Laying Down Their Rifles The Changing Influences on the Retention of Volunteer British Army Reservists Returning from Iraq, 2003–2006

• Published in: Armed forces and society Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 264 - 289
• Main Authors: Dandeker, Christopher, Eversden-French, Claire, Greenberg, Neil, Hatch, Stephani, Riley, Paul, van Staden, Lauren, Wessely, Simon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications, Ltd 01.01.2010; SAGE Publications; Transaction Inc
• Subjects: Armed Forces; Armed forces Reserves; Army; Attrition; Data collection; Great Britain; Iraq; Mental health; Military deployment; Military Personnel; Organization theory; Organizational change; Organizational Culture; Qualitative analysis; Role; Social networks; Social organization; Social support; United Kingdom; Veterans; Voluntary organizations; Volunteer service; Volunteers; Welfare; United Kingdom > UK; Iraq; military organizational culture; retention; part-time soldiers
• ISSN: 0095-327X; 1556-0848
• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X09344068

U.K. Reserve Forces, principally the Territorial Army (TA), have been increasingly used since the end of the cold war, but there have been some concerns about their mental health problems and also possible unwillingness to remain in service. This article reports on the retention issues of 191 TA personnel who deployed to Iraq from 2003 to 2006. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed from three complementary studies. The authors found that, in 2003, negative aspects of Army organizational culture were reported as the prime reasons for TA personnel wishing to leave the military. In particular, Reservists reported their being unaccepted and underutilized. In contrast, by 2006, TA personnel were generally reporting being satisfied with their work as a Reservist and felt integrated with Regular colleagues. Those who stated they wanted to leave the military now reported it was primarily because of poor military family welfare support. These results suggest that although the British Army appears to have successfully managed the changing role and integration of the TA on operations, family welfare needs further consideration as an important influence on retention. Since the end of data collection for this study, new measures focusing on welfare have been introduced. Future work will assess the impact of these changes.