Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Date of Graduation
5-8-2020
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Department
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Second Advisor
Kimiko Tanaka
Third Advisor
Beth A. Eck
Abstract
The National Guard is an institution with a history older than the United States. Members are drawn to Guard service for a variety of reasons, and they face a range of difficulties as they manage their experiences in the Guard and in their civilian lives. This project offers a small case study, based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews, with six current or former Guard members. Findings highlight that these members experienced a range of frustrations that clustered around issues of recruitment, retention, and the balance of life. The purpose of this study was to gain a better idea of what are the motivating factors as to why individuals join the National Guard, reenlist in the Guard, and why some choose to leave the National Guard after some time. The result was more than expected with soldiers being very open about the incentives and drawbacks of being members of the National Guard.
