Aricle Reserve Military Service: A Social Constructionist Perspective James Griffith 1 and Eyal Ben-Ari 2 Abstract This study examines reserve military service from a perspective of social con- struction—the ways in which the reservist’s conscious experiences are constructed to give meaning to military service. Content descriptions of conscious experiences of reserve military service are identified in past studies. Constructions fell into four broad categories: (1) complementary to life—reserve military service providing wanted satisfaction not otherwise achieved, material gain, or ideological commit- ment; (2) equitable arrangement—understood compensation for self-sacrifice; (3) discordant identity—requirements of military life blatantly or surreptitiously conflicting with established identity and civilian life; and (4) self-definition—reserve military service understood as an aspect of self-identity. Directions for integrating these constructions as a basis for future research are identified and discussed. Keywords reserve, military service, reservist, identification, identity 1 National Center for Veterans Studies, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA 2 Kinneret Center for Society, Security and Peace, Kinneret Academic College, IsraelCorresponding Author: Corresponding Author: James Griffith, National Center for Veterans Studies, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. Email: jhgriffith@comcast.net Armed Forces & Society 1-26 ª The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0095327X20917165 journals.sagepub.com/home/afs