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ABSTRACT Introduction: Since 1965, the Brazilian Army (BA) has participated in peacekeeping missions of the United Nations (UN), sending large contingents to various parts of the world, such as Angola, Mozambique, East Timor and Haiti. To do so, the military must be in a minimum physical condition to face any obstacles in the course of action in the theater of operations. Objective: To verify the effects of Military Physical Training (MPT) on muscular strength of upper limbs, anthropometric variables and body composition of Brazilian military personnel of the 24th UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti. Methods: The sample consisted of 192 male soldiers with mean age of 23.2 ± 3 6 years. They observed a weekday residential regime, with a defined schedule of meals and activities and time off on weekends. The MPT was applied four times a week, 90 minutes long for 14 weeks and involved aerobic and resisted exercises. In the pre- and post-MPT period, body mass (MC), height, waist circumference (WC) and abdomen circumference (AC) were measured to calculate body mass index (BMI) and fat percentage (%F) through the protocol of Salem. In addition, 12-minute run tests, push-ups, pull up and abdominal flexions were performed to calculate the Rogers Index (RI). Results: When comparing pre- and post-MPT, a significant difference was observed in all anthropometric variables and body composition (BM, BMI and %F) and in the RI for the upper limb muscle strength. Conclusion: The 14-week MPT indicates an improvement in the anthropometric and body composition variables, as well as an increase in upper limb muscular strength in Brazilian soldiers of the UN peacekeeping contingents in Haiti. This study concluded that RI could be an effective tool for assessing military muscular strength. Level of Evidence II; Therapeutic studies - Investigating the results of treatment.

The overarching aim of this dissertation was to delineate the character strengths of Australian Army personnel. Using a short-form survey incorporating Peterson and Seligman's (2004) taxonomy of 24 character strengths, four empirical studies were conducted containing samples of Australian Army officers, Special Forces (SF) personnel, and enlisted soldiers. Across all studies, respondents self-ranked the strengths of team worker, integrity, and to a lesser extent, good judgment as characteristic of themselves and/or good leaders. In two prospective studies, enlisted soldiers who applied for the SF (Ns = 115, 95) ranked themselves on 24 character strengths at the start of the selection process. In Study One, successful applicants gave a top-four rank to the strengths of team worker, integrity, and persistence significantly more often than unsuccessful applicants. Unsuccessful applicants who did not include any of these three strengths in their top four ranks all failed to complete the selection process. In Study Two, successful applicants assigned team worker a top-four rank significantly more often than unsuccessful applicants. In Study Three, experienced SF operators (N = 214) assigned team worker a top-four rank significantly more often than support troops in the same unit (N = 123). In contrast, the SF operators gave a top-four rank to integrity significantly less often than the support troops. In Study Four, Australian Army officers (N = 171) were asked to self-rank their character strengths, nominate strengths of effective leaders, and nominate strengths desirable in team members. Officers significantly self-ranked the strengths of integrity, leadership, good judgment, trustworthiness, and team worker. Additional strengths, especially wisdom, were associated with effective leaders, while officers desired the strengths of humour, initiative, and enthusiasm in team members. Findings are discussed in regards to individual, team, and organisational performance in and beyond the military.

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A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) civilian employees play key roles in such areas as defense policy, intelligence, finance, acquisitions, and weapon systems maintenance. Although downsized 38 percent between fiscal years 1989 and 2002, this workforce has taken on greater roles as a result of DOD's restructuring and transformation. Responding to congressional concerns about the quality and quantity of, and the strategic planning for the civilian workforce, GAO determined the following for DOD, the military services, and selected defense agencies: (1) the extent of top-level leadership involvement in civilian strategic planning; (2) whether elements in civilian strategic plans are aligned to the overall mission, focused on results, and based on current and future civilian workforce data; and (3) whether civilian and military personnel strategic plans or sourcing initiatives were integrated."

Teamwork is an essential element in the majority of critical Army lifting tasks. Therefore, an understanding of the relationship between individual and team lifting capacity is of great tactical importance. Twenty-three male and 17 female U.S. Army soldiers were randomly assigned to single- and mixed-gender teams of two, three, and four persons. Individual lifting strength was the one-repetition-maximum (1RM) load lifted from floor to knuckle height using a weight bar. A square-shaped bar was used for two- and four-person lifting, and a triangular-shaped bar was used for three-person lifting. Team lifting strength as a percentage of the sum of individual lifting strength (%sum) did not change with team size. The %sum for teams of men (87.3%) was less than for teams of women (91.1%, p < 0.05). The %sums for both single-gender teams (all men and all women) were greater (p < 0.01) than for mixed-gender teams (80.2%). The number of people lifting a large object was increased to four with no decrease in the effectiveness of the individual lifter beyond that found for two persons. The 1RM loads presented in this paper were lifted under ideal conditions by young soldiers and do not represent norms for an industrial population.