Psych Educ, Document ID: PEMJ0, doi: 10.5281/zenodo.

6777190, ISSN 2822-4353

Research Article

Survival in Times of Adversity Among Active Military Personnel with

Local-Armed Conflict Exposure
Camille V. De Leon*
For affiliations and correspondence, see the last page.

Abstract
Local-armed conflict exposure among active military personnel is considered an inherent challenge in
their survival capacity. This study aims to explore and determine the essence of the lived
experiences of selected active Filipino military personnel who continue with their military service
notwithstanding their participation from local-armed conflict. It utilized a qualitative
phenomenological approach wherein five active enlisted military members who met the inclusion
criteria voluntarily participated and undergone tele-interview using a semi-structured mode of
interviewing. Data analysis yielded three structural themes of their lived experience from local-
armed conflict exposures that pertains to (a) hardening in psychophysiological attributes; (b) testing
of morality, and (c) sensing towards action mechanism which mostly encompasses the adaptation
they have individually employed in the adversities of the lived encounters. This study contributed in
determining the mental health of selected active military personnel that have endured the challenges
of their actual participation in said phenomenon.

Keywords: Active Military Personnel, Adversity, Local-armed Conflict Exposure

Introduction Exemplified typical effects among soldiers were being

An armed conflict exposure entails a fight between
groups or commonly used as an encounter that military
forces face to do their sworn duty to live or die for
peace of the country. It is often seen and engaged
among military personnel with their battle gears and
armaments; and such exposure is being considered as
an inherent experience associated with the lives of
active military members that is viewed as an imminent
and an unpredictable threat to life (Jones, 2006). It has
an imprint on the occupational calling of military
personnel (Frickenstein, 2005) — a commitment to
service while also battling their own survival in the
said event.
It is known that military background sets their
resources at their military training to equip them in
challenging situations (Halvorson, 2010) whereas
undesirable strains must be endured. In the local
context, recent past urban warfare of Marawi where
over 12,000 Filipino soldiers served as frontline in
battle to fight against an extremist peril (Fonbuena,
2017) is only one among the previous unforgettable
armed conflict exposure that Filipino armed forces
have. Such encounter had history traces with
insurgency over the years (Jamal, 2016) but such event
highlights the untold representation of endurance
among active military personnel who survived the
adversity from an armed conflict which demanded
their individual resources.
released from service due to physiological or
psychopathological condition and even death from
experiencing a combat- related exposure (Canares-
Yamsuan, 2019; Gutierrez, 2020). While for some who
did not acquire any adverse effects, they face the
difficulty to venture and prepare for a transition to
civilian life (Schnittker, 2018); others disconnect from
military service that used to define them to find an
opportunity to start a new life; establish purpose after
service and build through adaptation (Gordon et al.,
2020). Meanwhile, for those who continue their
military service despite the risk of the experience,
there is something worth knowing which is to
determine its essence to their psyche and what impact
or drive does the experience has on them as each
military personnel perceives the experience different
from one another.
The reviewed literatures pertaining to armed conflict
exposure among the military population has been
interchangeably referred to as a combat experience in
this study which dwell on its attachment to
psychopathology wherein its positive relationship to
the condition of posttraumatic stress disorder is
apparent. Local studies that were available about the
military context often exemplified this account through
studies of combat-related stress sequelae among active
soldiers who have past armed or combat engagement
and emphasized the weight of their index trauma that
incapacitates their functioning (Ilagan, 2010; Dela
Cruz-Fajarito & De Guzman, 2017). Further, such

Camille V. De Leon
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encounter was regarded as a potentially traumatic
event for some who acted as combatants with the
actual or threatened death that it projects towards them
and their comrades that brought distress and low
morale, resulted from a case study of active soldiers
diagnosed with a combat-related PTSD (Fajarito & De
Guzman, 2017). Its relation to certain aspects of a
traumatic period was sought to constitute a risk-factor
for PTSD through increased combat exposure,
discharging weapon, witnessing someone being
wounded or killed, and other deployment-related
stressors (Xue et al., 2015). Aside from this, other
findings lead to indirect effects of combat-related
exposure with post-deployment physical symptoms
through depression and insomnia (Quartana et al.,
2015), however, it did not provide evidence of
association between these behavioral and health
factors and said studies had the assumption that a
traumatic exposure was combat- related among
military members. According to a study, combat
exposure did not warrant a long-term relationship with
subjective well-being leading to depression, lower life
satisfaction, and self-reported poor or fair health,
therefore, recommending for extensive research on
comprehensive indicators of combat exposure to prove
the underlying complex relationship (Yang & Burr,
2016).
