In 1966, the Military Medical Institute was established as part of the South African Medical Corps. This has long been the secret to the success of the South African Military Psychological Service: perfection through innovation.
Endnotes
Military Psychology
Time to embrace a front-line diplomatic role
This, at least, is the impression when skimming the now numerous books that comprise the Handbook of Military Psychology (Gal & Mangelsdorf, 1991). The role of the military is to defend the country it serves against external attacks.
Military Psychology: A Frontline Peacemaker Role [Keynote Address, Military and Space Psychology, Conference Session]. The role of military psychology in peacekeeping operations: The South African National Defense Force as an example.
The modern military leader as sensemaker on the battlefield
The focus is then shifted to the function of the modern military leader as a sensemaker in relation to social constructivism's worldview in complexity. The social construction of reality: A worldview of social constructivism Veldsman (2016a) states that when referring to the social construction of reality, it typically means that one follows a social constructivist (symbolically interpretive) view in terms of understanding the world. where the military leader and his or her subordinates function.
Social contructivism in complexity
When the military leader is referred to as a meaning maker, both processes of meaning and meaning making are involved. If the person has a positive view of the relevant stressor (or his or her ability to deal with it effectively), he or she is likely to display an attitude of learned optimism (or courage) (see Bartone, 1994). This leads to the next step, which is developing a shared understanding and understanding of the situation and developing courses of action.
The third is that of reality checker, and here the leader must constantly monitor his or her own awareness and understanding of the external environment. It is important that these questions are asked without any judgment on the part of the military leader. The leader's role as a military tactician is not only to understand the tactical situation, but also to communicate the understanding clearly to the rest of the team.
This leads to a second role of the military leader, namely that of coach and trainer of courage. This contributes to what can be called "constant personal awareness of the leader's internal and external situation."
Sensemaking training in preparation for effective mission command in the African battlespace
The findings of the conceptual analysis are discussed in the results section of this article. As the African Battlespace (ABS) is expected to be the main area of influence and operations of the SANS (Bester & Du Plessis, 2014; Grundlingh, 2016; Heinecken, 2020; Neethling, 2011), an overview of the ABS is provided in the literature review section of this article. As an outcome of the conceptualization, we aimed to show how mission command is an appropriate philosophy in the ABS.
In the context of force preparation, it is important to consider how commanders should be prepared to command a mission in ABS. From a cognitive perspective, generating hypotheses and evaluating the results of actions are key aspects in the process (Klein et al., 2006b). It is important that all training activities should be as close as possible to reality in the ABS context (Sushereba et al., 2021).
However, we argue that sensemaking is an essential cognitive process for successful mission command in ABS. The impact of the VUCA environment on the digital skills of managers in the electricity industry.
Organisational support to overcome the challenges of extended absences of officers in the SANDF
Therefore, the absence of the military parent also affects children's well-being and development. Heinecken and Wilén (2021) point out that both internal and external factors affect the reintegration of the military member into the family. At the time of the study, the first author was employed as a senior officer in the SANDF.
Training that will specifically benefit the family will include a focus on the meaning of the absence. The financial gains from absenteeism may not balance out the unforeseen costs (Behnke et al., 2010). During the absence, the separation from one's family is one of the major stressors (Wisecarver et al., 2006).
One of the limitations of the organizational support identified in this study is that the family is not included in the training effort. O'Neale et al. 2020) found that military community connections helped both the military members and their families. to deal with the demands of the organization, such as extended absences.
Comparing deployment experiences of South African National Defence Force personnel during
The descriptions of the deployment experiences provided thematic insight into the deployment experiences. Initially, a PK force bases its operations on the consent of the parties and is unable to exert force beyond what is necessary for self-defense. These differences play a role in the peacekeeper's experience and the subsequent outcome of that experience.
The Darfur Mission in Sudan was originally a PK mission authorized under Chapter VI of the UN Charter and commissioned under the African Union (AU) as the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). Both AMIS and UNAMID were therefore always governed by Chapter VI of the Charter and no offensive military operations were ever imposed. In the period since, several ADF bases have been attacked and destroyed by the FIB (E Visagie, personal communication, October 12, 2021).
