Measurement of intangible human elements in determining military combat readiness
List of Authors
  • Hasan Al-Banna Mohamed , S. Inderjit

Keyword
  • Combat Readiness, Military Psychological Factors, Quality of Life, Morale

Abstract
  • Combat readiness is a composite concept that encompasses both tangible military logistics and intangible human components associated with soldiers preparing for combat missions. Militaries throughout the world define combat readiness as their military doctrine, policies, and public communications being in place to prepare their military troops for combat responsibilities. Situational Force Scoring (SFS) is a quantitative tangible measurement of forces' combat readiness in which numerical tangible scores are assigned based on logistics and manpower required percentages. To complete the equations for combat readiness, this research will identify and quantify the soldier's intangible human components of intangible combat readiness in the areas of morale, quality of life, and military psychological aspects, along with four antecedents for each domain. This quantitative study demonstrates military troops from operating units of the Royal Malaysian Navy and Royal Malaysian Air Force throughout Malaysia. The model was statistically validated against the data (n = 2466) using PLS-SEM. The findings reveal that external characteristics such as morale, quality of life, and psychological well-being account for 62.9 percent of intangible combat readiness. The results reveal that morale (= 0.578) has a greater direct effect on the measure of combat readiness than psychological factors (= 0.171) or quality of life factors (= 0.091). Morale is a critical component in intangible combat readiness enhancement. The findings indicate that boosting efforts to improve personnel morale will undoubtedly improve the Malaysian Armed Forces' soldiers' intangible combat readiness. Efforts to enhance the effectiveness of quality of life and psychological issues must be prioritised.

Reference
  • 1. Bartone, P. T., Barry, C. L., & Armstrong, R. E. (2009). To build resilience: Leader influence on mental hardiness. Defense Horizons. Retrieved from https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Me- dia/News/Article/1006237/to-build-resilience-leader-in-fluence-on-mental-hardiness/

    2. Bartone, P. T. (1999). Hardiness protects against war-related stress in Army Reserve forces. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 51, 72-82.

    3. Britt, T., Castrol, A., & Adler, A. (2006). Military Life: The Psychology of Serving in Peace and Combat, Military Performance, 1: 162.

    4. Bartone, P. T., Roland, R. R., Picano, J. J., & Williams, T. J. (2008). Psychological hardiness predicts success in US Army Special Forces candidates. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 16, 78-81

    5. Baynes, J. (1987). Morale: A study of men and courage (new Ed.). Washington DC: Avery Pub Group. In the U.S. Army study of the human dimension in the future 2015-2024, TRADOC Pamphlet 525-3-7-01, 2008.

    6. Clausewitz, C. v. 1874. On nature of war. Translated by Graham, J. London: Penguin Group, p.51.

    7. Dolan, C. A., & Adler, A. B. (2006). Military hardiness as a buffer of psychological health on return from deployment. Military Medicine, 171, 93-98

    8. Eschleman, K. J., & Bowling, N. A. (2010). A meta-analytic examination of hardiness. International Journal of Stress Management, 17, 277-307

    9. Flanagen, J.C. (1978). A research approach to improving our quality of life. American Psychologist, 33, 138-147.

    10. Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

    11. Glatzer, W. (1987). Components of well-being. In A.C. Michalos (ed.), German social report: Living conditions and subjective well-being, 1978-1984, pp. 25-33).

    12. Greenbaum, Thomas L. (1998). The handbook for focus group research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Griffith, J. (2002). A multilevel analysis of cohesion's relation to stress, well-being, identification, disintegration, and perceived combat readiness. Military Psychology, 14(3): 217-239.

    13. Griffith, S. (1971). Sun Tzu: The art of war. New York: Oxford University Press.

    14. Gal, R., & Manning, F. (1987). Morale and its components: A cross national comparison. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 369-391.

    15. Hacker, S. K., & Doolen, T.L. (2003). Strategies for Living: Moving from the balance paradigm. Career Development International. 8: 283-290.

