Effect of Deployment on Military Families

¶ … military deployment affects military families. The writer explores the many differences between deployed and non-deployed families and examines some of the things being done to ease the stress and problems that deployment presents. There were 10 sources used to complete this paper.

Americans are waiting with anxious anticipation as the federal government attempts to convince the United Nations that a war with Iraq is in order. President Bush as well as Colin Powell have spent days addressing the issue and presenting evidence of the need to forcibly disarm Iraq. As the world watches the events unfold, nations are lining up on one side or the other of the issue. France, Germany and Russia are asking the United States to hold off on an attack and see if a more peaceful solution can be hammered out. Britain, Canada and several others have pledged if a war erupts, they will send troops to stand side by side with the American service personnel.

The world waits and watches and each American become acutely aware of the ramifications that a war may bring forth. While the waiting and watching is hard on most Americans, there is a segment of the population that it can be excruciating for. The families of military personnel have put their lives in limbo as they wait for orders to deploy. Currently thousands to troops have already been deployed to the Middle East in anticipation of a coming war. Their families have already begun to live the life that they will lead when the war breaks out. Military families are often considered a breed of their own.

They are expected to be stoic, strong and tough as they say goodbye to their spouses, children, sons, daughters and brothers when they are shipped off to war or to the mission of keeping peace. Military families have dealt with deployment issues since the inception of the nation. With each war, skirmish or peacekeeping mission; families of deployed service members do what it takes to go forward while waiting for their loved ones to come home.

THE CALL TO GO

When the call to go presents itself by way of deployment orders it can be a call for the service member to go overseas, or it can order the member to a U.S. base, and then ship the member overseas from there. The order to deploy causes many things to change for the service member and their family. Deployment not only affects the daily life of the service member, but it also affects the life of every one in that family (Caught, 2001).

Most Americans are aware of how service families operate. They have seen children and teens enter classrooms, and leave again, only to get temporarily settled elsewhere. Many spouses get jobs, only to start climbing the company ladder, and have to move because their spouse gets deployed again. There are so many aspects of family life that are affected by deployment that the military has begun to recognize the need for assistance and programs to the families it uproots (Caught, 2001).

The fabric of some military families can be expected to unravel, particularly after such a "prolonged period of peacetime," says Mary Edwards Wertsch, author of Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress. "Technically, the military is always being prepared. But the question for the spouse and children is how prepared they can really be for the reality (Peterson, 2001)."

THE CHILDREN

One of the most affected aspects of deployment for military families is the way it affects the children within the deployed family. There are ramifications at each age and each stage that must be dealt with by the remaining parent following the deployment order.

School issues are a foundational aspect of what children of deployed American service personnel must manage. Children who are in military families often find themselves being moved every year or two. The children are uprooted from their friends, their clubs, their teachers and moved to a new school, often in the middle of the school year. Children who have already formed their lunch buddies, and their recess playmates may not react with warmth to a new child appearing in the middle of the year. This can cause stress and insecurities for the new child who has been not only uprooted in the school setting, but often times one of their parents has recently been sent to a remote location to perform their duty to their nation.

When the children of military members are moved they are often in a new school before the transcripts can be sent. The child is then left trying to convince the educational system that they are capable of honors, or higher classes. The educational system, wanting to play it safe places the children in classes that are often lower than the child is capable of. In addition the reverse can happen. A child may be moved to a new school and find themselves academically lost (Peterson, 2001). School districts vary from state to state, and district to district with their academic lessons and levels. A child of a deployed military family can find himself or herself in a new school where everybody is way ahead of where their former school was. The child is left with not only trying to fit in socially to a new setting with new children, but can be humiliated by their lack of training or preparedness for the academic placements of the new school setting.

For many of the children in military families, any overseas deployment means a move -- from Norfolk, Va., back to an aunt's or uncle's house in the Midwest, perhaps. For the 7.7% of single parents in the military, such address changes are a certainty. That means not only must students attend a new school, but too often they also must needlessly battle a new education bureaucracy (Peterson, 2001).

