Wounded, but not defeated: from incapacitated to reintegrated. Exploring reintegration of wounded/injured/sick military armed forces employees

• Date: 29 November 2023
• Pages: 632-655
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-12-2021-0325
• Published date: 29 November 2023
• Author: Reimara Valk,Benito Versluijs

Wounded, but not defeated:

from incapacitated to reintegrated.

Exploring reintegration

of wounded/injured/sick military

armed forces employees

Reimara Valk

Department of Management, American University in Dubai,

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and

Benito Versluijs

Department of Business Operations and Human Resources,

Netherlands Ministry of Defence, Utrecht, Netherlands

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to explore the reintegration process of Wounded, Injured or Sick

Employees (WISE) of the Dutch Military Armed Forces.

Design/methodology/approach –The research method is an exploratory, qualitative case study.

A purposive sampling was drawn, including 10 WISE, and 6 reintegration stakeholders. A total of 16

interviews were conducted to explore the individual, organisational and socio-environmental factors that

influence reintegration of WISE.

Findings –Findings show the importance of involvement and participation of members of the social

environment in the reintegration process. Findings show that the complexity of the plethora of WISEs’injuries

and disabilities requires a more person-centric re integration approach with personalized-customized

provisions, rather than a policy-driven approach to the reintegration, in order to enhance the reintegration

experience and to arrive at beneficial individual and organisational reintegration outcomes.

Research limitations/implications –This cross-sectional study on a limited sample of WISE and

reintegration stakeholders does not allow for making inferences about the long-term effects of the reintegration

process on reintegration outcomes of the wider population of WISE. Future longitudinal research,

encompassing a larger sample, could examine the long-term career, organisational and societal implications

of reintegration of WISE within and outside the Military Armed Forces.

Practical implications –This paper presents a “Wounded Warrior Workplace Reintegration Program”,

aimed at deriving beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders involved in the reintegration trajectory.

Originality/value –This paper contributes to the literature by presenting a Model of Occupational

Reintegration of WISE that considers the factors at an individual, social-environmental, and institutional level

as determinants of successful reintegration.

Keywords Military armed forces, Wounded, Injured, Sick employees, Reintegration, Invictus

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Servingin the Military Armed Forces(MAF) is an honourablejob, as the MAF are taskedwith

peacekeeping, counter-terrorism(fighting national safety threats),protecting nationalterritory,

counter-insurgency operations, helping civil authorities in law enforcement, offering

humanitarian aid during natural and civil disasters safeguarding the security, stability,

safety and welfare of people in a country or region (NATO, 2020). These tasks are executed in

EDI

43,4

632

Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any

commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 24 December 2021

Revised 13 March 2023

8 October 2023

Accepted 19 October 2023

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 43 No. 4, 2024

pp. 632-655

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-12-2021-0325

challenging, austere, hazardous environments in which soldiers are exposed to risks and

dangers. Examples are arduous training and accidents during military exercise, for example

parachute jumping, cleaning up improvised explosive devices, working with hazardous

substances, executinghigh-intensity hostilecombat operations, (bomb)attacks duringa mission

in perilous combat zones, traffic accidents (Verey et al., 2016). Incidents duringmilitary service

often result in fatalities or physical and psychological disabilities [1]. Physical d isabilities incl ude

severe(non-battle) wounding and injuriesincludingamputations of limbs-,long-lasting,chronic

or permanentailments,comorbiditiesand multimorbidity(Besemann et al., 2018;Carruthers and

Harnett, 2008;Duca, 2021). Psychological disabilities include psychiatric comorbidities, for

example depression and anxiety and consequent behavioural health and psychosomatic and

somatopsychic conditions and illnesses, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), combat-related

polytrauma and traumatic brain injury (TBI) (Besemann et al., 2018;Bijleveld-Schouten, 2019;

Carruthersand Harnett,2008;Duca, 2021;Elnitskyet al., 2017b;Rosen thal,2019). Theimpact on

the livesof soldiers is significantas their life-longdisabilities or impairments limittheir day-to-

day functioning and require prolonged recovery; additionally, they face societal participation

restrictions and experience overall compromised well-being and quality of life (Besema nn et al.,

2018;Rosenthal, 2019). Moreover, soldiers suffering from long-lasting or permanent ailments,

psychological or physical disabilities are no longer capable of performing military service,

becausethey no longer meet the military servicejob requirements, thatis being physicallyand

mentally fit-for-the-job resulting in permanent discharge from military service. Collectively,

these individuals are called wounded, injured and sick Armed Forces Personnel, serving or

veteran (Verey et al., 2016), inthis paper referred to as “wounded, injuredand sick employees”

(WISE). After permanent discharge from military service, WISE need to reintegrate into civilian

life. In a military context, the term “reintegration”refers to both a process and outcome of

resuming civilian roles in the family, community and workplace, following completion of

military service (Elnitsky et al., 2017b;Romaniuk and Kidd, 2018).

Research has shown that military veterans face difficulties in making an effective

transition from military to civilian life following discharge from military service (Besemann

et al., 2018;Bradbard and Schmeling, 2018;Duca, 2021;Hawkins and Crowe, 2018;Elnitsky

et al., 2017a;Romaniuk and Kidd, 2018;Tutlys et al., 2018). Specifically, re-integration of

military personnel into the civilian labour market is reported as a top military-to-civilian

transition challenge and remains an complex issue (Bardi

es, 2011;Bradbard and Schmeling,

2018;Elnitsky et al., 2017b;Tutlys et al., 2018). The complexity of the issue is revolves around

assuring the right to work and continue employment; identifying the right job opportunities;

securing employment in a desired career field; translating military experience into value for

non-combatant work; utilization of the intersectoral competencies gained in military service;

professional self-realisation (Bradbard and Schmeling, 2018;Tutlys et al., 2018). These

difficulties arise as people with disabilities are a marginalized group in the labour market,

despite laws to aid persons with disabilities in gaining employment (Ros et al., 2017). As a

result of these transition challenges, WISE reintegration and civil employment initiatives

have become a key focus area for policymakers, employers, researchers and WISE

themselves, especially in the context of effective deployment of human resources under

conditions of contemporary demographic and labour market challenges (Bradbard and

Schmeling, 2018). Importantly, military service facilitates the acquisition of transferable

competencies, traits and experience and accumulated human capital that make WISE of great

value to organisations and society (Tutlys et al., 2018). Examples are leadership and team

building ability, cross-cultural skills, perseverance, mental and physical resilience,

collectivistic and civic-minded values, values of duty, suppression of individuality and

importance of honour, as well as “mission-first”attitude and orientation to the “here-and-

now”, commitment, obedience, strict discipline, loyalty to the institution, courage, ability to

accurately evaluate a dynamic decision environment and subsequently act in the face of

Wounded, but

not defeated

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