ABSTRACT
This chapter draws upon research that sought to identify the complexities of military masculinities and to problematise the notion of a hegemonic military masculinity (see Atherton, 2009). The research identified how the military inculcates embodied practices such as drill, parade and training, and addressed how these could also be used as a form of discipline and to ‘break down’ new troops. In the research, I aimed to challenge more traditional theorisations of military identities through an examination of domesticity as both a conceptual term and as a practical set of domestic skills inculcated during military service. This examination counterpoints the hegemonic masculinities that one would expect to encounter in the highly masculinised institution of the military and seeks to identify how domesticity was used as a means of breaking in new soldiers to the military hierarchy. The research also explored how domestic skills are subsequently utilised outside of military domestic spaces. Once demobilised many of the soldiers in this study returned to a ‘family home’, yet they had to readjust to civilian life and to acclimatise to new domestic routines and spaces. The various performances and narratives of domesticity uncovered through this research give an insight into the sometimes problematic transitions from soldier to civilian.