An armed conflict exposure is considered as a diverse
“risk” to situations witnessing or perpetrating acts of
violence, inflicting injuries, situations wherein
witnessing or handling bodies of other civilians or
even other military members who have been harmed or
killed, and other related experiences. With this, Kelber
and colleagues (2019) studied on the role of different
types of combat exposure to psychopathology
identification among active military members who
screened positive for PTSD by quantifying the level of
negative exposures they incurred which resulted on
four classes of military members’ combat experiences:
limited exposure, medical exposure, unit exposure, and
personal exposure. Among these typologies, personal
exposure from those individuals who personally fired
at an enemy and were responsible for the death of
an enemy was highlighted as the most distinct combat
experience and further characterized by a mental
health profile of higher PTSD symptoms level at
baseline. Moreover, other studies associate facets of
combat exposure to dead bodies and danger of being
killed were also drawn to PTSD manifestation
(MacGregor et al., 2015) and increased mental health
symptoms of depression and anxiety in later life arise
from military veterans’ exposure to combat than those
who had not experienced or seen any (Hyunyup et al.,
2019). Researchers still contend that combat exposure
Camille V. De Leon
has a unique impact on these trajectories and seen
independent of other health issues or stressful life
events and further prompts for a thorough
understanding of how military members’ experiences
from an armed conflict may vary from different war
settings.
Foregoing studies often focused on the severity of an
armed conflict exposure as a single continuum and has
not shown other dimensions of this experience,
especially among active military personnel. Knowing
such experience as a stressor factor does not solely
affect to aforementioned psychological outcomes as
there were other subjective factors from it which
resides in an individual that could also play a part over
the course of deployment to combat experiences (Lee,
2019; Russell & Russell, 2019). How they personally
perceive that such exposure may result on different
outcomes. Other varied samples of military members
who have had different armed conflict exposure
without existing psychopathological symptoms may
yield different outcomes as the direction of this study.
Other literatures uphold projecting life changes
following combat or armed exposure. A foreground
study showed that while non-combat veterans had
minimal change in depressive and anxiety symptoms,
combat veterans had non- direct changes which bring
indefinite outcomes throughout their life (Spiro et. al.,
2016). The impact of military service inclusive of their
combat experience as one of its factors contends that
its effects are life-long; multidimensional; leads to
both gains and losses as it affects people differently;
experienced in a matrix of social relationship which
can be protective or create a risk over time and
influenced by sociohistorical context. However,
studies about armed conflict exposure from the
foregoing still have an indefinite outcome among
military personnel as some resort to study specific
short-term outcome; negative or even long-term
outcome from a single adverse event which must be
seen as a neutral continuum of possible conclusion due
to the distinct experiences and individual perspective
of military personnel. As such, evaluation of military
service considering their recalls or reconstructions of
experience as the best period; the worst period; one of
the most influential periods and a turning point in life;
as well as whether service was more of an advantage
than a disadvantage, and its lifetime costs and benefits
showed that there are two simultaneous and seemingly
oppositional faces in a war or combat experience
among military veterans—aligning one end into a
positive and transformative pattern while the other
directs to a painful and traumatic pattern (Spiro et al.,
2018).
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Aside from the aforementioned conditions from an
armed conflict or combat situation, there are changes
in character strength from deployments of military
members but the sequence by which military members
process the event of combat exposure is not detailed
from prior studies which examine its psychological
process leading to an outcome (Chopik et al., 2020).
The available understanding of how resilient one
becomes, or one weathers from an adverse experience
is mostly theoretical in nature and yet to be critically
investigated. From the outline of soldier emotional
wellbeing model from Harms and et al. (2013), combat
experience is one of the risk factors being mediated by
protective factors brought about by each military
member’s training, personality characteristics and
leadership support in determining wellbeing, and
performance. In addition, the important interplay of
individual factors such as age, ethnicity, gender, period
of service, current service status, have been into
combat or not add an impact on the experiences of
military members (France, 2019). Another vital
descriptive component of military service is the rank
of each active members which pertains to purposes of
a) maintaining order as they were sorted according to
training and experience level to maintain authority and
discipline; b) assign responsibility to operations and
contribute to mission; c) assure a continuation of
command for the direction of all its members; d)
benchmark for evaluating performance as members
take on greater responsibility and experiences earn
merits; and a measure of prestige that impacts
psychologically to a member as one accomplishes a
given task in their military service (Moore, 2017). It
plays an intrinsic role when they are faced with strains
of an armed conflict experience.
There is no singularity on the main component of an
armed conflict exposure which can identify a specific
association to psychological outcomes. Also,
understanding the components of structure,
commitment to mission, the role of honor, and
sacrifice to duty in the military service of active
military personnel is important in relating to their lived
experience from an armed conflict exposure.
Unexplored accounts within the local context
compared to western literatures and how the dialectal
psychological consequences following a local-armed
conflict experience is composed among active military
samples who are not experiencing psychopathological
conditions is suggested.
With a focus on the individual perspective with their
inherent assets to translate the meaning of
experiencing a local-armed conflict exposure, this
study explored the lived experience of active military
Camille V. De Leon
personnel through the research questions:
1. what are the lived experiences of active
military personnel with local-armed conflict
exposure? and
2. how does local-armed conflict exposure impact
the lives of active military personnel?; as a
phenomenon mediated between the subject and
their situation.
