63 Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 11 ❚ Number 3 ❚ September 2021 Meaningfulness and Coherence? Experiences Among Young Soldiers in the Swedish Armed Forces 1 ❚ Gunnar Gillberg 2 PhD, Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5997-0472 ❚ Roland Kadefors Professor, Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5003-0967 ❚ Jan Holmer Professor, Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8938-4722 ❚ Anders Östebo Project Manager, Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7059-4495 ABSTRACT The twofold aim of the present study was to try to understand why young recruits to the Swedish Armed Forces chose a military career rather than a civilian one, and how their expectations were met when confronted with the realities of life as a soldier or marine.The study material consisted of 57 interviews with 37 young recruits; the interviews were carried out at units representing different branches of the Armed Forces. The interviews were semi-structured, transcribed, and categorized. It was found that the desire to remain employed as a soldier or marine in the Swedish Armed Forces is based on a set of individual and organizational factors: the selection process, the sense of meaningfulness and organizational coherence, the safety offered, and the salutogenic nature of military working life.The recruits are part of a system that offers good work conditions in return for taxing and stressful work assignments. KEYWORDS Military / soldiers / young adults / work life / salutogenesis / generative mechanisms (meaningfulness / fellowship / stability) / career Introduction T he starting point for the present study was to investigate why young people apply to the Armed Forces and what factors infuence their choice to stay or terminate their employment. This can be understood as an interest in how organizational conditions (at different levels) and agency (intentional actions and strategies) interact when young 1 You can fnd this text and its DOI at https://tidsskrift.dk/njwls/index. 2 Corresponding author: Gunnar Gillberg, Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg, Box 720, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden. E-mail: gunnar.gillberg@socav.gu.se.