Military Review English Edition September-October 2013 | Page 18

The Army Profession requires trust and esprit de corps to develop itself and the Army Culture. Without either, the Army Profession does not exist. Social capital enhancement provides avenues through which units and leaders can foster social trust and pride, resulting in a prospering Army Profession.

The Army, the Profession, and the Impacts of Collapsing Social Capital

barracks.47 With these acts occurring in a soldier and unit’s home, it is nearly impossible to develop esprit de corps when individual members fear others at work and home. Any sexual assault is a breach of trust and leads to a diminished valuation of the Army Profession by both those within and those outside of the Army. Unless the trend of both suicides and sexual assault declines and social trust and mutual support increase, the Army Profession will struggle to remain strong.

ADRP 1 relies heavily on components of social capital to develop the Army Profession. However, the problem is when structures designed to naturally create social capital disappear. Moreover, a decline in social capital nationally leads to a similar decrease in the military. The difference between a decline in the nation and decline in the Army is that the Army Profession relies on social capital to succeed and instill its values. Increasing numbers of suicide, sexual assault, and toxic leaders and decreasing interaction with the civilian population substantiates the Army’s loss of social capital. Limited mutual support and trust between soldiers. The rising number of suicides within the Army shows a breakdown in social capital. In 2012, the Army had 182 suicides, up from 166 in 2011.44 These numbers follow a trend of increasing suicides over the past decade.45 In spite of awareness and a plethora of prevention programs, this trend line shows that some units lack the norm of mutual support. While there is no definitive interpretation of the rise, social isolation is one plausible explanation. Putnam identifies similar suicide trends nationally, with individualism and a “weakened commitment” to organizations and groups isolating those prone to depression.46 Without unit bonds, mutual support disappears. Without mutual support, soldiers must fight alone instead of as a team. Increasing social capital provides the networks and associated norms to create a commitment to organizations larger than oneself. Without social capital, reversing the suicide trend and increasing mutual support is difficult. Furthering issues of trust at the individual soldier level, the Army reported 1,695 sexual assaults during fiscal year 2011 (combining restricted and unrestricted reports). The majority of these incidents involve junior enlisted soldiers in the
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Increasing numbers of suicide, sexual assault, and toxic leaders and decreasing interaction with the civilian population substantiates the Army’s loss of social capital.

Breakdown in Leader Trust and Unit Pride

Another sign of declining social capital is the increase in toxic leaders, who act unethically, foster closed and poor command climates, blame others for their own problems, are overly critical, and avoid interacting with subordinates.48 The CASAL found nearly one in five leaders rated as toxic. Most occurrences of toxic leadership are at the small-unit level, with junior officers rated least positively and company-level NCOs with the lowest average scores. In other words, the leaders closest to soldiers, those who interact with families, conduct training, and maintain sol Y\?]?[?Y[?\?H??H[??Z?[H??H?X?H[??[???[X[??[X]H?8?'?[???\?[??\?X?8?'H\?\??[?X[??\??]H????%?\??[?????\??\?\?^H?YH\???Y?[?[??L?X?XY\??\???[?^?][??[?]??\?[???Y??Z[?[??\?\X\??]]X[?\?[??X?\???]H?[?\?\?HX????\?[?[?]???[Z]?HX?[]H?X???\\?HZ\??[?[?XZ[?Z[?H?[?\???H\?^H??\??[??LB??\[X?\?S???\??L?;?kRSUT?H?U?QU??