ABSTRACT
In the modern world, there are a range of very different types of missions in which members of the military may be required to participate. Obviously, military forces train for, and do still on occasion engage in, traditional state-on-state conflict. Military forces also engage in operations against well-organized irregular forces and in counterinsurgency and/or counterterrorism operations, which may occur both at home and within the territory controlled by other states. The military personnel of many states are involved in operations that seek to protect national borders from incursions, not by armed military forces, but by foreign civilians whose actions are seen, in some way, to threaten the national interest. Military personnel may be required to assist, again at home or abroad, in missions that provide humanitarian relief and/or reconstruction after a natural disaster. Last, but certainly not least, they may be required to participate in what might be generally described as “peace” missions, which attempt to deal with problems created by human violence. By their very nature, peace missions inevitably occur within territory controlled by other states. Such missions can be divided into different types, of which the most notable are peacekeeping operations, peacemaking operations, and what have come to be known as armed humanitarian interventions.