The type of terrain as well as the nature of the mission greatly contribute to the soldier's experience (Martin, 2019). The heavy burden of deployments on the SANDF and its personnel and the varying nature of deployments are highlighted in Table 1.
Deployment experiences of soldiers associated with PSO
- DEPLOYMENT – POSITIVE DEPLOYMENT EXPERIENCES
- DEPLOYMENT – POSITIVE DEPLOYMENT EXPERIENCES
- DEPLOYMENT – NEGATIVE DEPLOYMENT EXPERIENCES
- DEPLOYMENT – NEGATIVE DEPLOYMENT EXPERIENCES
- Water and electricity problems
Furthermore, feelings of powerlessness as a result of a mission's mandate can affect soldiers as well. The questionnaire is distributed as part of the demobilization process before soldiers return from the mission area. Tables 2 and 3 below illustrate the composition of the sample from the Operation Cordite (n=525) and FIB (n=521) missions respectively.
These frequencies provide a profile of the negative and positive experiences of deploying each mission. It is important to note that in FIB terms, 'work experience' includes combat-related experience due to mission mandate. Given the different nature of the two deployments, these unique themes can be attributed to the deployment mandate and specific incidents or events during the deployment period.
Similar concerns for both theaters emerged regarding base-related aspects in terms of the food received, accommodation and base facilities. Greater variance was evident in terms of the unique themes associated with the negative deployment experiences of soldiers as opposed to the positive deployment experiences.
Discussion
The unique positive experiences indicate a relationship with the nature of the operation, PE or PK. The duration of the deployment can also be seen as a catalyst that has reinforced the negative experiences of soldiers during deployment. The themes of positive and negative experiences can be categorized according to the sphere of functioning in which the deployment experience has an impact.
In the examination of the booster (table 6) and stressor (table 7) matrices, it is clear that the majority of the positive and negative themes are rooted in the organizational functional sphere. Through this categorization of the themes, the tripartite model helps with the practical application (planning, intervention) of these findings within the implementation context. In this area, most elements are under the direct control and influence of the military commander.
Clinical utility of the Brunel Mood Scale in screening for post-traumatic stress in a military population. 21 Stephanie Joubert is an Industrial Psychologist working at the Human Factor Combat Readiness section of the Military Psychological Institute.
Safe and optimistic: Experiences of military members after the first repatriation of South
Africans during the Covid-19 pandemic
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) conducted studies in 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa. The impact of Covid-19 on mental health was also investigated in China (Wang et al., 2020). Similar social exclusion due to Covid-19 was observed during an Iranian study (Dehkordi et al., 2020).
The main aim of the study was to consider the experiences of SANDF members in South Africa's first repatriation in terms of Covid-19. Frequencies were calculated to assess the pattern of responses to word association questions and the questionnaire's Covid-19 statements. The spread of Covid-19 made some members of the military feel unhappy (46%), while others felt positive (31%).
Regarding the questionnaire, the Covid-19 statements showed great promise with the high reliability observed. Compliance with lockdown regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa: Findings from an online survey.
The Routledge international handbook of military psychology and mental health
The final chapter of part one focuses on the ethics of discipline, which is often vague in the military. The second part of the book focuses on the protagonist and contributor to achieving military success, namely the soldier. They further propose and develop a military-relevant model to analyze and understand employee turnover in the military and the reasons why people leave the organization.
The last and most important part that shows the uniqueness of this publication, Part Three, focuses on mental health: "Solution: mental health issues and perspectives in the military". The military, being one of the most physically and psychologically demanding work environments, has historically explored the concept of personnel mental health, particularly after wars, missions, operations and deployments. Because of the prevalence of soldiers showing signs of deteriorating mental health and military leaders.
This section provides a clinical approach to mental health in the military, zooming in on antecedents and aspects that contribute to mental health. This section has sixteen chapters that address several mental health issues, such as burnout, work engagement, stress and coping in the military, trauma, moral injury, suicide prevention strategies in the military, and sexual trauma in and among the military, among others.
