Page 91 - Light Dragoons 2023 CREST

In 2018, the Chief of the General Staff selected Lt. Col. Chandler to complete a full-time PhD at King’s College London. Over the next three years, Lt Col Chandler was a CGS Academic Fellow on the Army’s external academic placement programme. The story of those three years is told in the article below, from a family perspective, by his wife Kate.
“CGS has made his decision. I’ve been selected for the PhD programme”. And so it began! As a family we already had prior experience of James completing full- time academic study. As well as a year on the Advanced Command & Staff Course, he had also spent six months as an Army Fellow at Chatham House and a year completing an MPhil in International Relations at Cambridge. So, we were famil- iar with what this involved: days on end in a library, pages and pages of drafted text and long periods of seemingly inactive ‘reflection’ time. But a three-year PhD?! This was new territory for all of us.
First, James needed to select his research topic, which meant identifying a gap in existing scholarship or finding that, as yet, unclaimed peak in the academic land- scape. Fortunately, I was able to provide some help here. As a former editor of the RAF’s in-house journal, The Air & Space Power Review, I had experience in assist- ing researchers to select and refine areas of interest. Eventually, James decided to build upon his previous research in the Iraq War with his recent work for 77th Brigade. He therefore chose to analyse the use of infor- mation operations during Britain’s cam- paign in Iraq, looking to expose lessons from the past that could help illuminate best practice for today. Considering the ongoing debate about warfare in the Information Age, it proved a prescient selection.
Next, James needed to have his research topic accepted by his university, King’s College London, which meant ‘defending’ his proposal before a panel of academic experts. Once accepted, he embarked upon his PhD foundation year, which involved refining his topic, scoping methodologies and reviewing relevant literature. Contrary
Lt Col Chandler briefs the findings from his PhD research to the Higher Command & Staff Course
The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
A Light Dragoon and a PhD: From the Family Perspective
to popular belief, completing a PhD does not involve attending any specific lec- tures, seminars or much else in the way of directed activity. You are very much on your own and James often likened this to the ‘loneliness of the long-distance run- ner’. Meanwhile, our girls found it hilari- ous that Daddy had ‘gone back to school’. “Are there nice people in your class?” asked Bethany one morning!
The foundation year ended in the upgrade exam where another panel of academ- ics cross-examined James on his refined research proposal before deciding it was ‘fit for purpose’. After the upgrade, it seemed all was going rather swimmingly, until we were hit with the inevitable unex- pected. The Coronavirus pandemic and associated periods of ‘lockdown’ tested our household to the max, just as it did for mil- lions of others. Also, as the national and military archives were now closed indefi- nitely, James’s fieldwork plan was looking ominously in doubt. Coupled with this, all of us were now in the house all of the time: working, home-schooling and fight- ing over an all too fragile internet connec- tion. However, after the initial shock, we soon learned to adapt and the girls enjoyed seeing Daddy struggle with his schoolwork more than they were with theirs!
As our lives went on-line, James’s research became a series of remote interviews with senior military and civilian officials who had intimate knowledge of Britain’s conflict in Iraq, including many Light Dragoons. By the end of this, James had conducted over a hundred hours of inter- views and had amassed a unique body of oral histories. This was only enhanced when the archives slowly re-opened and he was able to add evidence collated from over 6000 pages of official military docu- ments, none of which were in the public domain. It was an exciting time for James as his research finally began to take-off. Unfortunately, the pandemic-induced delay meant that time was now against us. With James’s next role – an Op tour in Baghdad – looming in the not-too-dis- tant future, fieldwork quickly switched to
write-up. Fortunately, with my former edi- torial hat on, I was able to assist with this, but it was not without its familial chal- lenges. How do you politely inform your spouse that he may wish to re-consider the placement of a semicolon or adjective, while also reminding him that he has to do the school run in the morning?
Despite all the challenges, James managed to submit his 100,000-word thesis, ensur- ing that it represented a ‘new and unique contribution to academic thought’, just days before he deployed to Iraq. He then spent his evenings in Baghdad prepar- ing for the big PhD final assessment, a three-hour oral examination (or viva voce) requiring him to ‘defend’ his findings before a carefully selected panel of exter- nal, academic experts. This exam occurred in London immediately after James’s mid- tour R&R, which meant his holiday was a balancing act between engaging with the children and revising for his exam. But the girls were fully understanding and, in the end, it was well worth it. His viva was a huge success and he returned to Iraq safe in the knowledge that he had passed all the major hurdles associated with the PhD programme.
Now that the process is almost complete, it will be strange to find our evenings, weekends and bed-time readings no longer consumed with the demands of full-time academic study. Would I support the pro- cess again with hindsight? Absolutely! Our girls have witnessed first-hand the challenges and rewards associated with striving to achieve the highest academic qualification possible, while also maintain- ing some sort of work-life balance. There has been plenty of lighter moments too. Explaining to a retired 3* general before a remote interview that there will be a background accompaniment of an online violin lesson was priceless and will be an enduring memory. It has been a long and demanding process for all of us, but it has also been a privilege to support James’s passion of trying to learn from a conflict that so many wish to forget.
Kate Chandler
Kate Chandler and her Light Dragoon husband, the soon-to-be Dr. Chandler
89