11 
EDITORIAL
MILITARY FAMILIES: THE PROFESSION’S 
INVISIBLE BACKBONE
Liliana Brožič DOI:10.33179/BSV.99.SVI.11.CMC.22.2.00
Last year’s final issue of Contemporary Military Challenges, which was dedicated to 
organizational culture, also included two articles publishing the results of a survey 
on young people’s interest in the military profession. This is a very topical issue as, 
in the last decade, the Slovenian Armed Forces has been facing a decreasing interest 
in the military. This is reflected in the gradual reduction in the number of personnel, 
although the interests of the state in terms of military activities are not reducing – 
quite the contrary. Ever since the beginning of the European migrant crisis in 2015, 
the Slovenian Armed Forces has been combining its regular functions with additional 
tasks assigned within the protection of the Schengen border, and recently has been 
actively involved in the activities around the Covid-19 epidemic.
Nataša Troha and Nuša Gorenak from the Slovenian Armed Forces conducted a 
survey on a sample of 7,418 high school students and described the results in their 
article entitled Job characteristics through the eyes of the young generation: survey 
research “Youth and their motives for the military profession”.
Nina Rosulnik and Janja Vuga Beršnak also conducted a survey of 221 male and 
female students, and presented the results in an article entitled What motivates the 
young people of the 21st century to join the military?
The results of both surveys are interesting and very useful for all those involved in 
the Slovenian Armed Forces’ manning efforts. Their task is not easy for a number of 
reasons. One of the main ones is that the manning of the Slovenian Armed Forces is 
not only a challenge for the military, but also for the Slovenian state, its government 
and the state administration. It is a systemic challenge and it should be tackled as 
such. Interestingly enough, the police have managed to retain the number of their 
employees compared to previous years, while the Slovenian Armed Forces has not. 
So, what is the difference between the police and the military as professions? At times 
Sodobni	vojaški	izzivi,	junij	2020	–	22/št.	2
Contemporary	Military	Challenges,	Jun	2020	–	22/No.	2
12 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
they seem similar, but again, at other times, we find them completely incomparable. 
Scientifically, this challenge, among others, is examined by military sociology.
Returning to the research of our four authors and their findings we learn that for 
young people who do not yet have their own families, the notion of family as a value 
is a very important factor influencing their choice of profession. Troha and Gorenak 
established that, from a total of 24 statements, the question of whether it would 
bother them to be away from family and friends for a long period of time due to work 
ranked second among high-school students’ priorities, with an average score of 3.3 
out of 5. Rosulnik and Vuga Beršnak, on the other hand, found that family ranks first 
among the values  that are most important to young students. These facts provide yet 
another reason to devote more attention to issues related to military families.
In the preparation of our thematic issue, we consequently agreed on a collaboration 
with Janja Vuga Beršnak, a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences 
in Ljubljana, who is project manager of a research project entitled Military specific 
risk and protective factors for military family health outcomes (J5 1786), funded by 
the Slovenian Research Agency.
It is true that we are focusing on military families for the first time in the history of 
Contemporary Military Challenges; however, in military sociology, this has been a 
long-researched topic. Military families are a very important, though often invisible, 
pillar of the functioning of every armed forces. The approach to military families is 
decided by each country, army or commander individually, depending on a variety 
of factors which will be revealed in more detail in the articles.
In the article Families in the maelstrom of late-modern social changes, Alenka 
Švab informs us about the general social changes that affect the formation of the 
family, the roles of mother and father, the birth of children in modern society, and 
the functioning of the family. We also learn about what essentially interests us in the 
discussion about military families – how does a military family differ from other 
modern families?
In the article Military-specific risk and protective factors for military family health 
outcomes: developing the model, Janja Vuga Beršnak states that both the family 
and the military are greedy institutions which expect a lot of sacrifice and full-time 
commitment from the individual. In an individual’s efforts to meet the expectations 
of both, they often find themselves in distress that can jeopardize the health of the 
individual and his or her family.
In the article The relevance of military families for military organizations and 
military sociology, Ljubica Jelušič, Julija Jelušič Južnič and Jelena Juvan 
explain the development of scientific thought in this field and the circumstances that 
have led to military families attracting research interest in military sociology. They 
present a historical overview, the current developments, and the dynamics of the 
Liliana Brožič
13 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
development of military sociology. It is surprising how much has already been done 
in this research area, both in the international environment and in Slovenia.
Kairi Kasearu, Ann-Margreth E. Olsson, Andres Siplane and Janja Vuga 
Beršnak agree with all of the above; however, they point out that the numerous 
international research studies include relatively little comparative analysis between 
countries, as it is a particular challenge to select which countries should be included 
in a sample. In the article Military families in Estonia, Slovenia and Sweden – 
similarities and differences, we can learn more about possible new solutions in the 
future, as well as about those that cannot be implemented in some countries.
One of these cases is described by Donabelle C. Hess. In her article, Military family 
readiness: the importance of building familial resilience and increasing family well-
being through military community support and services, she presents the supporting 
role of the military community when the entire family moves with a service member 
to be stationed overseas. In the Alliance, which brings together many countries, 
service members and their families, cultures and organizational approaches, this is 
an important task and a great opportunity.
Matej Jakopič writes about the support for military families in his article Structure 
of the support system for military families in the United Kingdom, Germany and 
Slovenia, providing another comparative analysis in this area. In his analysis, he 
compares Slovenia with two larger countries with a much longer military tradition 
and history, thus revealing some Slovenian peculiarities. He also presents the role of 
religious and spiritual care for members of the Slovenian Armed Forces.
Family is an extremely important factor that young people consider seriously 
when deciding to enter a military profession. For those, however, who are already 
employed in the military, especially in cases where both parents are members of the 
defence forces, the notion of a military family is of existential importance.
EDITORIAL: MILITARY FAMILIES: THE PROFESSION’S INVISIBLE BACKBONE