Methodology
Research Design
This study used qualitative research specifically an
interpretative phenomenological analysis design to
explore and understand the meaning that people assign
to their experience through an inductive style with a
concentration on human experience (Creswell &
Creswell, 2018). The researcher interpreted the
meaning that they ascribe to the said phenomenon and
sought the impact of having such experience among
the selected active military personnel participants.
Participants
Purposeful sampling was employed that met the
criteria for the study (Patton, 2015). The researcher
tapped five (5) enlisted active military personnel based
on two base criteria: 1) those who have the experience
relevant to the phenomenon (Englander, 2012) have
actual engagement or direct participation in a local-
armed conflict exposure, and 2) has active status as
military personnel and continuing their military service
after the experience of a local-armed conflict.
Data Collection
Instrument
The researcher used a semi-structured interview guide
with open-ended questions to describe and reflect the
meaning of the phenomenon per se, corresponding to
their experiences of having local-armed conflict
exposure as active military personnel.
Procedure
Data collection focused on the important ideas and
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concepts from descriptions that were obtained from
personal accounts of active military personnel
participants on their experience of local-armed conflict
exposure.
Initially, informed consent was individually sent to
potential participants to let them understand and agree
with the objective of the study as well as an overview
of their voluntary partaking in the study. Secured
permission for audio-recording the interview process
was also indicated in the form with assigned codes to
their identity for strict confidentiality and ethical
principle in doing psychological research. Afterward,
the researcher determined the availability of the
participant and scheduled the tele-interview. The
interviews were conducted with the use of the Filipino
language in which the participants felt comfortable
sharing their lived experiences.
The interview proper has three portions. The first part
deal with relevant questions about the participant's
context and background. The second part was
formatted from the research objectives about the actual
local-armed conflict experience with questions tackled
about the actual time, task, and emotional components
as well as reflection on the lived experience of each
participant to give an in-depth meaning of the
phenomenon. Throughout the interview process, the
researcher did note- taking of the important transitions
and ideas conveyed by the participants to keep track of
their responses. Lastly, the researcher asked for the
final thoughts of the participant and how one felt about
the interview to process the totality of the shared
experience for debriefing purposes. After clarifications
were made, the researcher extended gratitude to each
participant for voluntary partaking before ending the
interview.
Risk management was handled by the researcher via
an informant officer who assisted in the voluntary
partaking of participants. Specifically, a referral
system was indicated in the protocol throughout the
duration of the study if an intervention will be needed
for any risk that might be encountered. There is no
reported encountered risk from the participants
through their point of contact.
Data Analysis
The full transcriptions of the interviews were taken
into a written format for the purpose of data analysis.
Data collected were subjected in a four-step analysis
from a flexible and practical guide under an
interpretative phenomenological analysis (Pietkiewicz
& Smith, 2014) through a thematic mapping to explain
Camille V. De Leon
the context of the lived experience among five (5)
selected active military personnel with local-armed
conflict exposures: (1) the researcher adopted a
phenomenological attitude and immersed oneself to
the data in order to allow oneself be present to
the lived experience of the participant; (2) read the
entire written accounts in order to make sense of the
whole or the phenomenon under study; (3) made
exploratory notes or comments from multiple readings
of the data or initial meaning units; (4) transformed
notes to emergent themes with reflection of the data
and 5) sought relationship and made clustered themes
out of the interpreted salient parts of their lived
experiences. The aforementioned analysis relied on
discovery of the participants’ meaning making through
their own lived experience in a phenomenon.
Generated themes presented a synthesis of the
psychological structure from the accounts of the
experience.
Establishing Trustworthiness
Sustained rapport with the participants was essential
for the subject-to-subject relationship and captured the
subject-to-phenomenon connection in the study. It
allowed the receptiveness of the participants relevant
to explore their lived experience. The researcher of
this study has suspended own held biases and applied
an emphatic listening to the details of the participant’s
lived experience to gain an understanding and made
each participant felt no judgment in their own
experience. Moreover, the credibility of the data
gathered in the study was verified and subjected for
review from related individual with knowledge on the
phenomenon and an audit trail to achieve the
confirmability of the findings according to the research
path and established strong link to the data.
Ethical Consideration
This study was evaluated and was granted ethical
approval from the Institutional Review Board of Holy
Angel University. The researcher practiced ethical
measures to protect the right of the participants who
have voluntarily participated in this study.
Results
The results of data analysis yielded three interrelated
structures of themes that depict the lived experiences
of five (5) selected active military personnel with
local-armed conflict exposures. These pertain to
hardening in psychophysiological attributes; testing of
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one’s morality and sensing towards action mechanism
which depicted the adaptation and individual
perception they have had from the lived experience.
Hardening in Psychophysiological Attributes
The local-armed conflict exposures they have had
tested their physical capabilities and spirit in battle.
