Military Personnel Morale: proposing a psychological tool on Operations.

The Italian Army recognizes the relevance that morale has in the command action in its publication "Doctrinal Note on Personnel Morale" released in 2018. The morale component constitutes one of the three elements of fighting power, i.e., "the capacity of any military organization to use force effectively", and is expressed in the "psychological disposition with which a military force - both at the individual and collective level - prepares, faces and sustains combat". Considering the impact of personnel morale on operational efficiency, Commanders frequently express the need for updated information on their personnel's morale levels. Twenty soldiers from the 7th Bersaglieri Regiment, deployed for Enhanced Vigilance Activity (eVA) in Bulgaria were recruited for this study. Psychometric analysis was conducted on the questionnaires administered and led to the identification of a new theoretical model and a tool for measuring military personnel morale in an operational context. For the first time, this new tool considered both individual and collective aspects of military personnel morale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]