Samenvatting

In studies of soldiers’ fears and behavior during war it has been generally acknowledged that their paramount concern is not fear of death, but the fate of their comrades and subordinates. This study aims to delve deeper into this issue. This study deals with the impact of actual death threat on self-perceptions of soldiers with regard to the acceptance of the risk of dying, their performance, and their motivation to engage in a mission. The results indicate that actual death threat has a significant effect on accessibility of death-related thoughts as well as on the self-perception of the soldiers’ performance, motivation and identification with the armed forces. This study, conducted among soldiers who were deployed with the Dutch Stabilization Force in Iraq in late 2004, supports
the Terror Management Theory that has been used as its framework.