Effect of deployments on children coming into focus
For the 2% of our population who serves in the military, plus their families, this last decade will be remembered for the repetitive cycle of deployments and homecomings to and from Iraq and Afghanistan.
They will be remembered as hard and painful times, and also times families will be proud of for having survived.
Here’s a comment from a Fort Drum soldier’s girlfriend who posted as “frustrated” at NCPR’s Inbox:
There is no way a soldier can fully recover from a deployment and prepare for another in 10-12 months. and in those months are weeks/months of training. it’s exhausting. it causes feelings of anger, detachment, and resentment towards the army itself which decreases their morale. i don’t feel that the effect on our relationship is appropriate to speak about because our relationship is not recognized, which is fine. but the effect this is taking on his family is devastating. his family has to constantly worry about their son for 12 months, get 10 months off, and then go right back to it for 12 again? It’s torturous.
The military itself and the broader scientific community is trying to understand what effect the rapid pace of deployments and the short “dwell time” between deployments is having on servicemembers and their families.
Psychologists from the University of Connecticut will be studying children at Sackets Harbor school. The New York Times reported Monday on a study that found children were more likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues when a parent is deployed:
The researchers found that the children saw a doctor or other health professional about six times a year and about once every two years for a mental health reason. During deployment of a parent, however, the visit rate dropped by about 11 percent for physical problems but rose by 11 percent for psychological complaints. Stress, anxiety and attention-deficit problems were among the more common diagnoses, and mothers were far more likely than fathers to take a child to a doctor.
“It’s not clear yet whether kids are in fact suffering more mental problems when a parent is deployed, or that mothers are more attendant to any shift in behavior,” Dr. Karney said. “That’s the next question we have to ask.”
Meanwhile, the Army still suffers from a chillingly high rate of suicide among soldiers. And an effort to properly diagnose and treat post-traumatic stress disorder military-wide continues.
There’s a reason for the old saw “If the Army wanted you to have a wife, they’d have issued you one.” Wives, significant others, family in general create a conflict of emotions between the mission and being an ordinary citizen. I suspect that those stresses occur in any relationship where one partner is away for long periods but are intensified with the military due to the possibility that the absent partner is in mortal danger.
I don’t know if it is still true but I saw a report a few years ago that the Marines only deploy 5 months at a time and then come home for 12 months. If I remember correctly the Bush administration wanted them to deploy longer but the Marine Commandant refused.
I have no science to back up what I want to say, only my feelings.
I think the problem of redeployment can be traced back to the end of the draft.
When we had the draft, you served your time and then could get out without a problem unless you wanted to reenlist. The choice to get out or reenlist was only suspend during a declared war.
When we had the draft, there was a constant supply of new members to the armed forces so there wasn’t the need for redeployment. Fresh troops were always available. Now with the all volunteer forces, this is no longer true and troops are be subjected to redeployment.
In my view, redeployment is a form of torture, something akin to a slow but steady drip of water upon the forehead.
Yes I am trying to advocate for the return of the draft but only for men.