PRODUCING BETTER CADETS: CONSIDERING THE ROLE OF LIMINALITY DURING THE INITIATION PHASE

Abstract

Drawing from Meyer and Land (2005) work on Threshold Concepts, this paper describes the role of liminal period in enabling the transition one must partake to become a military officer. To date, not much attention has been given on the process of transformation and challenges faced by cadets in becoming an officer. With focus given on the initiation phase, the study argues that such period is crucial and troublesome as cadet would have to abandon their self-identity to acquire the officers’ mantle. Through in-depth interviews conducted at two prominent European military institutions with policy makers, military trainers, officers and cadets, the paper illustrates how the initiation phase is an important rites-to-passage that will eliminate those deemed unfit to become an officer while embedding the required distinctiveness of being a military officer.  The paper further argues that even though the military education system is highly mechanised, some of the process of imbedding the officers’ identity happens through informal exchanges with superiors, peers and subordinates. Establishing the importance of the phase, findings included in this paper may contribute in understanding why some cadets traverse successfully through the elimination process, while others get themselves stuck on the rites of passage1 to become an officer.