    16. Hassan, Z., Dollard, M. F., & Winefield, A. H. (2009). Work-family conflict in East vs. Western Countries. Cross-Cultural Management: An International Journal. 17(1), 30-49.

    17. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/12/07/malaysia-8th-biggest-asian-contributor-to- un-peacekeeping-missions/#t2bQkFwHCJ3J70QD.99.

    18. Hooker, R.D. (1995). Building unbreakable units. Retrieved from http://www.usafa.af.mil/jscope/ JSCOPE98/HOOK98.HTM

    19. Krueger, Richard A. (1998). Developing questions for focus groups. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Krueger, Richard A. & Casey, Mary Anne (2000). (Third edition).

    20. M. Creswell, Research Design. California: Sage Publication Inc., 2014, p.117.

    21. Maddi, S. R., Matthews, M. D., Kelly, D. R., Resurreccion, N., & Villarreal, B. J. (2010). Relationship between hardiness and performance in challenging environments. American Psychological Association 2010 Convention Presentation.

    22. Malaysian Armed Forces, Joint Doctrine (MAFJD) 0-01, 2011, p.8-1.

    23. Malaysian Armed Forces. (2010). Joint Doctrine MAFJD 0-01. Kuala Lumpur: Joint Forces Command, p.2-4, 2011.

    24. Malaysian Army. (2007). Command, leadership and management. Kuala Lumpur: Central Ordnance Depot, p. 2-1.

    25. Malaysian Army. (2010). Battle Group and Combat Team Tactics MP 2.1.2 TD. Kuala Lumpur: Headquarters Training and Doctrine Command, p. xiii.

    26. Malaysian Army. (2011). Malaysian Army Transformational Plan. Kuala Lumpur: Central Ordnance Depot, p. xii.

    27. Malaysian National Defence Policy,2014

    28. Morgenthau, H.J. (1978). Politics among nations: The struggle for power and peace. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, p. 140.

    29. Muhammad Ijaz Latif, Focus Group Interview as a Tool for Qualitative Research: An Analysis. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences (PJSS) Vol. 33, No. 1 (2013), pp. 191-198.

    30. Murphy, P.J., & Farley, K.M.J. (2002). Morale, cohesion and confidence in leadership: Unit climate dimensions for Canadian Soldiers on operations. In C. McCann & R. Pigean (Eds.), The human in command: Exploring the modern military experience. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. Retrieved from http://www.springer.com/psychology/book/978-0-306-46366-2

    31. Murphy, P.J., & Fogarty, G. (2009). The human dimensions of mission readiness. In Focus on human dimensions in land operations. Canberra: Department of Defence, p. 50.

    32. Paret, P. (1989). Military power, The Journal of Military History, 53(3):240. In measuring national power in the Post Industrial Age.

    33. R. K. Betts, Military Readiness: Concept, choices, consequences. Washington DC: The Brookings Institution, 1995, p.26.

    34. Rath, T., & Harter, J. (2010). Well Being: The five essential elements. New York: Gallup Press.

    35. S. Griffith, Sun Tzu: The art of war, Oxford University Press, New York, 1971

    36. Shamir, B., Brainin, E., Zakay, E., & Popper, M. (2000). Perceived combat readiness as collective efficacy: Individual- and group-level analysis. Military Psychology, 12(2), 105-119.

    37. Stevenson, A. (2013). The Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., London: Oxford University Press, 2013.

    38. Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition /English/combat.

    39. Vogt, D. S., Rizvi, S. L., Shipherd, J. C., & Resick, P. A. (2008). A longitudinal investigation of the reciprocal relationship between stress reactions and hardiness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 61-73.

    40. United States Department of Defence, CJSC Guide to the Chairman’s Readiness System, CJSC Guide 3410D, 15 Nov 2010, Directive Current as of 12 Feb 2013.

    41. Zach, S., Raviv, S., & Inbar, R. (2007). The benefits of a graduated training program for security officers on physical performance in stressful situations. International Journal of Stress Management, 14, 350-369.