Transcripts arrive late, which means students end up stuck in classes beneath their abilities (Peterson, 2001)."

For the children who find themselves at the new location before the records arrive from their old school they often find they are not able to settle in immediately because when the new record arrives they will be moved again. A school with a new child or family of children will often place the children in the middle academic track. The children's records, or their immediately evident abilities or lack of abilities appear before long and this often causes a shift in the child's grouping. The children find themselves moved again and again until their right placement is discovered.

This can be extremely stressful for a young child who has already gone through giving up their old friends and school classes in the previous assignment of their military parent (Peterson, 2001).

For high school students of military families, a deployment can have devastating affects on their education. High school students must work hard to achieve a high enough GPA to get into college. Across the nation different districts, and different states require different things for the purpose of high school graduation. Some schools want 26 credits, while others may only require 24. Some schools use a semester grading system while other school districts use a quarterly system.

There are schools that use a block schedule system with fewer classes each day, and each class is 90 minutes to two hours long, while other schools use a regular schedule system including six to eight courses a day. High school students must take a certain number of each type of classes to graduate. They are required to have so many English, so many math classes and so on. If they move from one school to another it is possible that a class they need to graduate is not going to be offered in time at the new school for graduation (Peterson, 2001).

Especially unfair are requirements that force students who passed graduation exams in one state to take the exams required by the new state (Peterson, 2001). Last year, for example, when the U.S. Army transferred 16-year-old Bonner Jones' father from Fort Hood to Fort McPherson, Jones had to move from a Texas high school in Killeen to a Georgia high school outside of Atlanta. He also had to start preparing for the Georgia exit exam, although he had already passed Texas' equivalent test (Peterson, 2001). "

Military family high school students are faced with different graduation requirements, different grading scales, different schedule systems and different class offerings if they want to graduate high school. Even given all of the changes, many military family high school students find that they do not qualify for honors, or other awards because of the requirement school districts often have that a student attend the school for a predetermined number of semesters to be eligible. Even if the high school student of a military family gets through all of this, they are often blocked from the college of their choice because of residency requirements.

Many seniors don't qualify for lower in-state tuition at public universities in their new state -- an important consideration for Army enlisted personnel earning about $30,000 a year. Unfair? Obviously. But while 18 states require that students pass an exit exam to graduate from high school, not one has a reciprocal agreement that would help students such as Jones (Peterson, 2001)."

Even when students make it through all of the red tape that they have encountered through four years of high school while under deployment orders, they often find they must pay out of school tuition for the colleges they want to attend. Recently approximately 31 states have begun to study different ways to assist these students who are being hurt through no fault of their own. Their only crime is being related to a military member who has been deployed.

STRESS FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY

The stress of military deployment affects the entire family, not just the students of that family. Military deployment causes stress in several areas of family life, and this stress causes many things to occur including a higher divorce rate (Peterson, 2001).

Many military families, particularly those in the enlisted ranks, are already under stress as a result of factors ranging from low salaries to poor housing.

But now add deployment to a war zone to the everyday pressures of military life. Studies after the Persian Gulf War showed divorce rates surged at three Army bases that sent troops overseas, with increases ranging from 37% to 56%. Although many marriages may have been unstable before separation, the numbers are still high (Peterson, 2001)."

There are many financial stresses and hardships that go along with being a deployed military family. When a family is transferred from one base to another it is not always financially beneficial. Families, for instance, who are transferred to bases in California often, encounter cost of living issues that cannot be met on military salary. On base housing may not be available, which leaves the family scrambling to afford housing off base that is among the highest housing costs in the nation. Daycare costs can also be prohibited when a family moves from one area of the nation to another. When a family goes through a deployment order often times one parent is responsible for finding housing, moving the family, locating schools, dealing with the cost of enrolling in those schools, finding daycare and paying for the daycare after finding a job (Peterson, 2001).

