Soldiering the equipment or equipping the soldier? Emergent Forms of Belgian Military Life: Innovation, Corporality and Technology. A Comparative Ethnographic Study of the NATO Frigate Helicopter and the Pathfinder Detachment.

This PhD, embedded in the blossoming field of military anthropology, studies how Belgian soldiers deal with (new) military technology, and how technological innovations redefine and reshape social socio-professional structures and relationships in low- and high-tech military settings. The latter were represented by two ethnographic case studies: the NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH) and the Pathfinder Detachment.

Each military technology is embedded in some sort of network. Therefore in the PhD, reflections will made about the structure of old and new networks supporting and reinforcing Belgian military technology. Discussing them implies critically confronting the idea that networks are the result of intentionality, ideology and processes of innovation (Nowotny 2006). Following the introduction of the NFH, the old Sea King-network was confronted by a new one that influenced, transgressed or partially dismantled it. This PhD will look at how this confrontation happened and to what it finally led. In this PhD, it is argued that the NFH- technology changed the old ways of working and modified in a profound manner the old accepted power and social structures of the pre-NFH-era. In the low-tech setting of the Pathfinders, where technology progressively changes, a shift or alteration in socio-professional structure did not occur.

In both case studies, the technology users engage in some kind of negotiation/dialogue with technology, directed at defining its functionality or (partially) resisting it in a certain manner. The presence of negotiation illustrates a part of the dualism inherent to the human-technology interaction in military settings. On the one hand, technology creates, because of its life-saving and risk-reducing properties, a close or intimate relationship with its users which is often deprived of opportunistic personal interests. On the other hand, technology users engage in processes to (re)define the functional value of technology, which is often expressed in an utilitarian manner, such as ‘How can technology give me an edge in survival (understanding technology)?’ – first condition of understanding military technology; or ‘How can technology make me advance in the hierarchy in functional importance and rank?’ – second condition of understanding military technology.

In the NFH-network, the human agent is bombarded with technological novelties that he has to absorb in a strict manner and execute dogmatically. He is forced to assume or create a certain identity, reflecting the idea of techno-normativity. Little leeway exists to negotiate with technology because the strength, speed and importance of it imposes structural and operational processes that needs to be followed. If the technology user does not, he will then undermine and/or lose his/her function within the technological tissue. However, in no case can it be assumed that within high-tech settings the human actor is completely dominated by technology, whilst in low-tech setting he exerts a full control over it.

Within the low-tech setting of the Pathfinders, technology is not defined in terms of innovation, but rather as a tool to support or reinforce their corporality. The human actor first optimizes himself. The Pathfinders express this by emphasizing the development of physical prowess and sharpness, human wits and mental resilience. Afterwards, technology was infused in this low-tech niche. This was always preceded by a dialogue to determine the function of technology in the operational use, followed by the construction of intuitive processes of sense-making regarding new military technology. The narratives of disconcordance and regret, intertwined with the end of the prosperous Sea King-era and marking the beginning of a competitive professionalism, did not exist within the Pathfinder Detachment.

To obtain a complete answer to the research intention, the change in socio-professional structure must be combined with an analysis of the myriad ways in which Belgian soldiers give meaning to new military technologies and their networks. A better understanding is proposed of social, corporeal and sensorial process(es) through which technology users funnel their expectations, anxieties, frustrations and dependence on (new) military technologies in the two distinct settings, thus attempting to alleviate their ‘technological dependency’. An important overarching anthropological element is the use of specific cultural imaginaries. The ones that my NFH-participants used were linked to the Sea King. Examples hereof are the masculine, highly skilled, omniscient technician who could even predict malfunctions in the quagmire of bolts, nuts and wires, or the agile pilot who flew relying on the exquisite application of basic flying techniques rather than using technological gadgets. In low tech-environments, such as the Pathfinders, where technology is not complex or where its complexity evolves not a lot, the cultural imaginaries are less explicitly present. The cultural imaginary of the Pathfinders reverted to their animated relationship with the Belgian Special Forces Group. Pathfinders used the image of tough, virile, intelligent warriors going all the way.

