Language enabled Airman supports military readiness exercise in Angola with AFRICOM commander

Gen. Michael Langley presents Army Capt. Claudia McDermott with a commander’s coin during a visit to the U.S.-Angola Military Medical Readiness Exercise in Luanda, Angola, Nov. 10, 2022. Langley, the commanding general of U.S. Africa Command, stopped by the exercise during a visit to Angola to discuss security cooperation with senior Angola defense officials. McDermott led the team of U.S. Army medical providers participating in the exercise with Angolan counterparts (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Alisha Grezlik)

Understanding the Will to Resist

Published May 1, 2026
By JSOU

Support to Resistance and Resilience (SRR) is focused on people— both for the populations who are building resilience and resistance skills, and on the SOF professionals who advise and assist those populations. Understanding, defining, and measuring the will to resist is a complex topic. What is the relationship between the people and their will to resist? What is SOF’s role in shaping the will to resist? Is there a difference between will to win and will to fight? Should capturing a willingness to resist be focused on the group or individual level? How can you measure a given group or individual’s will to resist, especially when that will is likely to vary over time? If we can better measure will to resist, might that inform where the next resistance movement will be likely to occur?

Jenkins II, Maj. Kenneth M., "In Search of Will: How Has the Concept of Will Evolved in Conflict," SAASS thesis, 2025, 72 pgs.
- Jenkins answers this by establishing a comprehensive definition of "will" synthesized from British and Italian military theorists from WWI and WWII, defining it as the psychological and material capacity of individuals, military forces, and nations to endure hardship, resist external pressures, and persist in pursuing strategic objectives. He explains that will operates simultaneously across multiple levels: at the national level as a collective moral force, at the operational level as strategic decision-making, and at the tactical level as individual resilience and unit cohesion. Ultimately, Jenkins identifies the individual as the common denominator for will, arguing that attributes like resilience, morale, material support, resolve, and general cognition must be understood in order to shape and measure an adversary's or population's will to resist.
Kissinger, Lt. Col. Michael, "Avoiding Strategic Failure: Understanding Strategic Resolve," AWC paper, 2025, 18 pgs.