How Counter-Insurgency Warfare Experiences Impact upon the Post-Deployment Reintegration of Land-Based British Army Personnel

Abstract: This Report isolates one specific set of land-based soldiers, those who were deployed in counter-insurgency (COIN) warfare in Afghanistan, to explore their specific transition experiences. COIN operations contrast with conventional warfare in terms of the nature of the enemy, the army’s operational objectives and role, and the higher levels of unpredictability and risk in the deployment. This form of warfare intensifies the emotional labour involved, particularly in terms of trust, identity and stress. The research was not intended to contrast the transition experiences of troops from conventional warfare, for which a control group of equal numbers would be needed, but to undertake a small, two-year qualitative study capturing the experiences of Afghanistan veterans in their own words. The research design introduced a longitudinal dimension by comparing the transition experiences of Afghan veterans with earlier COIN operations, in Britain’s wars of decolonisation in the 1950s and 1960s, and the Ulster Defence Regiment in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s. This allowed us to explore the impact of cultural changes on transition, particularly changed attitudes towards trauma, and changed public attitudes towards COIN warfare generally. The data set on which this Report is based involves 90 hours of taped interviews with 129 respondents, representing 20 from earlier COIN operations in the 1950s and 1960s, 30 from the Ulster Defence Regiment in Northern Ireland, 70 Afghanistan veterans, and 9 from other conflicts. We interviewed veterans of all ranks, both regular and reserve; we included a sub-sample of current serving soldiers. 6. Reintegration back into civilian life should be seen as a continuum, with one pole represented by successful management of the transition, the other unsuccessful. Most COIN personnel can be placed somewhere along this continuum, which is why we refer to it as the continuum of normal transition.