Coping with diversity: military an civilian actors in mootw

The very demanding nature of Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTWs) has been definitely asserted and demonstrated. Far from being considered not risky at all, MOOTWs have been recognised to be missions with various and lower levels of risk (when compared to conventional combat operations), but with a nonetheless high level of stress for deployed troops. Using only one word to describe the stressors' mix, the word could be diversity. The term is used in the essay in a broader sense with respect to the meaning more often given to it in literature, where it is related to the variety of personnel characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation found in many armed forces in postmodern societies, and which are generally referring to organisational varieties that is a diversity within the military. In this essay, on the contrary, diversity is conceived as a diversity around the military, in the specific MOOTWs operative theatres. Five types of diversity, corresponding to five levels of analysis, are here defined and demonstrated by means of original findings of a personally driven international research on experienced military personnel in different roles and theatres. Original proposals for adequate education and military doctrinal equipment are also a part of this reserch product.