The lived experience was regarded as a call of duty for
each selected participant where no one quits unless one
has to die in honor of serving and defending the
country against insurgence or localized terrorism. One
has to endure the hardships in a hostile environment.
Its psychological component entails their cognitive
perception of the experience. It includes having a
feeling of being the “lowest mammal” (Code Alpha).
Further depicted other struggles sought as they recall
their initial personal experience by getting into the
frontline of an encounter:
“Almost day and night we can't sleep there, we can't
drink water, we can't eat, No sleep, that's what
happened in my life there” (Code Charlie); “almost
like day to night, minute by minute you had an
encounter in the area” (Code Delta)
The experience itself was seen as a call of duty
wherein even at their lowest state, they still need to
follow orders and trust orders while in the armed
encounter operation. At first, negative thought was
there, but the emotional aspect of the perceived feeling
of being inferior reinforces them to have courage and
trusting themselves that they will finish the task and it
is being reciprocated with a need to thrive in the
experience.
“In my first assignment, we are always ordered, it is
really like that when you’re a junior, when you have
an operation you are the first pot who gets in the
operation, you’re really a carrier.” (Code Alpha) “I
haven't been home for more than a year. Although
there is always operation, I enjoy it. When I enter
something that I want, no matter what happens I want
it and I'll do it.” (Code Bravo) “I got sent over to
somewhere; to the mountains. Difficult encounter,
where there is trouble, we will be sent there.” (Code
Charlie) “Even if it's chaotic, you will go there. It's
your duty, you're going there.” (Code Echo)
The experience also entails a mentality that serves as
an end urin g patter n both p h y sically and
psychologically as they have stated. Further, such
disposition also aids as their motivation while in the
Camille V. De Leon
encounters because they have to fight for survival.
“Very tired but along the way you just can't feel
tired because you have to fight against it,” (Code
Alpha), “If you lose yourself, you will be afraid-
nothing will happen to you, it may be possible for a
soldier to die because he doesn't know what you are
doing” (Code Bravo), “That is really what you’re
trained and pointed at you- mindset; on the first
gunfire, get down and get covered- that is what were
taught… but when you first shoot and you advanced,
you will die” (Code Echo)
The cognitive restructuring that one employs is
considered a mental skill that boosts their spirit to
overcome the adverse event no matter what the
outcome might be. The mind plays an essential role to
redirect self-defeating thought into a coping
mechanism by getting through the day and get passed
the tensions of the armed encounter. Such way of
thinking in their lived experience had laid down their
behavioral planning to see how far they can go through
the stress and threat of the situation. It is a no one quits
attitude that refuels the hardiness of their identity as
active military personnel. The practice of their
cognition and emotional regulation in a real-world
scenario to see how can adapt to the experience.
On the other hand, there is a counterpart physiological
component of hardiness in them as one physically
endures the hardships of the experience from local-
armed conflict exposure. This goes as one soldier does
not go to battle with a fainted heart; their readiness and
preparedness to respond to what should and ought to
do in the lived experience.
“You should not be slow; you will act fast... when
you are slow the opponent will catch up with you”
(Code Charlie), “Because that is where spirit is
coming, skill is what works.” (Code Echo)
It also builds on them the acceptance of the experience
as a factor that reinforces them as well as building
their trust to commands to survive the ordeal of the
event. Life is being sacrificed during encounters and it
was seen as preparing for the worst outlook on them.
“You have to accept everything because it’s part of
your job, what will happen that you will have to go
through, you have to accept it because it will be not
give to you if you cannot get through it.” (Code
Bravo), “If you think that you are in a war, you are
really negative that maybe I will be the next one to be
killed.” (Code Delta)
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“You have to follow the command, because even if
you are in an encounter there is a command to follow,
you cannot separate from your teammates.” (Code
Alpha), “In frontline, you need to bring the team next
to the official, command what the command says, relay
the orders.” (Code Charlie), “When it comes to
encounters, especially with juniors, follow the senior's
command, just listen. Even if the leader dies, the next
one will be in- charge next.” (Code Delta)
In their lived experience, it was also expressed as a
situation wherein no one gets to choose a battle. One
has to keep going even when casualties are met among
their fellow soldiers. Alongside it, exhaustion is never
laid to prevail. The experience has an imprint on these
soldiers that where there is a dispute, as servants of the
state to protect and defend the land, they have no
hesitation to face whomever rebel or terrorist group
there is. Their ability to foresee for themselves the
negative aspect of the experience let them prepare for
the demand of the experience.
“When the dead bodies were retrieved, the walk will
be continued. We kept on going. Then, we arrived
(in the area) and continued our operation”. (Code
Alpha) “You can hardly feel it... you almost have an
encounter 3 times a day... we have an encounter in the
morning, starts at 6am, ends at 7 in the evening. There
are too many enemies. There you have no choice in
what you are. You will really come when there is an
operation, that’s how it is.” (Code Delta), “There you
have no choice in what you are. You will really come
when there is an operation, that’s how it is.” (Code
Echo)
On the other hand, it is also where no one has the exact
image of what the outcome their experience in an
encounter would be. Expecting the unexpected
outcome even though it means losing the life of other
soldiers in a mission was a sacrifice and they were also
being fought at greater capabilities by their opponents
that further made the experience rigid.