The ethnographic analysis centred around six concepts: locality, materiality, sensoriality, normativity, knowledge and trust. Locality implies two distinct things: an operational mindset and a mode to reflect about space and place. New military technology often brings with it new functionalities and even more a reorganization of dimensionalities. The new functionalities of the NFH caused a rupture in the general accepted composition of space and place. Locality and scaling became important modes of thinking, extending the debate regarding Search and Rescue (SAR) and Maritime Operations (MAR). SAR and MAR illustrate how the discussions regarding the functionality of a technology are always high stake-plays, wherein people and materiel try to find an equilibrium between the imposed functionality and their way of standing amidst (new) military technology.

The NFH introduced a weapon system with an advanced materiality, marked by digitalization or ‘avionicsation’, a ‘glass cockpit’ and plasma screens. Microelectronics, such as avionics, recall the domination of modern technologies, and the search for a symbiosis with their use. A complete other situation presents itself when looking at the Pathfinder-technology. The technology used by the Pathfinders is rarely representative of the latest technology (as any inspection of individual equipment makes clear), except for the communication means and observation technologies. The simplicity of their equipment makes them not “state of the art technologically, but state of the art operationally” (Danielsen 2015: 278). 

New technology engenders new forms of sensoriality or reorder old ones. The digital technology of the NFH created a partial lack of proximity with respect due to its users, resulting in a state of ‘bodylessness’. My research has also revealed that the feeling of being disconnected from technology was at the same time counteracted by a feeling of imposed symbiosis and an new scope of intimacy. The human actor became an integrated correcting element in a nervous system where engine technology, navigation technology, and radar technology neatly interacted with each other, thus arriving to a ‘more advanced technologized Self’, changing the socio-professional pecking order. In low-tech settings, such as the Pathfinders, the human actor feels more connected to technology. Bodily enhancement always precedes technological enhancement. The Pathfinders affirm this connection by physically enhancing the body. The human element remains important and directs use of technology. For the Pathfinder, the human body is also technology, acting as a preventive tool against the faltering of man-made technology. Far from being the epicentre of existence, the technological artefacts used by the Pathfinder are reduced to somewhat peripheral status. E.g. if a technological solution is embraced in the Pathfinder Detachment, the negotiation process boils down to finding the right balance between the primacy of bodily smartness and the functionalities of technology.

The NFH-technology introduced a new techno-normativity. Techno-normativity is an ideology that regulates socio-professionalism of ‘acting’ Selves in a technology. Within the NFH-network, the techno-normativity was characterized by a mechanistic execution of the complicated new rules and processes. For the pilots and flying crews, flying has become a business of pushing buttons and system managing (‘guardians of the autopilot’ combined with Cockpit and Crew Resource Management); for the technical crews, maintenance was reduced to primarily changing modules after having downloaded and interpreted fault codes. The NFH-normativity was never wholeheartedly acknowledged by my participants, especially by the technical side. Participants challenged it by retrograding to the ways of the Sea King. More in particular, they made the choice to partially ‘modernize’ the old processes of working, thus guarding a kind of ‘indigenous knowledge’ (Sea King), whilst at the same time intertwining them with the new ones. In so doing, the digitalized outlook of the NFH coevally mediated between process of modernity and traditional values indebted to the Sea King-era. The new techno-normativity also geared toward a dismissal of certain professional classes that were pillars of the past, having no business or functionality in the future, such as the Search-and-Rescue Sensor Operator who was replaced by the Sensor Operator (maritime function); or creation/modification of new ones, such as the Team Chief and Cabin Operator.

Within the NFH- and Pathfinder-culture, knowledge is the bargaining chip for survival, e.g. to fathom the new flying and maintenance processes. Through knowledge, the material culture of a technology was discovered. In the reflections of my participants, the new NFH-technology was regularly confronted with older bodies of Sea King-knowledge. The NFH-technology tried to create a hive mind centred around microelectronics.

Both NFH and Pathfinders settings thrive on trust – a notion that is technology neutral. Both described their ecology as a high-reliability organizations constituted out of circles of trust. Trust is created and maintained by comradeship and professional competencies, linked to the idea of ‘being worthy’. The manifestation of trust is different, but with two common elements: (1) following the formal rules and procedures to the letter, and the ability to smoothly interpret or adapt them when necessary; and (2) a parallel use of informal rules of conduct and traditions. Both the Pathfinders and the NFH-personnel abide by an ethos of meritocracy. Esteem within can only be secured through demonstrated competence. Because the members of these settings know each other well – they coevolved through time, they smoothly execute the operational procedures as a common body. Within the NFH, everything is centred around the flying crew and maintenance team; within the Pathfinders, the team fosters and canalizes trust.