Global Issues of Military Families

Global Issues of Military Families

Introduction

This essay cites the problems faced by military personnel and people related to them. There are a number of factors that affect the lives of veteran people, not only in the US but throughout the world. These factors then lead to destructive family problems, such as separations, divorces and sociopsychological illness. The life of the military personnel is not only affected in the war zones, but back in their homes as well; the lives of their family members are devastated because of adverse sociopsychological impact of the conditions they live in (Hetherington & Kelly, 2002). Their spouse and children have to struggle more than a normal civilian needs to, in order to stay in line with their peers in the school, office or neighborhood.

Discussion

The Problem

The separation and divorce rates among military families are considerably higher than what it is in civilian families. There are several reasons which cause this higher rate of separation and divorce among military families. The rate has been documented to rise in the recent years because of the increase in the wars and a higher number of deployment in war zones. As a matter of fact, for the citizens of any country, it should be a matter of extreme importance to provide facilities and means to tackle such problems to those who put not only their lives but the lives of their family members on stake for the security of their country. In the U.S. the overall divorce rate in among the civilians was about 5% in 2008 (however, the rate changes with different states), whereas, in military families it was about 6%. The highest rate was in the Marine Corps. With respect to different genders, divorce rate among military females was way higher; it was 9.1% in Marine Corps. The divorce rates among the U.S veteran people also vary with the type of force they work in. Below is the table which shows the distribution of rates (Harvey & Fine, 2004).

Service

Male Divorce Rates

Female Divorce Rates

Marine Corps

3.2%

9.1%

Navy

2.4%

6.3%

Air Force

2.9%

6.3%

Army

3.0%

8.5%

Table 1: Divorce rates of different military forces of the U.S. in 2008.

Although, high number of divorces and separation among military families is a big problem, there are many other problems that military families face. Of those who survive and do not end up in a separation or divorce are subjected to adverse sociopsychological effects due to separation between family members through deployment. Not only the spouse but the children are also amongst the greatest victims (Butler, 2003). High rate of mobility and early burden of responsibilities causes the children to mature either earlier than their peers or fail to tackle the situation and become impaired with psychological issues.

Causes of the Issue

Contemporary Mentality

Veteran people usually go through harsh and hostile living environment which develops an austere nature in them. They assume themselves above everyone else; they assume themselves dominant to the civilians. They are very easy to annoy and are always ready to get in ...