“Last part of mission. That time we entered at night,
unexpected entry, there was a landmine on our
entrance, some of our comrades died. Which should
not have happened, we got too confident, but that's just
how it is as part of the job.” (Code Bravo)
“Don’t underestimate opponents because their
bullets are also high calibers, their guns are also high
powered. What guns we have, they also have it and
Camille V. De Leon
even stronger”. (Code Delta)
More so than the training preparedness they have,
formed psychophysiological attributes tend to drive
them to be objective despite the uncertainties. It
dictates and propels them towards the behavioral
pattern to move forward and to achieve the main goal
of survival in times of adversity in the experience.
They have a critical job where fear is imminent and
they have to apply what they have learned to the actual
battlefield to protect their lives and that of other fellow
soldiers. It is keeping their spirit up and their displays
of toughness enable them to gain control of their
situation.
More so than the training preparedness they have,
formed psychophysiological attributes tend to drive
them to be objective despite the uncertainties. It
dictates and propels them towards the behavioral
pattern to move forward and to achieve the main goal
of survival in times of adversity in the experience.
They have a critical job where fear is imminent and
they have to apply what they have learned to the actual
battlefield to protect their lives and that of other fellow
soldiers. It is keeping their spirit up and their displays
of toughness enable them to gain control of their
situation.
Testing of Morality
Upon entering the military as enlisted personnel in the
active service, they ought to do their duties which are
to serve the people and secure the land (Philippine
Army Mandate). These are the given nature of the
profession but their experiences at local-armed
conflicts formally defined them as a soldier that
always comes with a challenge wherein at first, one
will take with no hesitation as they are equipped with
training preparedness. However, there comes a point
wherein one has to reflect and weigh their held values
in the lived experience.
“I was asked if I want a challenge, I said yes- but I
just want to get alive... to live life, not get there deal
with death. I entered (an encounter) then I came to a
point, asking why; you have seen someone who had
been shot, why does it have to happened?” It’s part of
my job. (Code Bravo)
It is regarded as a serious thought of principles that a
soldier has to rationalize for himself at the time of the
armed conflict encounter. Moreover, the subjectivity
of the lived experience from a personal perspective
was seen as an avenue where conscience and values
processing at crucial times plays a factor in the
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cognitive and emotional apprehension where feelings
of a moral dilemma about the weight of an outcome
depend on which action they will take. For one of the
active military personnel, it often entails a life and
death situation that whichever decision they take, there
is a living sacrifice.
“The most painful thing that ever happened to me, I
have to choose if I need to take the life of a boy and a
girl. Do I really need to take their lives? I closed my
eyes then I shot him. They said I did the right thing
because that is our job, if there is a wrong deed that
we see, we need to correct.” (Code Bravo)
The above-mentioned action was chosen in exchange
for serving the greater good specifically at that time of
an unconventional armed conflict encounter. As a
soldier at encounters, they had to carefully analyze
difficult decisions in a given situation to take the right
action and alleviate misdeed in as much as they can.
Even after the experience at a local-armed conflict,
they still hold the memory of such an event because as
it carries the most emotional part of the experience for
them.
“When there is someone who got hit; even if we are
soldiers, we also cry especially when your companion
is the one who was hit.” (Code Alpha), “I couldn't
sleep, why my conscience tells why did one have to kill
a person who’s restless, who was so young, that's
really what I don't want to go back to. What will you
choose, she will kill the lives of your colleagues or will
you kill her? Then I cried, I cried a lot. I was
counseled by my colleagues.” (Code Bravo), “I can't
sleep, I seem to be thinking about my companions
especially those who died and you were the one who
carried them.” (Code Delta)
On the other hand, there is a moral obligation for them
not to leave a fellow soldier behind during an
encounter no matter what happened.
“Our mission is to get him (dead soldier) out of
there and not to be get ridden by the enemy because at
the height of the encounter, the enemies are targeting
us. When we got his body, we are thankful that nothing
else happened on his remains. We are thanked by his
team members that we got him because they will feel
sorry for themselves if other unfortunate thing
happened on him.” (Code Bravo), “We still carry our
colleague who died until a chopper arrived.” (Code
Alpha)
Camille V. De Leon
This is to guarantee that those who died in the mission
will be taken home to their families and it is their
responsibility to look after each soldier even they were
experiencing an encounter. More so, an ethical
consideration affects their decision-making. It is a
selfless act because of their held morals and values
connected to their social functioning.
