Abstract
At the end of the first year at the Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras (AMAN), the cadet chooses, in order of classification and from the positions offered, at what branch he will remain throughout his career. It was observed that, from 1998 to 2012, the positions that are first filled are those of the Ordnance Corps and the Quartermaster Corps. The present article seeks to understand this tendency within the military professionalization, suggesting that in its genesis lies a change in the officers’ understanding of the Brazilian Army, from an institution to an organization. Underlining the analysis there’s the expectation of performance of the military function in Brazil, the military orphanhood and military professionalization. The data indicating the preference of the senior cadets for the Ordnance Corps and Quartermaster Corps are analyzed through the theoretical institutional/occupational perspective, as proposed by Moskos. The hypothesis that guides this article is that, during the studied period, the senior cadets tend to consider the career in the Army like any other job.
Keywords:
Military professionalization; institutional/organizational model; performance of the military function; military orphanage