The Possibilities of Harmonising Military Service and the Soldier’s Family Duties: the Opinion of the Non-Commissioned Officer

Abstract

The purpose of this scientific article is to analyze the possibilities of reconciling military service and the soldier’s family responsibilities. The article tackles the concept of the soldier’s family, the interaction between military service and the soldier’s family, and reveals the judgments of the Lithuanian Armed Forces (hereinafter – LAF) related to the harmonization of military service and soldier’s family duties. The empirical part of the article is based on the original survey of non-commissioned officers on the problems of reconciling military service and soldier’s family responsibilities and the solutions applied by LAF, which was conducted in the spring of 2019. The results of the research revealed that decisions of LAF are focused on supporting the soldier and his family and are applied at all stages of the military service cycle; the most problematic areas that require LAF solutions are time of service, separation from the family and service in international missions (hereinafter – IM); financial and non-financial problems are also problematic.