The lived experience through this theme is an exercise
of a social connection wherein the psychological
aspect of caring about what the outcomes might be and
mostly if they were doing the right thing reflects a
personal perspective showing how being active
military personnel throughout the experience considers
a good or bad image of oneself as a consequence of
their action. It is a notable part of a lived experience
from a local-armed conflict exposure specifically
under unconventional warfare from the selected active
military personnel because it has reference to the
psychological importance of social connection and the
role of their emotion in a moral dilemma to adhere to
what is right and avoid any wrongdoing while at the
same time is to carry a moral obligation to carry out
their service. Hence, there is psychological processing
in their experience at this point which is necessary for
determining their mental health.
Sensing towards Action Mechanism
These are the ordeals in the actual participation from a
local-armed conflict exposure that the selected active
military personnel have seen in action for themselves,
felt, observed, played, and were retained as a clear
picture of the situation. It is the sense of their lived
experience that often entails low emotions which
demanded consequent action or behavior while out
there in the field doing their missions.
“Who is not afraid of bullets? I was so scared. In the
first shot, I hide and cover, then observe where the
shot came from then what will I do from then… rest &
fire.” (Code Bravo), “There is also fear, but when you
are a soldier you have to cope. this is the profession
you entered. Besides, you can also see when the
opponent is there, you have to counterattack them.”
(Code Alpha), “When we jumped off the helicopter; I
was very nervous. Of course, the nervousness is there.
you will be embarrassed if you get caught up, but
when you finish, you will survive.” (Code Charlie)
Even though they were trained to handle firearms and
aim targets, an initial sense of fear is felt by them
during the encounter. But the adrenaline to mobilize,
take cover, and observe the surroundings before taking
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action was their sense of action that carry them to
survive the difficulty in the situation. Out of the low
emotion, the ethos of being a soldier comes out on
them as the test is really to overcome that emotion and
see their capability to perform in the encounter that
enabled them to carry on to their next missions.
Moreover, the imminence of the death concept is also
present o them that they have imbibed that could be
their fate during their participation in this experience
that it is remembered as a painful and unforgettable
part of every encounter that they have been.
“It is difficult to lost a comrade.” (Code Charlie),
“Our company got in there, I was also there. I lost two
men with us who were with me, it was on me. That is
the most intense indeed (from an unconventional
warfare).” (Code Echo) “I loaded my gun; I saw our
commanding officer across the road. When I ran, he
got hit. We’re ordered to take cover there. The other
one was hit again; I took my batchmate, he also died
there. After that, the opponents were gone, they
already left. Dead people are left. At that time, I really
felt low morale because I found out that my partner
died, I thought I might be the next one. But I also just
think maybe.” (Code Delta)
It is not a course of their own as they have survived to
tell the lived experience, but that of their fellow soldier
who has sacrificed their lives in there who used to be
their soldier buddy, mate, and even unit leaders. It was
regarded by them as part of the experience which has
brought a consequent feeling of low morale when their
fellow soldiers died during encounters. However, that
low emotion does not equate to the usual reduction of
performance or diminished sense of purpose on them.
Instead, it enabled them to continue the mission
despite losing members of their unit and had an
individualized perception that they still have survived
on their own during the operations.
On the other side of the experience despite its
challenges, their participation is being regarded as an
honor to be part of every encounter they have been
into thereby compensating their feelings of fear and
other low emotions from the death of fellow soldiers
they had specifically during the first encounter or test
missions that they had as an actual encounter they
faced after training to officially serve as a soldier.
“Being a soldier, part of my responsibility is a rare
opportunity among men in uniform to have
participation in an encounter, it’s rare. But for me
how you will value the experience, in our unit, if
Camille V. De Leon
something bad happened, let it serve as a lesson
learned.” (Code Bravo), “There is felt nervousness,
always pray, on the other hand it is exciting despite of
it, for me there is god to pray and protect us”. (Code
Alpha)
The emotional regulation they have during the
experience aid to manage the negative aspects inherent
thereat such as death, violence, extremism, and even
threat to self-security. For them, it was a tough
responsibility but at the same time a respectable deed
despite the adversity of the local-armed conflict
exposures they have been into. Highlights of their
unique individual lived experiences from a local-
armed conflict exposure entail the following:
“Being a soldier, whatever happens to us, it is
important to learn, in every mistake there is learning.
If you don’t learn, nothing good will happen to you,
you can die. In our life as a soldier, there is no second
chances, no take two.” (Code Bravo)
“If you think that you are in a war, you are really
negative, maybe I will be the next one to be killed.
What important if you’re in an encounter, do the SOP.
Don’t get rattled, take your cover, don’t advanced to
fire at the enemy for them not to get you.” (Code
Delta)
“Totality of experience, toughen your mind; it’s a
matter of fate. In the field, walking to get the
objectives, it’s normal to get nervous; thinking if
you’re going to live or die.” (Code Charlie)
“At first I was really sorry. but when you're full of
courage, it will be okay. It will only be hard for a few
days, but you get refreshed through interventions after
something like that happens”. (Code Echo)
The interrelatedness of the themes that resemble the
segments of the lived experiences of the selected
active military personnel from local- armed conflict
exposures reflected individualized perception of the
event that formed their adaptation in the said
experience to survive its adversities. These impact
their lives through bringing a sense of change in their
self-concept and realization of one’s priority and
sacrifice through the adversity of the lived experience.
