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According to Kümmel, the military is a highly complex social phenomenon touching several different contexts and is thus subject to multiple processes of interpretation (Kümmel, 2003). For this reason, the military is studied from a trans- or interdisciplinary perspective. Historically, the military function could be synthesised in the protection of the entire nation from external invasion and the ruling regime from domestic unrest as well as the conduct of wars for foreign policy objectives. This function raises a basic peculiarity of the military that makes it a special institution: the legitimate management of violence. Such as every organisation, the military changed over time and the changes ask for a revision of the management modalities of many aspects of its operations. From here the idea of a research about the collective representation of military personnel in Italy started. This article is intended to present the planned research. The survey is divided into three parts. To begin, I will analyse some aspects of the military changes, in order to know the context in which the need for an empirical research about this matter is placed. Next, I will examine the structure of the Italian collective representation of the military, pointing out some of the problems of the actual system. To conclude, I will briefly present the research.