Origins of social assistance in the Brazilian Air Force Command

Abstract

This study is committed to pushing the boundaries of an area still little explored by Social Work: the history of the profession within the Brazilian Air Force Command (COMAER), intrinsically linked to the country’s defense policies. The aim of the reflection was to reveal the singularities present in this sphere of work, which may be relevant to understanding the challenges and possibilities encountered along the profession’s historical trajectory. Taking as its starting point the creation of the Ministry of Aeronautics in 1941, amid the demands of World War II—which established the initial context for the emergence of Social Work within the institution—the research brings to light the paths taken with the institutionalization of COMAER’s Social Work System, as well as the profession’s challenges and advances as it has matured within the current scenario of National Defense Policies. The reflections undertaken in this regard made it possible to highlight important aspects of a trajectory that reveals itself as a continuous process of re-dimensioning the socio-occupational space over time within this Armed Force. It is a historical course marked by major challenges, which transcended the initial sphere of health and social assistance to incorporate areas such as education and humanitarian military operations, among others, while maintaining a commitment to improving the training processes of its human resources and, above all, to expanding the production of Social Work knowledge in the military field.