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The Swedish Armed forces has been transformed to an all-volunteer force where the first soldiers began their employment in May 2011. The number of applicants has been satisfying but experiences from other countries indicate that it has been easier to recruit soldiers than to retain them. The aim of this study was to investigate factors affecting the job satisfaction of soldiers. Twenty-one informants who had been employed as soldiers for about a year participated in the study. They came from all three fighting services (army, air force, navy). The data was analyzed according to a grounded theory approach.

      The results show that the soldiers’ job satisfaction is related to their inner motivation to join the armed forces. The inner motivation can be divided into: (a) primarily searching for a job and a steady income, (b) a great interest in the armed forces and military tasks, and (c) an aim for a certain education/position. Factors that appear to affect the job satisfaction are, for example: co-workers, salary and experienced meaningfulness. Another result from the study is that strategic decisions at the Head Quarter level that involve unexpected readjustments at the local level tend to have a negative effect on of the soldiers’ motivation and job satisfaction because  the leaders at the local units are poorly prepared to handle the changes. This will be more thoroughly discussed during the presentation.