Repertoire of Biographical Choices of the Afghan War Veterans
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2024.3.2542Keywords:
choice, biographical uncertainty, veteran identity, resocialization, Afghan warAbstract
The article focuses on the biographical repertoire of choices made by veterans of the Afghan War, who in one way or another changed their life trajectories under the influence of their combat experience. Military sociology, the sociology of life course and biography provide several relevant concepts for exploring the transition to civilian peace, biographical uncertainty, and the (un)resourcefulness of life choices. The notion of choice is linked to the notion of agency in the context of biographical transitions marking the loss of former and acquisition of new social identities. The typology of agency applied by Steven Hitlin and Glen Elder in biographical action makes it possible to differentiate the characteristics of various choices in military biography in a meaningful way.
Empirically, the study bases on 17 biographical narrative interviews with veterans of the Afghan War, conducted in the technique of Fritz Schütze. It was found that the veterans' biographical trajectories contain both continuity with their pre-service experience and change of expected events. Participation in war as a turning point in biography is reflected in the narratively delivered reworking of veterans' life trajectories. The varying resourcefulness of veterans, both enlisted and career military, variously allowed them to manage their experiences to provide continuity or to "repair" biographical gaps through ongoing choices. However, some veterans have not been able to do so due to loss, disability, or unbridged biographical gaps. Biographical uncertainty due to the experience of war and transit makes post-war adaptation of combatants much more difficult and turns biographical transition into biographical choice, which requires more agency and involvement in social action.
Acknowledgments. This research is supported by the Faculty of Social Sciences, HSE University, within the framework of the project “Experience of local conflicts: processing, resocialization, disability”.
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