Humanitarians or Warriors?: Race, Gender, and Combat Status in Operation Restore Hope

Abstract

Operation Restore Hope was a confusing mission for American soldiers. Trained aswarriors, they were thrust into a humanitarian mission. Expecting to distribute food tograteful Somalis, they were attacked instead by the locals and were limited to security and guard duty. Soldiers' attitudes evolved through three stages: high expectations, disillusionment, and reconsideration. In the last stage, soldiers adopted one of two frameworks to cope with the ambiguity of the mission: warrior versus humanitarian. The former was more strongly associated with whites, men, and combat soldiers, who constructed negative stereotypes of Somalis and favored returning violence with violence. Blacks, women, and support soldiers tended to reject victim-blaming arguments seemingly imported from the United States. They maintained a humanitarian position, seeking explanations for Somali actions and distinguishing between clan warriors and needy refugees. Our data come from field observations, interviews, and surveys of Army troops who served in Somalia.

How Deployments Affect Service Members

“…In considering the effect of deployments for operations other than war on personnel morale, research finds commonalities between troop attitudes across combat and nonconventional (peacekeeping or humanitarian) deployments (Fussell, 1975;Herzog, 1992;Miller and Moskos, 1995). Personnel tend to express satisfaction with real-world missions, including peacekeeping and humanitarian missions, that allow them to use their skills and take on additional responsibility (e.g., Miller, 1997).…”

“…In research on United Nations peacekeepers in Cyprus in the 1970s, soldiers' attitudes transitioned from naïve idealism, to cynicism, to a pragmatic approach to the task (Moskos 1976). Similarly, attitudes of the first wave of soldiers serving in Somalia in 1993 revealed high expectations formed in the United States (that Americans would be helping people in need), disillusionment once the reality of the situation was confronted (some Somalis were attacking American soldiers), and practical resolution, either to approach the mission as a warrior would (view Somalis as the enemy and fight back) or to adopt a new humanitarian strategy (view some Somalis as the enemy but the majority as needing and accepting U.S. intervention) (Miller and Moskos, 1995).…”

“…As operations other than war became more frequent than in the past, some dissatisfaction was found in response to deployment on humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, particularly among combat units that believed their skills were being degraded. But many troops reported satisfaction with "real-world" missions: making a difference in people's lives, the greater responsibility and more-challenging work on these operations, and the financial and career benefits of deployments (Avant and Lebovic, 2000;Halverson and Bliese, 1996;Miller and Moskos, 1995;Miller, 1997). A study of soldiers serving in Haiti in 1994 found that, even among soldiers who did not believe in the value or overall importance of the U.S. mission, there were those who took satisfaction in seeing their efforts make a positive change in their area of operation (Halverson and Bliese, 1996).…”

Military Occupational Stressors in Garrison, Training and Deployed Environments

“…These stressors have been reported across a variety of deployments although not all the deployments are the same. For example, U.S. soldiers deployed on Operation Joint Guard in Bosnia did not report significant stress from food or water problems (Ritzer, et al, 1999), whereas soldiers deployed to Somalia did (Miller & Moskos, 1995). Quality of life concerns include receiving mail, telephones, recreation and educational opportunities, and equitable pay relative to other militaries deployed to on the same operation.…”

Perspectives on Diversity in the Military: A Comparison between Belgium and the Netherlands

“…Regarding the Armed Forces, firstly, most western politicians often requires their Forces to reflect society regarding gender, socio-economic status/education level, religion, sexually orientation and ethnic culturally origin or, at the latest, to be open and tolerant regarding various forms of diversity (Winslow & Dunn;Dansby & Landis, 2007;Bosman, Richardson & Soeters, 2007) This "discrimination-and-fairness" perspective is characterized by: "a belief in a culturally diverse workforce as a moral imperative to ensure justice and the fair treatment of all members of society", (Ely & Thomas, 2001). Secondly, it has been argued that cultural diversity in the Armed Forces may increase the effectiveness in humanitarian missions and the cooperation between the military and local civilians in (former) conflict areas, but also for military personnel working in multinational operations (Miller & Moskos, 1995;Bosman, 2008;Resteigne & Soeters, 2010). Since 2001, Armed Forces were mostly deployed in Islamic countries like Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.…”