Even though you know internally that this is part of your mission, you signed up for this, that doesn't mean you can always deal with it," says Joyce Wessel Raezer of the National Military Family Association, a non-profit advocate for military families. "Separation is a major stressor" for the family. Raezer is not delighted with reports of quickie marriages being performed for couples expecting a deployment. "I'm not sure this is the best time to do this," she says. The champagne can go flat quickly when reality hits (Peterson, 2001). "

One of the factors that experts attribute to the rise in stress levels among military families who deal with deployment is the fact that the families are younger. Because the nation has switched to an all volunteer service personnel, it has lowered the ratio of older families being deployed. The draft is gone and the draft used to affect families with service members up to the age of 35. Today, the lack of a draft means that many men who are past the age of 25, have already chosen life careers and paths and they have begun their lives. They are not going to join the military.

This means that most of the military personnel is comprised of younger adults who have decided for a variety of reasons to make the military their job or their career. This shift in demographics, not only affects the age of available troops, but also the age of the spouses and children of those troops. The entire military family has been dramatically reduced in age over the years since the Viet Nam conflict and that change has added stressors to deployment that were not as common and evident in the past. Young spouses who are barely out of childhood themselves are now faced with deployment family stresses that include homesickness, financial problems and the stress of missing their equally youthful spouse who may have been deployed to a dangerous area of the world.

The nature of the military has changed dramatically since the Vietnam War. "The all-volunteer military today is predominantly a young, married force with children," says a report by Raezer submitted to Congress. There are consequences for "recruiting someone with a family and expecting them to live on a salary more appropriate for a single person in the barracks. Financial issues are not as acute for most officers. But budgets already stretched thin may give out when a mom or dad deploys from the enlisted ranks. "Younger families depend on the service member having a second job delivering pizza," Raezer says. "Or they provide child care in the evening so a spouse can work at Wal-Mart (Peterson, 2001)."

The adults in the family of a deployment order are also affected through disruptions of school. Because many of the families are young adult led in the all volunteer service that the nation now uses, they are often enrolled in college for their degree in the field of their choice. The deployment orders of themselves or their spouse often creates havoc for those who are trying to attend college. They must try and finish the quarter or semester, and try and get moved during a natural school break. When they arrive at the new destination they must then hope the credits they took at their former college are accepted at this new college and that the transcripts will be sent in time for them to sign up at the new town.

MENTAL ILLNESS AND DEPLOYMENT

Families of deployed military personnel can suffer from various mental health issues. Things such as substance abuse, depression, anxiety and anger issues have all been discovered in increased percentages in the families of deployed military personnel as compared to families who do not go through deployments. One recent study of more than 17,000 military personnel concluded that one in six of those studied drink alcohol on a heavy basis. In addition the research study uncovered an interesting mindset among those who suffered from depression (Peterson, 2001). The study screened members of the military and their families for depression and it was concluded that 18% of those who participated in the study needed treatment for depression. While 18% suffered from and wanted treatment for depression, only eight percent actually accepted and received treatment. The others felt that seeking treatment for depression might injure their careers now, or in the future (Peterson, 2001).

The military has learned from its experiences with families in the Gulf War and intensified its support systems. The Navy runs extensive programs to bolster the physical and emotional needs of families before during and after deployment. "Reunion teams" may help sailors on their way home from overseas learn how to re- establish intimacy in a marriage or care for a baby born when Dad was overseas. "The bottom line is realistic communication about expectations" during deployment, says Lt. Col. Glen Bloomstrom, an Army chaplain. Everyday issues that come up range from keeping a balanced family budget while overseas, to decisions concerning the children while one parent is away (Peterson, 2001). "

WHAT IS BEING DONE

Recently the national military branches began to realize that the families of deployed personnel need assistance to handle the stresses and problems that go hand in hand with deployment orders. The military has conducted surveys and combed through records to determine what the issues are and what the demographics of those issues are comprised of. Among the findings were:

55% of military personnel are married.

