Military Service and Marriage
Getting married is one of the biggest life decisions a person can make. In marriage, a person decides to form an intimate bond with another human being that is publicly recognized and for the first time, “I” becomes “we”. It is this very nature of marriage which puts it at odds with the expectations of military service. “There is an old saying in the Marine Corps that was given as "advice" by gruff, old, first sergeants to young enlisted Marines when they would mention marriage issues: "If the Marine Corps wanted you to have a wife, they would have issued you one!"” (Thompson 22). The military is incredibly similar to marriage. Both institutions have members take oaths to uphold certain values, both are celebrated
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While the military is a reflection of society and service members come from all socio-economic and racial backgrounds, there are some characteristics that the majority of enlistees share. Generally, the individuals enlisting in the military are around the ages of 18 to 22, possess a high school education, and have never lived on their own. It is these characteristics that make these military men and women likely candidates for divorce. However, these men and women also have a career and lifestyle that seems to encourage them to both marry and have children earlier than their civilian …show more content…
Many researchers assume under the stress hypothesis that deployments have a negative effect on military marriages. Yet, studies on the issue fail to show a correlation between deployment and divorce. “To summarize, service record data from the past ten years do not demonstrate the high rates of marital dissolution that are predicted by the stress hypothesis” (Karney 23).One way of explaining this unexpected result is to look at deployments in a different way. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects, such as leaving one’s family, one considers the positives associated with military deployments which include increased pay, a sense of purpose, and more opportunity for career advancement. It could also be that for some military couples, the long-term separation from their spouse heightens their thankfulness for that person and leads them to hold a more positive view of the
The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, transports the reader into the minds of veterans of the Vietnam conflict. The Vietnam War dramatically changed Tim O’Brien and his comrades, making their return home a turbulent and difficult transition. The study, titled, The War at Home: Effects of Vietnam-Era Military Service on Post-War Household Stability, uses the draft lottery as a “natural experiment” on the general male population. The purpose of the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) study is to determine the psychological effects of the Vietnam War on its veterans. In order to do this, they tested four conditions, marital stability, residential stability, housing tenure, and extended family living. However, it neglects the internal ramifications of war that a soldier grapples with in determining whether they are “normal” in their post-war lives. Thus, effects such as alienation from society, insecurity in their daily lives, and the mental trauma that persist decades after the war are not factored in. After reading the NBER study, it is evident that Tim O’Brien intentionally draws the reader to the post-war psychological effects of Vietnam that may not manifest themselves externally. He does this to highlight that while the Vietnam war is over, the war is still raging in the minds of those involved decades later, and will not dissipate until they can expunge themselves of the guilt and blame they feel from the war, and their actions or inaction therein.
With this being said, in the military for dual military couples, this is not the case due to the fact that the man and woman are both working. With both genders working, it is longer a woman stereotype that the mother will cook, clean and nurture the kids. Even though I am not married and don’t have kids, if my wife and I were both military, she will not be the one to always have to follow the woman stereotype nor would I follow the man stereotype. Who says that the father of the house cannot perform the same applied task as the mother, if not even
Military life is like civilian life in many ways. For the most part you still work a regular job, you have to keep your life, housing, bills, car and other things in order. You will have a boss, work with other people, and have to exhibit initiative if you want to get ahead in your job.
Research from Psychiatric Effects of Military Deployment on Children and Families indicates; “Deployments for military members in the United States have increased in both frequency and length over the past 10 years. As a result of these deployments, many children from military families have experienced absences of one or both parents. More than two million United States children have been affected directly by a parent’s deployment. The evidence is clear that deployments are stressful on families and that children can be affected by these
Marriage is a commitment that seems to be getting harder to keep. The social standards placed on an individual by society and influenced by the media inevitably lead some to consider divorce as a “quick-fix” option. “Have it your way” has become a motto in the United States. It has become a country without any consideration of the psychological effects of marriage and divorce. The overwhelmingly high divorce rate is caused by a lack of moral beliefs and marital expectations.
First of all, America has the highest divorce rate among western nations. Divorce rate increased after every major war, and decreased during the Post-World War II economic boom. The divorce rate has more than doubled since 1940, when there were two divorces for every 1,000 persons. Now for the same number of people, there are over five divorces. Studies indicate that there is more divorce among persons with low incomes and limited education and those who marry at a very young age. Teenage marriages are much more likely to end in divorce than are all other marriages. And women who marry when they are over age 30 are the least likely to become divorced. There has been a decline in divorce in the number of couples who have children under 18. Almost 45 p...
