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Description
The project has a strong innovative character in the context of military higher education because it aims to introduce combat mindset training for military students, for the first time in Romania.
This type of training was successfully developed in the Norwegian army by the DS partner and will be accompanied by the adaptation in Romanian of a psychological assessment tool, The Multidimensional Self-Control Scale.
The main target group consists of military students and the staff of the project promoter, and the secondary target group of military psychologists.
Summary of project results
Starting with 1993, over 55,000 military soldiers participated in international missions (according to Army Press Trust; http://presamil.ro/11-noiembrie-ziua-veteranilor-din-teatrele-de-operatii) and were exposed to extreme and challenging events. Romanian soldiers have now the opportunity to have multiple career opportunities, in both the national and international context where the militaries are deployed. Moreover, they can also work in other professional contexts, like private ones, before and after they finish their military service career (i.e. after the age of 50). Therefore, a military officer’s career is considered by most as desirable and recommends militaries for other career opportunities because: a) there is a high trust Romanians have for the army, in general; b) there is a rigorous selection of militaries, including a psychological one, a medical and a physic one; c) competition is high and d) military students are given a motivating salary and they already know their uprising career evolution. Still, their career trajectory includes hardship and challenges. In fact, although most people see the military career as a sure and a lifetime job, the military service usually includes psychological risk in the form of different types of disorders (i.e. posttraumatic stress syndrome).
Nevertheless, a military career is extremely desirable for young people and there is higher competition in the military universities, compared to the usual national universities, especially for those from disadvantaged or vulnerable groups. In fact, students from vulnerable environments represent 45 % of the military students enrolled in the Academy (i.e. within the PP university). Therefore, the project focused on the social inclusion of vulnerable groups, but also on democracy and citizenship topics because it included a teaching module in a field with a strong inter-disciplinary component (i.e. combat mindset training). The curriculum of this module for continuous training targeted and updated what has already been acquired as knowledge, like for example basic military training, but also new thorough and specific military training of the primary target group (military students).
In the reported period, the project fully complied with the proposed timeline. The main achievements are:
- organization of the project launch event, held in Brașov on April 20, 2022 (with 235 physical attendants: 224 military students and 11 guests, according to the attendance lists);
- organization of two transnational project meetings (one in Drammen, Norway, and one in Brașov);
- translation and adaptation of the Multidimensional Self-Control Scale in Romanian;
- organization of two conferences MSCS in military staff evaluation conference, held in Bucharest on October 13-14, 2022, at National Military Circle and Combat Mindset Training, held in Brasov, 3-5 aug. 2023
- translation of Combat Mindset and Mental Conditioning in Romanian. Instructor Course (MCIC) and organization of Train-the-Trainer session based on this manual, held in Brașov on October 17-18, 2022 (with the attendance of 38 military teaching staff and instructors belonging to 5 Romanian military universities, and 14 military students);
- selection of 20 cadets (PP) for CoMind course/ first semester, 2022-2023 university year;
- selection of 20 cadets (PP) for CoMind course/ second semester, 2022-2023 university year;
- the curricular design of the subjects: Pregătirea mintală pentru câmpul de luptă (Combat Mindset Training, CoMind) I and Pregătirea mintală pentru câmpul de luptă (Combat Mindset Training, CoMind) II, related to the academic year 2023-2024, 1st and 2nd semesters (PP, September 2023);
- inclusion of the subjects: Pregătirea mintală pentru câmpul de luptă (Combat Mindset Training, CoMind) I and Pregătirea mintală pentru câmpul de luptă (Combat Mindset Training, CoMind) II in the educational plan related to the educational/training series of students 2023-2026 (PP, started with October 2023);
- four papers published in academic journals, with authors from the three partner organizations;
- presentation of the project results through communications held within two online conferences, organized by the Romanian Academy, Iasi branch;
- implementation of the initially proposed communication plan.
The main results of the project were:
- The Multidimensional Self-Control Scale;
- Combat mindset training module;
- Andronic, R.-L. ; Boe, O. ; Nilsen, F. ; Marineanu, D.V. ; Șerbeszki, M. ; Lesenciuc, A. ; Calin, C. și Taranu, I. (2022). Combat Mindset Training for Military Students: showcasing a new collaborative Project. The article is published in Journal of International Doctoral Research - https://jidronline.files.wordpress.com/
- Boe, O, Nilsen, Nilsen, F. Marineanu, D.V., D.V., Șerbeszki, Andronic, R-L , Lesenciuc, A. Călin, C. și Țăranu, I..(2023). CoMind – COMbat MINDset Training for Military Students. The article is published in in Revista de Psihologie Militara https://www.militarypsychology.ro/revista/
-the volume of the Combat Mindset Training Conference volume, available at https://www.afahc.ro/ro/rcic/2023/RCIC''23/volum_2023/Volume_RCIC''23.PDF (see M2 Combat mindset training tools), included the following papers :
- Combat Mindset. The millisecond that could save youlife (Adrian Lesenciuc,Marius Șerbeszki, Răzvan Lucian Andronic, Gillian Warner-Søderholm, OleBoe, Vasile Doru Marineanu, Iulian Țăranu)
- Combat Mindset as a communication process: task awareness, preparation and execution (Adrian Lesenciuc, Iasmina-Georgiana Sauciuc)
Summary of bilateral results
The Norwegian partner''s contribution was prominent in all project activities. In the case of this project, the involvement of the partner from the donor country was essential, due to the unique expertise of their experts in testing and mental training of the military.The main results include:- translation and adaptation of the Multidimensional Self-Control Scale in Romanian;- organization of the MSCS in military staff evaluation conference, held in Bucharest on October 13-14, 2022, at National Military Circle;- translation in Romanian of Combat Mindset and Mental Conditioning. Instructor Course (MCIC) and organization of Train-the-Trainer session based on this manual, held in Brașov on October 17-18, 2022 (with the attendance of 38 military teaching staff and instructors belonging to 5 Romanian military universities, and 14 military students);- organization of the final conference (3-5 Aug 2023) by PP, with the involvement of one keynote speaker, the project manager from P1;- the contribution as co-authors of the Norwegian experts in four papers published in academic journals, and in the presentation of the project results through communications held within two online conferences (organized by the Romanian Academy, Iasi branch).