56% of those married are between 22 and 29.

One million military children are under 11.

40% are 5 or younger.

63% of spouses work, including 87% of junior-enlisted spouses (Peterson, 2001)."

The cost of living is moving forward at a faster rate than military pay according to some studies. Out of pocket expenses each time a deployment causes a move can be draining (Air, 2001). Even when though the military moves the house, there are deposits for utilities, replaced spices, staples, food and other expenses that the family has to incur with each move.

One of the things that has been suggested across the nation and to the government is an increase in the provision of base housing. Base housing would assist the families of deployed military members in several ways. The first thing that it would do would be to provide affordable housing that would be standardized throughout the nation. Military families who have to move to the expensive areas of the nation are often forced to live in poverty as well as areas they do not consider safe for their families. Providing base housing would alleviate the financial and the safety issues that many military families currently face.

The second thing it would do would be to provide security for the remaining family members of deployed military personnel. The families have a common bond, and their children have things in common. The high rate of incidence of depression among members of deployed families lead to the natural conclusion that creating a less isolated atmosphere would be beneficial. Base housing would provide a community feeling that would allow the remaining spouses to band together in unity. Because of their common living and family situations they would be able and equipped to provide support and stability for each other. In addition the children of the families would be able to make friends and spend time with children who also have parents who are on deployment.

It also provides kinship and the camaraderie of living next door to people experiencing common challenges, and the convenience of on- base facilities. One such on-base facility is the child development center, she said. "The Air Force has the best daycare facilities going -- great staff, secure, clean. And, nutritious food is fed to the children," she said. "The only problem is that there are not enough (slots) available, especially for hourly care." Daycare is an important quality-of-life issue that must be addressed because it can negatively impact the family's ability to conduct business or attend appointments, especially when someone is new to an installation and the military member is deployed (Air, 2001)."

The need to handle everything while the military member is deployed, weighs heavily on the family that remains. The remaining spouse has to deal with all of the needs of the family but is not single in the sense that they can turn to others for comfort. It can be a lonely venture for the most stoic of military spouses and the ability to live among others in the same situation would help them cope.

The base housing that is available is often substandard. This further exacerbates the depression that many military deployment spouses feel when their spouse is deployed (Hearing, 2001).

At Quantico, once again, we were confronted with housing office staff that were less than helpful. Even though there were empty three- bedroom homes in staff NCO housing, we were forced to wait for a little over two months for a two-bedroom because of the size of our family.

We were given a choice of houses at Quantico as well, one on each side of the same street. The house was small, built in the late '

40s, about 891 square feet. There was a nice fireplace in there, but it was condemned and unusable. Our kitchen floor was warped, water seeping up at times in between floor tiles from an unidentified source. In order for my washing machine to drain without running over, the lines had to be snaked and then ballooned, because the plumbing is so old it wouldn't support my washing machine (Hearing, 2001). "

This and other stories around the nation are testament to the type of things families of deployed military personnel have to face.

SOME SOLUTIONS

There are many things that a military member faces within the confines of their career. Being deployed however, not only places a strain on the member, but also on all of the family members in the house. Military members who are deployed leave behind families who are left to clean up and start their lives over every couple of years, or at times several times a year.

"More than 780,000 of the military's 1.4 million active-duty personnel are married and another 100,000 are single parents. There are 2 million family members, 1.24 million of them children. Family support has steadily increased as the number of spouses and children has grown, according to DOD officials here. The challenge also includes supporting a community that includes dual-military couples, single parents and a growing number of elderly dependents (Mission, 1999)."

There are things that are not being done but would go a long way in the assistance of families to deployed military members. One of the things that might be considered is a tax break for companies who hire spouses of deployed members of the military. When a military person is deployed their spouse is left to find a job, and sometimes two jobs to make ends meet while their spouse is gone. Currently many companies hesitate to hire spouses of deployed military personnel because they know going in that it is a temporary situation, and the family will be uprooted and sent elsewhere.