Individ i rotation - Om motiveringar för valet att söka utlandstjänst inom Sveriges försvarsmakt
The Swedish military is trough the rescindment of military conscription on the 1 July 2010 taking a defining step towards a professional army. They stand before big recruitment challenges, not least to its foreign missions. This thesis aims to examine the motivations of individuals for going on missions abroad with the military. The thesis is built on seven qualitative interviews with individuals who have done foreign missions and is planning further rotations. The theory used is Fabrizio Battistellis motivation theory and a form of discourse analysis. I show how individuals refer to three types of motives for going on foreign missions and how these should be seen as a motive triangle. I also demonstrate how individual?s motives change from mission to mission in interaction with mission experience, civilian employment and previous motives. This proves that post-materialist (adventure, challenge, etc) motives disappear over time. I also show that the military?s national security motives for foreign missions are not shared by the individuals, which, however, feel strong togetherness with the military. I highlight that the individual's soldier identity is morally enhanced by appreciation from the society at large and that criticism of the military negatively affects the prestige of military employment.