Military boredom has been studied since World War II by a variety of researchers. A common conclusion is that boredom leads to alienation and then resentment and anger.
The findings of the current study take on added significance given the “non-kinetic” nature of much of the Marines’ counter-insurgency mission in Afghanistan.
Few troops will see active combat. But nearly all will be assigned tasks — standing post, providing security for convoys, repairing vehicles or other equipment, manning communication gear, handling administrative chores — that, while important, are not the kind of activities that attract young men and women to enlist in the Marine Corps.
The challenge, the researchers said, is for commanders to maintain the morale of their troops by emphasizing the importance of the mission. Highfill-McRoy is a specialist in the methodology of health research; Booth-Kewley is a psychologist.
How am I choosing to use boredom? Recent research reveals that our brains need a certain amount of downtime, that is, boredom, in order to be productive. Those moments when our minds wander are the moments that give us breakthrough thinking, insight and innovation. Reaching for the Blackberry when you’re stuck in a line-up, or processing e-mail during tedious meetings: these activities displace the former vacancies from which aha! moments once emerged. This is the year to commit to a minimum RDA of boredom, to foster habits that keep you from filling every moment with productive or engaging activity.
Now this is interesting. I have found two schools of thought in regards to boredom and I think they both have application to this industry.
The first connection I wanted to make was how some of today’s veterans that seek work as security contractors in this industry expect to be involved in the same kind of combat or kinetic operations that they were in in the military. The truth of the matter is is that most security contracting is exactly what would be classified as boring to the Marines in the study mentioned in the quote up top. “Standing post, providing security for convoys, repairing vehicles or other equipment, manning communication gear, handling administrative chores” are exactly the kinds of jobs that contractors are hired to perform.
The industry also seeks out individuals with extensive combat histories and highly specialized backgrounds, and yet they are only required to stand guard at some FOB or remote site, be a shift leader for TCN or LN guard forces, or perform basic convoy operations. For some guys, this is a nice break from their prior deployments in the military, but for others, you can just tell that security contracting is not for them. lol
Another group of contractors you might see would be former military folks or non-military with very little to no combat history, or they might be one of those types similar to the Marines mentioned in this first article. Because they were so aggravated in the military or past job by their non-kinetic operations (or their extremely boring post), that they come to the security contracting industry expecting something different with more action. When they see that it is actually more boring than they experienced in their prior deployments in the military or whatever job, you can only imagine what kinds of behavior you might expect with that kind of combination. Some learn to adjust, but others fail.
So does this mix of personalities and low-kinetic environments in war zones lead to possible incidents within our industry? Maybe. It is an interesting thought, and it would be interesting to do a similar study about the current wartime security contracting industry. Because this might explain why we continue to see embarrassing incidents arise from time to time due to contractors behaving badly out there. It could also explain some of the issues contractors have at the home front. (divorces, money issues, etc.)
Now for the good part of boredom. Often times out in the field, guys will fill the down time with activity on their computers. But they still have to be out on post or on a convoy for their duties, far from access to a computer. Plus their attention needs to be focused on some gate or the road or whatever. These are the mindless activities that require discipline, vigilance and focus, and yet lead to some serious boredom. Just staring out into the desert or ocean, or at some gate or warehouse for hours on end….. Pure boredom.
What is good about this boredom though is that guys are able to have those ‘a ha’ moments, because that duty actually allows them to have the “breakthrough thinking, insight and innovation”. It is really cool for those of us that are constantly online reading, researching, writing a blog, gaming, or doing online classes. You can really keep busy if you are immersed in all that technology. Having a break can be nice and it can allow you to think.
For this blog I often come up with all sorts of things when I have down time or doing some kind of boring activity. I think of stuff while on post, driving, running, you name it. But like the quote mentioned, you have to make time for boredom if you want your brain to process. At home or even overseas, that can be tough when you have a smart phone in your pocket, or a computer in your bag that you can always browse with or play games with.
So for those contractors out there reading this, the time spent on your lonely post or doing road work, could actually be a good thing if you are able to look at in a ‘glass half full’ kind of way. You are not only focused on providing security or driving, but you are also allowing your brain to ‘incubate, illuminate‘. Because the ‘saturation’ phase might have happened the night before or whenever.
In other words, that non-kinetic security contractor job that might seem boring, could actually be a perfect opportunity for you to innovate, create, and come up with some amazing solutions to complex problems. Or you can let the boredom of your job get to you, and you do something stupid on the job or act out aggressively in order to alleviate that boredom or lack of action on your contract. Stuff to think about and as Sun Tzu says “know yourself“. –Matt
War zone boredom for Marines can lead to misbehavior when they return home, study finds
Social Medai in 2011: Six Choices You Need to Make
Boredom (Wikipedia)
War zone boredom for Marines can lead to misbehavior when they return home, study finds
By Tony Perry
May 21, 2010
It’s long been assumed — correctly — that a Marine who experiences the psychological trauma of combat in Iraq or Afghanistan has an increased chance of getting into trouble when he comes home.
But two researchers at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego have found another deployment experience that can be an even greater precursor of future bad behavior: boredom.
A survey of 1,543 Marines at Camp Pendleton, Twentynine Palms and the Marine base in Okinawa, Japan, found that the Marine most likely to disobey orders, get into physical confrontations, neglect his family or run afoul of the police is the one who reports that his war zone deployment was marked by boredom.
Dr. Stephanie Booth-Kewley and Robyn Highfill-McRoy, of the research center’s behavioral sciences and epidemiology department, reported on their study to the Navy and Marine Corps Combat & Operational Stress Conference this week in San Diego. Their findings may later be published in the journal Aggressive Behavior.
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