‘You’re just chopped off at the end’: Retired servicemen’s identity work struggles in the military to civilian transition

TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘You’re just chopped off at the end’: Retired servicemen’s identity work struggles in the military to civilian transition

AU - Williams, Rachel K

AU - Allen-Collinson, Jacquelyn

AU - Hockey, John

AU - Evans, Adam Brian

N1 - CURIS 2018 NEXS 282

PY - 2018/12/1

Y1 - 2018/12/1

N2 - Promoting positive transition to retirement and cultural adaption for ex-service personnel has been identified as a priority for both social-science research and for public health policy in the UK. The Royal British Legion aims to provide support to service and retired service personnel, but to date the transition to retirement experiences of older (60-plus) ex-service personnel remain under-researched. In this article, we employ a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework to examine older servicemen’s experiences and identity challenges post-retirement from the British armed forces. Data were collected primarily through semi-structured, focus-group interviews with 20 former servicemen. Here, we focus specifically upon the challenges encountered by these ex-servicemen in the retirement transition from military to civilian life, a time of identity flux of sociological interest. To navigate this period of identity change and challenge, many participants constructed a ‘modified military self’ through involvement with the Royal British Legion as a key social support network. For many retired personnel the Royal British Legion offered a form of identification and group identity that resonated strongly with earlier experiences of comradeship in the military.

AB - Promoting positive transition to retirement and cultural adaption for ex-service personnel has been identified as a priority for both social-science research and for public health policy in the UK. The Royal British Legion aims to provide support to service and retired service personnel, but to date the transition to retirement experiences of older (60-plus) ex-service personnel remain under-researched. In this article, we employ a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework to examine older servicemen’s experiences and identity challenges post-retirement from the British armed forces. Data were collected primarily through semi-structured, focus-group interviews with 20 former servicemen. Here, we focus specifically upon the challenges encountered by these ex-servicemen in the retirement transition from military to civilian life, a time of identity flux of sociological interest. To navigate this period of identity change and challenge, many participants constructed a ‘modified military self’ through involvement with the Royal British Legion as a key social support network. For many retired personnel the Royal British Legion offered a form of identification and group identity that resonated strongly with earlier experiences of comradeship in the military.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - Ageing

KW - Identity work

KW - Military

KW - Symbolic interactionism

KW - Transition

U2 - 10.1177/1360780418787209

DO - 10.1177/1360780418787209

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1360-7804

VL - 23

SP - 812

EP - 829

JO - Sociological Research Online

JF - Sociological Research Online

IS - 4

ER -