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MORAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT OF TRAINING OF MODERN MILITARY SPECIALISTS

The peculiarities of military professional education, social and spiritual processes of life of cadets of military higher educational institutions determine the moral and psychological state of personnel and require qualitative changes towards humanization and humanization of education. The author shows the transformation of training of military commanders through ontological and anthropological dimensions, which makes it possible to significantly improve the training of military personnel in the moral and psychological aspect.
Keywords: philosophy of military science, military leader-personality, network-centered warfare, moral and psychological aspect, anthropologization of military affairs.

Korostylov H. L.
PhD student of the third (educational and scientific) level of higher education,
National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”, Kharkiv, Ukraine

10.34142//2708-4809.SIUTY.2022.90

Today, the professional activity of military personnel involves the performance of functional duties in extreme combat conditions.

Success in such conditions largely depends not only on the level of professional training, but also on the level of moral and psychological readiness for it. In combat operations, every soldier has two goals: to survive and to fulfill a combat mission. Moreover, accomplishing a combat mission is often one of the ways to survive. There are new approaches and a defined scientific and philosophical basis for methodological support of the process of moral and psychological training of personnel in extreme conditions of combat operations.

Based on historically known studies and provisions of a scientific and philosophical nature, the purpose of the article is to strengthen the theoretical and methodological philosophy of teaching humanities subjects and enrich the tools of moral and psychological training of the modern corps of military commanders by referring to the sources of philosophical science.

The novelty of the article is the demonstration of the transformation of military commanders’ training through ontological and anthropological dimensions, which makes it possible to significantly improve the training of military personnel in the moral and psychological aspect.

There is no need to prove that without the basic methodology of philosophy, without knowledge of the basic provisions of humanitarian subjects, a modern officer cannot objectively assess the impact of the moral and psychological aspect in the overall combat training of not only his own but also his subordinates, and creatively comprehend the impact of the latest training technologies. Knowledge of the history of the emergence, formation and development of military philosophical thought not only ensures the unity of logical and historical mastery of military science, but also equips command personnel with a philosophical methodology of approaches and centuries of experience in solving problems of armed defense of the Motherland [1].

Traditionally, the first is considered to be the commander and military theorist Sun Tzu (453-403 BC), who in his work “The Art of War” defined the principle of comprehensive training of the military as one of the main principles of building an ancient army [2].

Such scholars as Thucydides (460-396 AD) and Xenophon (430-355 AD) continued to develop military-philosophical thought and study the phenomena of armed struggle. Although they were not philosophers, they realized the importance of philosophy in military affairs [3]. Also, such scientists of the ancient world as Polyenus, Polybius, Julius Caesar, Vitruvius contributed to the development of fundamental problems of military science that remain relevant to this day – the principle of scientificity of military affairs.

Niccolo Machiavelli (1521) in his work “On the Art of War” also draws attention to the moral and psychological state of the troops during the war [4].

In an attempt to comprehend the nature of military technologies at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the prominent Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) was the second in history, after Sun Tzu, to thoroughly study and separately highlight the importance of comprehensive training of the military as one of the main principles of building an army. In such chapters of his work as “In the Swamps” and “In the Mountains,” he paid attention to the training of troops not only to the technical and professional aspects of training, but also emphasized the moral and psychological component.

In the author’s opinion, M. P. Trebin in his book “Wars of the XXI Century” approaches the issue of the evolution of military affairs, the development of weapons and the principles of training in a more balanced and comprehensive manner [5].

But given that today we have already entered the phase of network-centric warfare, which is characterized by such technologies as drones for various purposes, the latest air defense systems, space communication systems and many types of high-precision weapons, a new methodology for training troops is being formed, according to the author. O. O. Dolska speaks about the constant need for modernization in the methodology of training modern specialists: “…the strategy of human education in the new society, in which the techno-social phenomenon is gaining momentum, should be organized in a new way. The new content of education should be aimed at intervening in the face of unexpected system malfunctions, i.e., systemic thinking is becoming necessary” [6]. Therefore, the technological sophistication of modern weapons directly brings the anthropological factor of training to the fore. That is, in the methodology of training military specialists in higher education institutions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, we must take into account that along with the general engineering training of future commanders at a high modern level, special attention should also be paid to moral and psychological training, humanization and humanization of military science, and the education of the commander as a personality, a leader of the military team [7].

A special place among modern philosophical schools that pay considerable attention to the problem of personality and leaders is occupied by existentialism (S. Kierkegaard, G. Marcel, J.-P. Sartre, K. Jaspers, M. Heidegger).

They reveal the personality through the irrational identity of its inner world, its existence [8]. Turning to this problem, Ukrainian philosopher V. Smolianiuk in his study “Moral and Ethical Problems of Professionalization of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” asks the question: “Millions of military personnel under the banner of professional armies have ‘pure professionalism’ as their internal generator of activity, devoid of ethical dimensions, or a more complex moral and psychological motivation” [9].

However, speaking of humanization and humanization of military education, we must take into account the experience of training foreign military specialists of the command level in the leading Western countries, where the share of humanitarian subjects ranges from 35 to 50 percent [10].

In the author’s opinion, the moral and psychological aspect in the training of modern military specialists has the main ways of its implementation.

The main ones are as follows:

– Reflection in the system of military education of modern world trends in the field of training, primarily in terms of ensuring the humanization of the education process;
– adherence to international standards in the organization of humanitarian disciplines in higher military educational institutions;
– ensuring the organic unity and interconnection of all academic disciplines, their focus on the formation of moral, psychological and military professional qualities of officers, general culture and social responsibility;
– reorganization of the system of studying humanities in the military education system.

Therefore, it should be noted that in its content and essence, military service, especially for officers, is not only a special type of public service, but also a way of life that is inherent only to military personnel and requires specific professional training and specific moral and psychological qualities, a special attitude to life and worldview, high moral foundations and a special system of values.

The state and peculiarities of military professional education, social and spiritual processes of life of cadets of higher education institutions determine the moral and psychological state of personnel and require qualitative changes towards humanization and humanization of education.

List of references

1. Evolution of military art: a textbook in 2 parts / D. V. Vedenieiev and others. Kyiv: National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine, 2017.
2. Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Kyiv: Andronum Publishing Union. 2021. 67 с.
3. Varakuta V. P. History of wars and military art. Kharkiv: Acad. Military Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, 2012. 554 с.
4. Machiavelli. On the Art of War. Kyiv: Strelbitsky’s Multimedia Publishing House 2021. URL: https://www.yakaboo.ua/ua/pro-vijs-kove-mistectvo.html. (accessed October 30, 2022).
5. Trebin M. P. Wars of the XXI century. Kyiv: Harvest, 2005. 608 с.
6. Dolska O. O. Philosophy of modern society: study guide. Kharkiv: NTU “KHPI”, 2012. 180 с.
7. On the Code of Honor of the Officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: Order of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine of 31.12.1999, No. 412.
8. Kvitkin P. V. Problems of Formation of the Spiritual Culture of the Personality of a Modern Military Leader. The main directions of education of military intelligentsia in modern conditions: materials of scientific and practical non-profit higher education institutions, Kharkiv, November 22. 2001 Kharkiv: KHARKIV MILITARY UNIVERSITY, 2002. С. 61-64.
9. Moral and ethical problems of professionalization of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Person and Politics. 2002. № 5. С. 46, 140-150.
10. Yahupov V. V. Theory and Methods of Military Training: monograph. Kyiv: Tandem, 2000. С. 9-10.