The belief or individual perception of behavior, ability,
or characteristics they have incurred as part of the
experience from a local-armed conflict exposure
formed a sense of change in their self-concept. Their
character developed through the challenge of
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withstanding all strains. Their portrayal of being more
responsible in their missions and outgrowing the
unusual routines of their physiological responses also
supports the adaptation of their being. These changes
were drawn from their embodied toughness and serve
as an interpretation of the self-image that they have
had in their lived experience that fits their sense of
worth as active military personnel. The experience had
made them sensible of the role they are doing.
Moreover, their social relatedness as they realize
priority and sacrifice in their active service at times of
local-armed conflict exposures were evident from
going mission after mission. It is an above priority to
accomplish their mission over their family and other
social connections which is sacrificial part on them.
The identification of active military personnel was
adopted as a psychological process to form their social
identity and fulfill their self-image of the profession by
thought and actions.
From the aforementioned analysis, the coping
mechanism they have employed throughout the
adversities inclusive in every mission, pursuit
operations, and unconventional encounters they have
been through. Entails not only courage and strength
they hold on to themselves, but also a growing faith in
God has been their powerful weapon to get up their
morale and protect them from any harm against their
enemies which speaks of the local context that
Filipinos often had in terms of keeping faith in a
greater being. In addition, there is the untiring support
by understanding the complexities of their service as
soldiers and the collective social support from
comrades who serve along with them in the
experiences from local-armed conflict exposure.
Discussion
This qualitative study explored and make sense of the
lived experience from a local-armed conflict exposure
of active military personnel. It focused on determining
the essence of the phenomenon from the same form of
experiences among active military personnel who were
considered as non-clinical individuals and presented
findings based on the emergent themes of a) hardening
in psychophysiological attributes, b) testing of
morality, and c) sensing towards action mechanism
that embodied the patterns of adaptation and
perspectives they have from their participation in the
aforementioned experience. Further, it showed the
coping aspect of the explored lived experiences with
the recall of their distinct local-armed conflict
encounters suggestive of a change in self-concept and
realization of priority and sacrifice in their life while
Camille V. De Leon
being active military personnel.
Amidst the adversities from their lived experience, the
initial essence of hardening in psychophysiological
attributes embodied their mental and physique
preparedness in their motion and adaptation in the
situation of a local-armed conflict exposure. It actuates
the resilience trait that each of them has. According to
a study, higher resilience trajectory and its means
among active- duty personnel despite additional
deployments over time are indicative of delaying and
keeping them away from being at great risk of
acquiring delayed-onset PTSD trajectories compared
with members who recently separated from military
service (Porter et al., 2017). This theme from the
findings has been a key answer to this research desire
to know why these active military personnel stayed in
service despite their local-armed conflict exposures.
The experience taught them ways to reframe its
negative aspects into inner strengths. Notable factors
in this part include having high sense in call of duty,
mentality, an inner and outward hardiness or
toughness, preparing for the worst and an attitude of
no one gets to choose a battle. Taking the
psychological concept of hardiness (Maddi & Kobasa,
1984; Maddi, 2007) leads to the perception of stressful
factors in a way that reconstructs meaning into
something that guides their 1) commitment to their
service or duty in the sense that no one of them gave
up on their missions; 2) it is also a challenge in their
development in the profession as an active soldier
despite the threat to their life and security and 3) a
sense of control by the ethos portrayed to get through
the experience by bringing with them the character
inherent of the service at the event of deployment to
local-armed conflicts. It explains the portrayal of a
resilient attitude through learned cognition and
responses for a coping process that they execute in
their lived experience and accounted for the held
resilience of selected active military personnel in this
study. Retention in service among the selected active
military serves as existential courage in the
performance of duty which (Maddi et al., 2017) and
self-awareness in enduring life-threatening tasks
denoting psychological skills (Arthur et al., 2017).
The emphasis of sensing towards action mechanism
serves as sensory of their participation in the adverse
event and prompts a fear and other low emotion
responsiveness within the situation. Such low
emotions propel them to stay in motion and never gets
consumed by the threats of the encounter because
doing so will not do them any good and might just lead
them to negative consequences like death. Further, it is
where one is in charge of his own protection. In
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addition to explaining resiliency facets in their lived
experience, this has something to do with rationalizing
the motivation of activating effective behavior to
survive the adversities in the local- armed conflict they
have been into. This specific adaptation has adherence
to Charney (2004) from conceptualization of
psychobiological responses to extreme stress that
activates a cycle of reward and motivation via learned
helpfulness; engaging in productive responsiveness
despite fear and thereby produces adaptive social
behavior. Focusing on their mission and goals in the
situation has a potential for personal growth (Zwiercan
& Joseph, 2018) despite the challenging aspect from
the experience with the use of bodily attention to their
felt senses that enabled them to acknowledge its
impact and plan a course of action ahead. The
responses they had from the adversities of the
experience explained a resilient response to stress or
ability used to handle the situation connected in
developing new psychological capital due to the
hostility of their environment to provide them with
emotional handling skills aside from pretraining skills
pertinent to maintaining psychological well-being
(Hernández-Varas et. al, 2019; Jordan, 2019). There is
a suggestive approach-oriented effort of military
personnel to alleviate the stressors in their
environment and conduct modification of behavior as
a problem-focused coping (Chen et al., 2018) which
improves one’s psychological well-being, especially
among military personnel.
