Military Spouses and the Challenges of Military Life

Running head: MILITARY SPOUSES AND THE CHALLENGES OF MILITARY

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Military Spouses and the Challenges of Military Life DANITZA JAMES Saint Leo University

MILITARY SPOUSES AND THE CHALLENGES OF MILITARY Abstract Army life is unique to say the least. The subculture, with its own language, rules, acronyms and ways, is foreign to the general population. The Global war on Terrorism has brought more awareness and certainly more curiosity about Army life. (Krajeski, 2006, 2008, p. 5).Today, more than ever, the military spouse is a pioneer who travels to strange lands, rears her

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family under nomadic conditions, and many times copes with the stress of surviving on his or her own. (Alt & Stone, 1991, p. 11) A military spouse must struggle trough understanding his or her role in the military life, learning how maintain the marriage a float, constant relocation, deployments and many other factors that are part of being a military spouse. In addition

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Today’s military is a military of families. About half of active-duty members are married as they enter their fifth year of service, and about three-fourths are married as they enter their tenth year of service. Therefore, in supporting the service member, manpower policy must often also support the member’s family. Family considerations are apparent in policies on housing, health care, child care, dependents’ schools, and compensation for separation from family members. Many military spouses work in the labor force and contribute to their family’s material well-being, yet at the same time they must accommodate the demands the military makes of the member in the form of training, drills, inspections, education, exercises, peacetime operations, and hostile deployment. Also, the member is periodically reassigned, and permanent change-of station (PCS) moves generally require the working wife to leave one job and find another. (Hosek, Asch, Fair, Craig, & Mattock, 2002, p. 6)

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