It is perhaps for the first time ever that a book on military psychology and leadership development has been written by eminent military psychologists from as many as sixteen countries. Many of these practising military psychologists have themselves donned the uniform, serving their own military as well as UN and NATO in diverse operational environments such as Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Haiti, Kosovo, Slovenia, Somalia and closer home in Kargil and the Siachen Glacier in India. 

The book offers us a good understanding of various concepts in the field of military psychology and leadership development, be it in context of hardiness as a construct in the human resource cycle or use of coping resources as well as development and management of extreme forms of unwanted stress. The book provides a great deal of inputs related to resilience as an emerging field of study. Other interesting themes cover concepts of altruism, emotional intelligence, disaster management, leadership development and motivation, human factor engineering in operations, psychology of warfare and diplomatic psychology. A very interesting, yet overlooked topic covering role of military families in the Armed Forces is also discussed in the book which brings to light the contribution and sacrifices being made by this neglected population – the military spouse. 

The book is designed not only for psychology students and practitioners, but also for leaders – both men and women to cater to all leaders of men and women – seeking knowledge in the field of military psychology and leadership development.

1 Hardiness and the Military Human Resources Cycle / Salvatore Lo Bue

2 Coping and Well-being: A Study of Brazilian Military in Preparation Phase of Peacekeeping Mission / Carolina Rodrigues Silveira and Maria José Chambel

3 On Soldiering and Inevitable Psychological Stress Reactions / Jacques J. Gouws1

4 When a Soldier Kills: Experience of Homicide during Combat / Daniel Strobl

5 National Resilience as a Security Concept / Merle Parmak

6 Emotional Intelligence in Armed Forces with an Emphasis on Self Management / Chanchal A.

7 Altruism as Self Sacrifice among Military Personnel / Samir Rawat

8 Resilience among Military Families having Children with Special Needs / Uma S.

9 The Role Psychology in Disaster Management: Lessons from the Indonesian Defense University / Arief Budiarto and Eri Radityawara Hidayat

10 Selection Method of New Recruits: Overcoming the Language Barrier during Psychological Selection in the Army / Ilfira Temirbulatova

11 Developments in Leadership Skills Required in Norwegian Armed Forces / Johan Bergh

12 A Framework for Military Leadership Development / Ole Boe

13 A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Structure of Tacit Knowledge in Military Leadership / António Rosinha

14 The Diplomatic Psychology: A New Branch of Psychology / Cristian Dobre

15 The Psychology of Suicide Martyrdom in Afghanistan and its Implications for Psychological Operations / Vasile Marineanu

16 Family Context as a Factor of Choice and Success in the Military Profession / Anita Pesic

17 Leadership Training and Contemporary Challenges in Military Leadership of Slovenian Armed Forces / Nataša Troha and Dejan Okoviè

18 Measuring Implicit and Explicit Motives in Career Officers: Validity and Predictive Value / Can Nakkas and Hubert Annen

19 Resilience as a Promoter of Positive Post Military Transition / Nicola Paget

20 Leaders and Ethical Leadership / Yvonne R. Masakowski and Thomas E. Creely

Lt Col. Dr Samir Rawat is a cognitive-behavioural trainer who uses an eclectic approach in teaching soft skills related to leadership and personality development, behaviour modification and counselling, besides conducting faculty development and training of trainers (TOT) for academic, military and corporate institutions. He is a psychologist and facilitator with extensive experience in strengthening intrapersonal and interpersonal skills among individuals and teams.

Dr Rawat has presented scores of psychology and human resource management papers in national and  international conferences. He has contributed extensively to military and academic journals of repute. He has taught a diverse group of population ranging from police, military recruits, cadets, religious teachers, young officers from Armed Forces, civil services, commanding officers in Army and Admirals and their spouses in the Navy, Paramilitary Forces, Special Forces and psychologists as well as officers in friendly foreign countries. He has also been involved in training school and college students from various countries, NGOs, pilots, as well as management trainees in academic institutions.

With his solid, enriching experience of having served the nation in uniform, Dr Rawat truly exemplifies the military philosophy of inspirational leadership through idealized influence. His book Military Psychology: International Perspectives (2017) was very well received in India and abroad. In a short span, this book has found its way as a textbook in National Defence Academies (NDA) and military training institutions in quite a few countries.