Since 2001, more than 2 million American children have had a parent deployed at least once; according to one study. For as long as I can remember, my father, Robert, was a member of the Vermont Air National Guard; other than my father,my extended family was also heavily prevalent in the military as well; both of my father’s elder brothers were members of the marines and army, and my grandmother 's brother died fighting in Vietnam. Deployment wasn’t an easy occurrence for any single person in my family, and it showed in the form of anxiety, and even depression. My uncle was part of the Army, and he was deployed a fair amount as well, so, my cousins knew the hardships. However, since our father’s were part of the military, we were presented with …show more content…
Other than the inevitable worry for the soldiers safety that comes as a result of deployment, the emotional front that is expected is arguably the hardest aspect of deployment for the spouse, especially if there are children involved. In a study by American psychologist and the University of Michigan, if a parent shows obvious signs of stress and worry, than the child is more likely to suffer from a psychological disorder. Likewise, if a parent who is going through this with a child is cold and unresponsive, then the child will most likely have emotional and behavioral problems; if the parent is responsive and caring, the child will not. Either way, this makes it so the parent is forced to fill a role that requires an immense amount of pressure. The prosperity of the child therefore does not just depend on the individual, but the social structures and programs around them; this includes the community, school, and family. If there are strong support systems that can help the child thrive during stressful and emotional times such as deployment, than military children can use the time their loved ones are away to mature, learn, and flourish. This is why programs such as the camps that were mentioned above are in place; they give the military child a sanctuary to learn leadership skills, interact with others who are in similar situations, and ultimately find
Being a single mom in the military is never easy.I have to accept my limitations, and deal with the frustrations at times that I am unable to have the experience of a normal mom, soldier, and woman. Being a single mom has forced me to concentrate on what matters and not get distracted by what might please or appease those around me.
PBS’ Frontline film “The Wounded Platoon” reviews the effects the Iraq war has had on soldiers as they return home and transition back into civilian life, focusing particularly on the rise in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among American military members from Fort Carson Army base (Edge, 2010). Incidents of PTSD have risen dramatically in the military since the beginning of the Iraq war and military mental health policies and treatment procedures have adapted to manage this increase (Edge, 2010). In “The Wounded Platoon,” many military personnel discuss how PTSD, and other mental health struggles, have been inadequately treated (if at all) by military mental health services. Reasons and Perdue’s definition of a social problem allows us to see inadequate treatment of PTSD among returning United States military members as a social problem because it is a condition affecting a significant number of people in undesirable ways that can be remedied through collective action (Reasons & Perdue, 1981).
Deployment is a word that all military spouses and military families dread to hear. When my husband came home to our barely moved in house with news of his deployment to Afghanistan, I was devastated. Though we received terrible news, we also felt incredible joy that same week. I was pregnant with our first child. We were overjoyed by this news but it also meant that my husband would be away the first eight months of our son’s life.
While soldiers are away from home, many things might change that they aren’t there for, for example, family problems and disasters. In addition, veterans might come home to a whole different world than when they left, and this already makes their lives more challenging to go with these changes. In addition, soldiers might also come back with physical injuries, like a lost limb, or loss of hearing. As a result, this makes everyday tasks much harder than they actually are. Veterans also might be mentally scarred from war. For example, a mental disorder called post traumatic stress disorder, makes life for the veteran and family much
Growing up I always had to deal with the fact that my father was involved in the military. My father was deployed twice: once in Germany, and later to Kuwait. I was only four years old when he first traveled and almost every day I asked where dad was. The second time I was fourteen, and I was devastated that my best friend wasn’t going to be home for a year. Both times he left, it was awful for my mom, my brother, and me because he was the one person that kept us together as a family and once he was gone we were just broken. A military family goes through more than a regular family does in a year. Those veterans have families, how do people think they feel. Children who live in a military family have a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and other mental issues. Although many people believe that we should send our soldiers overseas to keep our country safe, there is no reason why our
Living in a time of war is not easy for anyone, and the expansive nature of the current war can make it even harder. Though many people in America may not feel as if they have been effected by the ongoing war, it is likely that everyone has in some way, shape or form. One group most effected are those who have loved ones serving in the military. People with family members that are serving have to face significant hardship and challenges as they cope with a person they care about being in danger. Being away means that family members often don’t have as deep of emotional relationships and while technology can sometimes make that easier, it can also be more frustrating. I don’t know where my uncle is now, and millions of others have the same issue. War truly is hell, for the people fighting and the families back at home. It effects everyone.
These children often miss their deployed parent dearly. In The New York Times article Military Wife During Deployment Is Asked, ‘Is It Worth It?’ The wife and 5-year-old daughter of a navy helicopter pilot are at a wedding when the daughter started crying uncontrollably “‘Daddy,’ she said, sobbing. ‘I miss my daddy.’ … ‘I don’t want YOUR daddy,’ she cried to me. ‘Not Finley’s daddy, or Addie’s daddy, I want MY daddy.’” She saw a picture of him and broke into tears because he wasn’t there to share in the happy memories. Situations like these are
I learned it is absolutely essential to have girlfriends who support you and understand how tough deployment is on a spouse distancing yourself from people who don’t understand becomes almost inevitable. So it is of most importance to keep people around that do. We were able to sympathize, talk in the wee hours of the night and be such a huge comfort and inspiration. Truthfully, they’re a big reason I endured the deployment as well as I did. Staying busy is absolutely imperative. This is what I had forgotten when I allowed myself to become bound in depression. Every single day has to have purpose and goals. Keeping your mind on track is beyond importance. It also helps so your spouse knows your focusing on something other than being sad while he’s away.
Military children are in a league of their own, and at very young ages are thrown into situations of great stress. Approximately 1.2 million children live in the U.S. Military families (Kelly. 2003) and at least 700,000 of them have had at least one parent deployed (Johnson et al. 2007). Every child handles a deployment differently, some may regress in potty training, and others may become extremely aggressive. Many different things can happen, in most cases when a parent deploys and the child becomes difficult to handle, it can cause a massive amount of stress on the parent that is not deployed as well as added stress on the parent who is deployed. There are three stages of a deployment, pre-deployment, deployment, and reintegration, being educated on these three things can make a deployment “run” smoothly for the entire family.
Let’s take military families for example when a family member joins a military to serve his/her country, their families stress over safety. Even during peaceful times military families face separation, military children’s change states/countries so often that they don’t have a personal life, they don’t stay in one place to have a lasting friendship, they change schools so often in some case they fall behind, And during wartime military children and families stress over their family member safety. (Nansook Park, 2011). “Pentagon estimates suggest that nearly 900,000 service members with children have been deployed to war since 2001, and approximately 234,000 children have one or both parents currently deployed to a combat zone” (Zoroya,
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
I am very shocked, when I listen the lecture about the military suicide. This lecture focus on the horrible situation about the military suicide. A big part of the soldiers does not die in the war but in the peaceful military. People in the USA do not care about the military suicide until late 1970s to early 1980s. I find two social problems in this lecture. First is the military does not pay much attention on the mental health of the soldiers. Second is the government does not have many good policies to help veterans.
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.
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
Sogomonyan, F. & Cooper, J. L. (2010). National Center for Children in Poverty. Trauma Faced by Children of Military Families: What Every Policy Maker Should Know