Determinants of Soldier Support for Operation Uphold Democracy

A substantial number of U.S. Army soldiers deployed to Haiti for Operation Uphold Democracy did not believe it was important that the U.S. military be involved in the operation (49%); did not believe that what the U.S. military was doing was important (38%); and did not believe in the overall value of the operation (43%). At the same time, a substantial number of soldiers had positive feelings about what they were doing in Haiti and the mission they were accomplishing. The primary focus of this investigation was to examine factors that were related to the wide variation in soldier reports of support for Operation Uphold Democracy. The results indicated that a combination of soldier characteristics (e.g., race, gender), unit characteristics (e.g., unit type), task characteristics (e.g., task significance), and operational characteristics (e.g., perceptions of public support) accounted for nearly 50% of the variance in soldier reports of support for the overall operation.