105 Sodobni vojaški izzivi, junij 2019 – 21/št. 2
Contemporary Military Challenges, June 2019 – 21/No. 2
VOJAŠKE AVTOBIOGRAFIJE:  
JIH SPODBUJATI, ODSVETOVATI ALI PREZRETI?
Esmeralda Kleinreesink
MILITARY AUTOBIOGRAPHIES:
ENCOURAGE, DISCOURAGE OR IGNORE?
Povzetek
Ključne 
besede
Abstract
DOI:10.33179/BSV.99.SVI.11.CMC.21.2.5
 106 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
Esmeralda Kleinreesink
Key words
Introduction
proves to be possible to predict whether a writer will write a positive or a negative 
are advised to particularly encourage writing by individually deployed personnel 
 
De 
Volkskrant
1 to 
2 Stage 
1 
of rank. 
 107 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
MILITARY AUTOBIOGRAPHIES: ENCOURAGE, DISCOURAGE OR IGNORE?
is created in this way is important, especially in crisis situations
 1 THEORY
Instituut voor Nederlandse 
Geschiedenis
3 My translation
 108 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
the twentieth century senior commanders had begun to take over the writing style 
conscripts, they assume that contemporary soldiers mainly write disenchantment 
precise numbers about the division between growth and disenchantment plots 
 
 
 
 2 METHODOLOGY
Esmeralda Kleinreesink
 109 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
 
 2.1 Who?
.
7
 
MILITARY AUTOBIOGRAPHIES: ENCOURAGE, DISCOURAGE OR IGNORE?
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Country Posts 2001-2008 RF Estimated # Soldiers
Australia 2.632 2 5.264
Belgium 2.096 3 6.288
Canada 11.510 2 23.020
Germany 20.771  2 - 3 53.434
The Netherlands 8.084 2 16.168
United Kingdom 28.030 2 56.060
United States 151.414 1 151.414
 2.2 What?
subjected to a crucial loss which results in his utter disillusionment’ is an example 
 3 RESULTS
 3.1 Who?
Table 1: 
Calculation 
of Estimated 
# Soldiers in 
Afghanistan
Esmeralda Kleinreesink
 111 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
10
11
Representiveness starts to decline when it comes to the division between conscripts, 
 X
11 X
Figure 1: 
Relationship 
between books 
published and 
No. of soldiers in 
Afghanistan per 
country
MILITARY AUTOBIOGRAPHIES: ENCOURAGE, DISCOURAGE OR IGNORE?
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12
be published by a traditional publisher than reservists
are (almost) exclusively published by traditional publishers, explaining the absence 
th century more 
the 21st
17
whereas younger soldiers may be more attracted to other public media such as blogs, 
 
13 
 X
 
 
 X
Esmeralda Kleinreesink
 113 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
 
, and 
 3.2 What?
st
 
 X
MILITARY AUTOBIOGRAPHIES: ENCOURAGE, DISCOURAGE OR IGNORE?
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stories in which the main character’s personality changes negatively, mainly because 
st
st
Esmeralda Kleinreesink
 115 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
 3.3 Plot predictions
20) 
 3.3.1 Working for the MoD
21
organization as no longer positive, in order to solve their cognitive dissonance22
 3.3.2 Combat/Combat support
direct losses in their own teams (and seeing death on the other side as well) and less 
 
 X
 
MILITARY AUTOBIOGRAPHIES: ENCOURAGE, DISCOURAGE OR IGNORE?
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 3.3.3 Combination
 whether a plot will be positive or 
Should they actively encourage, discourage or ignore book writing by military 
 
 Model X
Figure 2: 
Plots for the 
combination 
combat/combat 
support and 
working for the 
MoD
Conclusion
Esmeralda Kleinreesink
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Combat support
no work no work no workwork work work
Combat
 Positive plot 
 Negative plot
Total
 117 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
most reliable variable in predicting whether a book has a positive or a negative plot 
authors is to try to stimulate them to write while they are still in employment, and to 
the stories published by traditional publishers, the recommendation is to particularly 
1. 
3. 
Press.
 
Bibliography
MILITARY AUTOBIOGRAPHIES: ENCOURAGE, DISCOURAGE OR IGNORE?
 118 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
11. 
13. 
Studies.
zoek
Murray.
Econ.
Esmeralda Kleinreesink