The Genuine Motive of the Bulgarian Warriors in Iraq

Lieutenant-Colonel Petar Petrov, Head of the Psychologists Section in the Headquarters of the Land Forces

From January to July 2004 Lieut.-Col. Petrov was officer of psychological activities – a job involving the care for the psychological health of the battalion’s personnel and the overcoming of battle-induced stress.

The first impression that the lieutenant-colonel makes is of a strict, respect-commanding man, who knows exactly what to do in order to achieve the ultimate results. In the course of the conversation, however, transpired not only his professional expertise, but also his humane attitude to people’s problems and his devotedness to their resolution.

Could you tell us in a few words about yourself? How come you made up your mind to join the Bulgarian mission in Iraq? What was your motivation to serve that cause?
I have graduated from Panayot Volov Military School – Shumen, and I have earned a degree in psychology from Kliment Ohridski University – Sofia. I worked as a lecturer at the School for Officers of the Reserve in Pleven, then I became head of the psycho-physiological research laboratory, which was later renamed Center for Psychological Research with G. Benkovski Higher Military School in Dolna Mitropolia, and prior to assuming my present position I worked as senior psychologist for the General Staff of the Air Force.
In early 2004 I departed for Iraq with the second infantry battalion, which took part in the fourth phase of the stabilization and reconstruction of the country. My participation in the mission was a tremendous challenge in view of the peculiar ‘assignment’ of the armed forces. My personal motivation was to test the extent to which I had been prepared to work under extreme conditions, and at the same time in professional perspective I had the chance to find out how my theoretical knowledge applied in practice and to what degree the models and schemes we used were feasible and effective in a real-life situation. For me the mission constituted both an opportunity and a responsibility.

I lot has been said about the Bulgarian soldiers’ motivation to go to Iraq...
The questions why the military men go on a mission and what prompts them to make this step – parting with their families and their lifestyle – have always been topical. In my opinion there are four answers.
The military man is afforded an opportunity to develop his professional skills, to become a better specialist, because he virtually does things, which in time of peace can hardly be accomplished. This means that he improves his personal and professional training.

The second stimulus lies in scaling the career ladder. The military men join the multinational staffs, the procedures followed in performing the tasks, they meet with their counterparts from the armed forces of other countries, they exchange ideas and experience.

This enables them on completing the mission to achieve a higher status and climb the next step in the army hierarchy.

I would not omit the issue of the financial stability. It is public knowledge that on accomplishing tasks abroad, the wages are a far cry from those drawn in Bulgaria. The financial means cover the degree of difficulty of the mission as well as all the risks involved in the course of its accomplishment. If we assume that a Bulgarian soldier leaves primarily because of the money, in the course of the mission, confronted with the hardships of varied nature, he would lose his motivation very quickly and would find it extremely difficult to complete the set tasks. Moreover, at some stage he might make a more radical decision if the situation aggravates. This happened to a statistically justified percentage of the total number of soldiers. People can always get intimidated when they are the target of shooting and it is quite normal that some of them will opt out of their initial intentions.

In the fourth place, I rank the purely patriotic element. I think that this is the genuine motive. The Bulgarian military men, who are very well trained, want to demonstrate to the military men from other countries that they can cope with the problems just like the rest. Evidence of this is our accession to NATO. It was the result not only of Bulgaria’s policy, but also of our warriors’ efforts during the mission in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq.

What is the role of the psychologist in the perilous daily round of the military men in the peacekeeping mission?
One of the main segments of military psychology deals with what happens to the people who perform tasks connected with the application of theoretical knowledge in time of military operations. The psychologist could not handle the challenges posed by a mission on his own. Rather, he should rely on the backup of the commanders of the battalion. He is the officer who has to work on three levels – individually, in a team and organizationally, and be able to build an effective communications network, thus facilitating the resolution to concrete problems. He has to contribute to the positive psychological climate in the crews. Good management is one of the criteria to achieve the desired result and the probability to create tension drops dramatically. The psychologist is not a magician, who can sort things out with a magic wand. His talent lies in the mobilization of the people’s personal resources, since he establishes the problem and suggests effective methods to tackle it, yet other people are involved in resolving it.

The psychologist’s activity in the mission is individual only when the military man has a personal problem. He consults him, ascertains the problem, and recommends to the commander what can be done. In practice, even then he is part of the team working on the change. So if we have to sum it up, apart from the above-listed levels, the psychologist’s expert activity covers the ordinary daily round and the critical moments in the mission.