Many children are born into families that are a part of a branch of the military. Parents may wonder if the constant moving and deployment will bring negative effects on a child’s development. The rigorous lifestyle of the military can have negative effects on the children’s development growing up, but the opportunity of living as a military child is a culturally diverse, socially strong, and mature development of characteristics. The military life offers many benefits for raising a child. Have a family in the military lifestyle can greatly help the children’s development of positives characteristics.
One of the biggest changes in American families has been divorce and the single-parent families. In the article “What is a Family?”, Pauline Irit Erera argues that after World War 11, is when the major changes in families begun. Women were already accustomed to having jobs and working while their men were away during the war, and when the men all came back is when things started to change. Erera says, “The movement for gender equality led to increased employment opportunities for women, while at the same time declining wage rates for unskilled male workers made them less desirable marriage partners.” (Ere...
Married veterans find it hard as well “Overall, being married while serving reduces the chances of an easy re-entry from 63% to 48% (Morin, 2011)”. Deployment to a combat zone or being in the middle of the ocean away from family and loved ones taxes a marriage. Thus, creating extra stress on their personal life from what should be a support network. This extra stress can cause relationship problems which they don’t fully resolve add onto the stress from transitioning out of the miliatry (Morin,
... Union Stability: Preliminary Findings from NSFH2. NSFH Working Paper No. 65. University of Wisconsin-Madison: Center for Demography and Ecology. Clarkberg, M., Stolzenberg, R. & Waite, L. (1995). Attitudes, values and entrance in to cohabitation versus marital unions. Social Forces, 74, 609-632. Horwitz, A. & White, H. (1998). The relationship of cohabitation and mental health: a study of a young adult cohort. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 505-14 Kiernan, K. & Estaugh, V. (1993). Cohabitation: extra marital childbearing and social policy. Occasional paper 17, London: Family Policy Studies Centre. Teachman, J. & Polonko, K. (1990). Cohabitation and marital stability in the US. Social Forces, 69, 207-20. Tucker, J. et al., (2003). Parental divorce: effects on individual behavior and longevity. Journal of personality and social psychology, 73, 385-386.
Hans Zeiger says, “The chaplain serves soldiers, sailors and airmen in a way that civilian clergy cannot.” As military chaplains live with the soldiers while on deployment and on bases, the chaplain corps has a unique opportunity to minister to the men and women of the service branches. Chaplains assist soldiers with counseling, leading religious services and keeping up morale. Since the conception of the Army Chaplain Corps, certain times of struggle have brought controversy. However, the chaplains continue to lead others in their spiritual walk. With the stresses of war come great obstacles for chaplains to deal with, on the other hand, great rewards also come with chaplaincy. Throughout history, chaplains have served a vital role in the
Military wives are perceived as stay at home moms that sit at home all day and take care of the kids. My views on the wives of soldiers is that they are pretty much single parents while their husbands are deployed. The wives are expected to keep the house up and running by doing the housework, cooking, cleaning and caring for the children. People on the outside looking in may think that all of the wives are unemployed and living off of their husbands. The wives are forced to deal with all the duties that, are they are supposed to share as a couple. In situations like this the wife may feel extremely overwhelmed, but the additional workload along with the work that she was doing before their husband was deployed. The conduction
Lach, Jennifer. “The Consequences Of Divorce.” American Demographics 21.10 (1999): 14. MAS Ultra – School Edition.Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
e. The military can be a positive experience for most men but for the majority of women, it is a bad thing not only on the women’s trust of fellow humans but it can kill her health in a short period.
Upon evaluation, the journal article “ Mental Health in Deployed and Non-deployed Veteran Men and Women in Comparison With their Civilian Counterparts” by Mark W. Hoglund and Rebecca M. Schwartz published by Military Medicine in Volume 19 proves to be a moderately reliable source due to the academic presentation which includes data, personal interviews, qualified sources and a balanced argument that have points that support their argument. Mark W. Hoglund was a project manager for Family Health services, he served as a Human Resources professional in three different organizations, and studies Adult Career planning and Development. Rebecca M. Schwartz is a clinical psychologist, assistant professor, and a graduate of public health. Although Schwartz never served in military and majority of her studies are for HIV in kids and women this leads her to have lot of information about the mental being.