Military Review English Edition September-October 2013 | Page 20

depot maintenance will see 5,000 lose their jobs.”55 Each lost job affects a family and diminishes both interaction and mutual support—support necessary to maintain social capital and the Army Profession going forward. Each negative impact on the community weakens the bonds between the Army and the surrounding area. Each broken bond harms trust and the Army Profession. These challenges are daunting. Attempts to mitigate the rise in suicides and sexual assaults make small improvements, but nothing to stem the lost social capital. Lowered esprit de corps starts to change a unit’s culture. Reversing changes are tough, despite the impact those changes have on the Army Profession. Finally, the Army Profession needs to foster trust with the American people. Limited interaction and job losses hurt trust and the Army Profession. Still, these challenges are far from insurmountable.

Meeting the Challenge of Declining Social Capital

ADRP 1 outlines both requirements for and methods by which the Army Profession can face the challenge of declining social capital. Individual actions alone cannot overcome this loss. However, collective action and policies that foster similar activities can. Groups must come together and work to improve their social networks, norms of reciprocity, and trust by preventing the loss of social capital (See Figure 1). With each challenge identified earlier, the outcome is the same if no changes happen—a weak Army Profession. Addressing each issue that weakens social capital maintains the positive direction of the Army

Profession. The steps and the process to maintain the strength of the Army Profession is what requires creativity in leadership, policy, and individual actors within units. Create a place. First, creating a place outside of work develops social capital within organizations. At Fort Bliss, spaces for soldiers to interact with others builds bonds within and among units. A typical soldier’s day begins at 0630 and ends 12 hours later. Their home is the barracks and their kitchen is a dining facility, where they share a table with their peers from work. If the Army Profession relies on the workplace to foster social capital, the bonds are shallow if there is no interaction among unit members outside of work. A space or place encourages gathering and additional norms of reciprocity to grow. These places unite soldiers and create interactions away from work, televisions, and social media, improving social trust. The bonds made in these places are voluntary and provide the mutual support that can maintain or improve social capital and thus the Army Profession. Enduring units. The second recommendation is to build enduring units. While career gates and timelines are important, building unit cohesion takes time. Dissolving leadership and moving jobs immediately following a deployment or long training exercise splinters the bonds that took so long to develop. Socia