On the other hand, an unexpected finding that the
researcher sought is the testing of morality that has
been imposed as a part of the personal experience
which influences their decisions by the values and
social relatedness acquired before serving as active
military personnel. The supporting factors for this are
moral dilemma and moral obligation which both
shapes the way they perceive the outcomes of their
participation in a local-armed conflict. The endured
challenges in the situation include good reasons for
and against the choices they have at hand. However,
there are times that the act was considered against
one’s morality or held values. According to a study by
Stanley and colleagues (2018), resistance to revision of
carried outcome or decisions of an individual is likely
to happen due to the greater weight of morality one has
thought and motivated evaluation of available reasons
to affirm the affective reaction. The responsibility of
their service by the moment they first encountered an
armed battle strongly held a creed for them to carry a
moral judgment that is inferred as inescapable in the
lived experience wherein apart from the cognitive and
affective processes involved, a consideration of one’s
complex social role contributes in their decision
Camille V. De Leon
making (Rom & Conway, 2018). Moreover, the
situation also brought a counterpart moral obligation
wherein considerations such as being a soldier or
conforming to uniformity by being oneself or exercise
of own values influence one moral competence (Baarle
et al., 2015) to deal with the emotional burden or
dilemma and seeking their purpose are seen as
existential struggles (Molendijk et al., 2018). The
apprehension of this finding is rooted in an
unconventional local warfare exposure of selected
active military personnel wherein one has employed
personal emotional processing and is regarded as an
unforgettable part in the said phenomenon. It is
recommended for further evaluation among non-
clinical active military individuals whether coming up
to a decision between equally desirable or undesirable
outcomes has an impact on their subsequent moral
judgment in other aspects of their life outside the
service.
Relatively, this study also imparts explored resources
that expand contribution to the resilience model of
military personnel by qualitatively examined addition
to held internal factors of self-esteem and optimism
(Reyes et al., 2020) among active-duty soldiers in the
local context. It specifically laid the terms of what
aspects does their lived experiences shaped one’s
cognition, values, behavior and emotional regulation
which is essential in determining the mental state that
they have while serving as an active military
personnel. Other findings from previous local analysis
of war experiences of selected army soldiers by Sasota
(2020) confirms to revealed concept findings in this
study from adapted habitus or personal learning of
soldier in the field and as a self-reflection of each
active military personnel. Their own words and own
versions of interpretations of the events as collated
through the themes are explanation of how one gets
resilient through an adverse event.
Conclusion
This qualitative study depicted the lived experiences of
selected active military samples by three structural
themes through hardening in psychophysiological
attributes as a key explanatory mechanism for their
resilience to stress coping; testing of morality
encompassing the role of their held values and social
relatedness, and sensing towards action mechanism
that serves as fear responsiveness through effective
actions despite the threat in their experience from
local- armed conflict exposures. The explored
adaptation and essence of their lived experience has an
impact in their lives by a change in one’s self-concept
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and a realization of priority and sacrifice in doing their
military service during local-armed conflict exposures.
Likewise, the theme findings reveal attentional and
emotional control over outcomes and readiness to
perform in inherent situations of a local-armed conflict
exposure in selected military personnel. It also shifted
a focus from psychopathology to support to positive
psychology in terms of portrayed resilience to stress
coping among selected active military personnel who
are non-clinical individuals.
The researcher suggests the conduct of in-depth
studies related to the mental health of active military
personnel in terms of psychological hardiness and test
of morality concept in a longitudinal study to provide
better services and intervention to soldiers returning
with previous and recent local-armed encounters in
comparison to clinically diagnosed military members.
The future direction also proposes the development of
a localized scale to determine the degree of
aforementioned concepts in local military samples for
professionals in the proper assessment of their well-
being given the adversities of their service during the
lived experience from local-armed conflict exposures.
With the limitation of applying these findings to a
local military population, it is suggested to be studied
in a wider scope of participants to seek comparison
and further evaluate the conventional and
unconventional types of local-armed conflict
exposures they have had which may present different
nature of the environment, adaptation, and personal
perspective from each active military personnel with
continuous armed conflict exposures.
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Affiliations and Corresponding Information
Corresponding: Camille V. De Leon
Email: cvdeleon@bpsu.edu.ph
Camille V. De Leon
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
BataanPeninsula State University, Philippines
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