The Role Models and Future Projections of Military Students

At the beginning is brought to attention the meaning of several concepts in the literature - personal success, social achievement, role model and counter-role model. Then, the results of previous quantitative and qualitative researches on the life models of young people in various contexts are briefly presented. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the models and counter-models of success of military students, in order to discover their motivational and inspirational sources and their authentic value benchmarks. The data collection method is a questionnaire consisting of open questions. Students from NBLFA are part of the sample. The results indicated that both role models and counter models of military students generally come from the mass-media and less from the professional environment. Also, students state that work-based strategies are more useful to achieve success than strategies based on capitalizing on exceptional personal qualities or social relationships. Another significant result of the research shows that only a small part of the students considers the success in the military career as an important personal desire, resorting instead to other ways of describing the success in the future: family, house, material goods, health. Taking these into account, teachers should reconsider the most effective ways to have a significant impact in preparing students for future life and profession.