issues such as gender integration, racial integration, and HIV within the military.

Notes

1 Cunliffe, Legions of Peace; Beswick, ‘Risks of African Military’; Wilén et al., ‘Sending Peacekeepers Abroad’.

2 Karlsrud, ‘UN at War’; Kenkel, ‘Five Generations of Peace Operations’.

3 Heinecken and Ferreira, ‘Fighting for Peace’.

4 Battistelli, ‘Peacekeeping and the Postmodern Soldier’; see also Hedlund, ‘What Motivates Swedish Soldiers’.

5 Segal et al., ‘Social Construction of Peacekeeping’, 130.

6 See, for example, Elklit ‘UN-Soldiers Serving’; Shigemura and Nomura, ‘Mental Health Issues’.

7 Licklider, ‘South Africa’.

8 Lotze et al., ‘Contributor Profile’.

9 DOD, ‘South African National Defence ’.

10 Mathis and Jackson, Human Resource Management, 307.

11 Baruch, ‘Transforming Careers’, 60.

12 Ibid.

13 Ptak, ‘Gestion des ressources humaines’.

14 Huntington, Soldier and the State, 12.

15 Heinecken, ‘Discontent within the Ranks?’, 479.

16 Dowd, ‘Communitarian Values’, 150.

17 Ptak, ‘Gestion des ressources humaines’.

18 Jim Tice, ‘New Rules for Enlisted Promotions’, Army Times, 23 Feb. 2015. www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/enlisted/2015/02/23/army-promotion-regulation-updated/23492405/ (accessed 14 Jan. 2015).

19 Coton, ‘Struggle for Prestige’, 12.

20 Coton, ‘Briller sous l’épaulette’; Graves, ‘Choosing the Best’, 36.

21 See, for example, Joyner, ‘Base Pay’; Harvinson, ‘Army Promotion Point System’.

22 Helene Cooper and Tom Shanker, ‘In New Officers’ Careers, Peace Is No Dividend’, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2014. www.nytimes.com/2014/04/14/us/in-new-officers-careers-peace-is-no-dividend.html?_r=0 (accessed 22 Oct. 2015).

23 Whitworth, Men, Militarism and UN Peacekeeping, 16.

24 Cunliffe, Legions of Peace, 212.

25 Kenkel, ‘Five Generations of Peace Operations’.

26 Karlsrud, ‘UN at War’, 42–3.

27 Ibid., 45.

28 Coton, ‘Struggle for Prestige’; Coton, ‘Briller sous l’épaulette’.

29 Coton, ‘Struggle for Prestige’.

30 Cooper and Shanker, ‘In New Officers’ Careers’.

31 MacKenzie, ‘True Grit’.

32 Cited in Coton, ‘Struggle for Prestige’, 24.

33 Westwood et al., ‘Re-Entry Program’, 222.

34 Bolton et al., ‘Impact of Homecoming Reception’; Elklit, ‘UN-Soldiers Serving’; Shigemura and Nomura, ‘Mental Health Issues’.

35 Söderström, ‘Focus Groups’, 152.

36 William Saunderson-Meyer, ‘Time for the SANDF to Slim Down and Shape Up’, Thought Leader, Mail & Guardian, 29 Mar. 2014. http://thoughtleader.co.za/williamsaundersonmeyer/2014/03/29/time-for-the-sandf-to-slim-down-and-shape-up/ (accessed 27 Mar. 2016).

37 In one of the seven focus groups, a female soldier joined a male group during the discussion, making it a mixed group.

38 Cooper and Shanker, ‘In New Officers’ Careers’; Coton, ‘Briller sous l’épaulette’; Graves, ‘Choosing the Best’, 36.

39 Black male, Lt Col., 41 years old, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

40 Black female, captain, 31years old, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

41 Reed and Segal, ‘Impact of Multiple Deployments’, 69.

42 White male, staff sergeant, 41 years old, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

43 Black male, corporal, 53 years old, Cape Town, 28 May 2015.

44 Black male, corporal, 45 years old, Cape Town, 28 May 2015.

45 Black male, corporal, 43 years old, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

46 Black female, focus group, rifleman, corporals, sergeants, 25–31 years old, Cape Town, 27 May 2015.

47 Dowd, ‘Communitarian Values’, 158.

48 Black male, colonel, 41 years old, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

49 Black female, captain, 31 years old, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

50 Dowd, ‘Communitarian Values’, 158.

51 Black male, corporal, 45 years old, Cape Town, 28 May 2015.

52 Black female, rifleman, 26 years old, Cape Town, 28 May 2015.

53 Black male, warrant officer, 49 years old, Cape Town, 28 May 2015.

54 Black–White (1) male focus group, riflemen, staff sergeant, 25–41 years old, Cape Town, 27 May 2015.

55 White male, staff sergeant, 41 years old, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

56 Coloured male, sergeant chef, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

57 Black male, corporal, Cape Town, 28 May 2015.

58 Black male, colonel (A), Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

59 Black male, colonel (B), Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

60 Coton, ‘Briller sous l’épaulette’, 24.

61 Black male, Major, 42 years old, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

62 Black male, colonel, 41 years old, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

63 Black female, captain, 31 years old, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

64 Allen and Kayes, ‘Leader Development’, 96.

65 Hosek et al., How Deployments Affect, xvii.

66 Bolton et al., ‘Impact of Homecoming Reception’, 242.

67 Black male, corporal, 43 years old, Cape Town, 26 May 2015.

68 Black male, corporal, 53 years old, Cape Town, 28 May 2015.

69 Wilén et al., ‘Sending Peacekeepers Abroad’; Hosek et al., How Deployments Affect, xvii.