Military lives: coaching transitions

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this study is firstly to consider how veterans employ talk to shape interpretations of personal and social identify. Secondly, we seek to gain an understanding of how veterans see themselves in a civilian world, their ability to re-conceptualise and realign their perspective on life to support their transition in to a civilian world.Design/methodology/approach -Underpinned by Ricoeur's theory of narrative identity, the work provides a qualitative analysis data from coaching interviews with 5 veterans Originality/value -The paper provides new insights in to the important of narrative identify broadening its potential application with engagement across diverse communities, thereby providing depth and rigour of its conceptual understanding of personal identify. The work further provides insights in to the challenges facing veteran to integrate within a civilian society.

‘You’re Just Chopped Off at the End’: Retired Servicemen’s Identity Work Struggles in the Military to Civilian Transition

“…Essential to transition is the reconstruction of a valued self-identity. Military veterans who remain captives of their past often have difficulty reconciling their civilian and military selves (Beech et al, 2017; Higate, 2001). Servicemen and servicewomen who retire from the military have been shown to encounter very different experiences to people who retire from conventional civilian life and, for many, the transition back into civilian life is replete with difficulties and challenges (Carlson et al, 2013; Herman and Yarwood, 2014).…”

“…Retirement from the military is a challenging life-transition that can strongly impact on personal identity (Beech et al, 2017) and sense of self, yet the lived, embodied experiences of transition to retirement are under-researched and not well understood (Bulmer and Eichler, 2017; Cooper et al, 2018; Fossey and Hacker Hughes, 2013; Herman and Yarwood, 2014). According to the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD, 2011) definition, any person who has served in the British armed forces for at least one day is classed as a veteran.…”

Military personnel and the transition into civilian employment: A systematic narrative review

“…A qualitative study of UK general veterans reported that current employment was not grounded in the same level of expertise or skill as previous military roles [23]. This was supported by a study of UK infantry that highlighted a perceived difference between military and civilian roles and a feeling that skills were underused in the new workplace [24].…”

“…A second difference was communication, interpersonal communication at civilian workplaces felt unfocused to veterans [36]. This was supported by UK veterans who felt there were lots of meetings but very little action, and that direct communication was not the norm [20,24]. American nurse academics elaborated upon this, suggesting that direct communication was met with resistance and needed to be tempered to facilitate effective communication [19].…”

Learning to become manager: The identity work of first-time managers

“…From a Ricoeurian perspective, what we call “identity work” revolves around idem, ipse, and the perceived relationship between them (see also Beech et al, 2017; Mallett and Wapshott, 2012). Identity work can be said to involve a narrative process of expressing, in dialogue with oneself and others, “the ongoing dialectic of selfhood and sameness” (Rasmussen, 1996: 165).…”