Family Dynamics Of Military Brats

The life of a military child (brat) is a wonderful, enriched, hard, and learning experience. Brats

impacted my life in many challenging ways. The term military brat is usually misunderstood by

Cozza, C. S., & Lerner, R. M. (2013). Military Children and Families: Introducing the Issue. The Future of Children, 23(2), 3-11. doi:10.1353/foc.2013.0016

Most military families face the possibility of a loved one returning to service which can also cause a great deal of fear and unpredictability within the family. Studies also prove that family members struggle with emotional distress and children often have behavioral issues as a result of parents deployed to serve in the military. “The strain of war deployment with associated risk that the service member may be harmed or killed, adds to the stressors inherent in military family life, even in times of peace” (Link, P. E., & Palinkas, L. A. (2013). This also suggest that family separations due to irregular tours and training deployments. Often impact the relationships in the family and can change the family dynamics often leaving one caregiver with a majority of the responsibility of raising a family. The military culture can adversely affect family functioning with inflexible hierarchical relationships, expectations and of obeying rules and

As mentioned above the military family members go through many challenges. The service member when deployed leaves the other parent to the care of the family and home. Many divorces happen due to one parent being away from the home for long periods of time and the stress placed on the one parent at home. With one parent left to take on the role for both parents, this can either become a stressor for that one parent or strength building time. The children may receive less attention because the one parent is doing the duty of two. They become self-sufficient during this time. The service member that is deployed is focusing on the duty at hand. This may be patrolling the boundaries of the

Military brats can be found in many countries from Asia, Europe, and the United States. They can be some of the most experienced people due to moving to different places every few years and adapting to the culture.

Military children and families face multiple challenges just for being part of this culture, these challenges are not limited to disruption in family routines, extended separations, mental health problems and parenting difficulties that be related to exposure to traumatic events (Paley, Lester, & Mogil, 2013). One such challenge is deployment. What is deployment, it is the sending of military personnel and materials to a specific destination from their home installation (Military, 2015). Deployment encompasses the preparation and personal needs that are needed before, during and after deployment. All families preparing for a deployment separation go through a process defined by the stages of preparation, survival, and reunion and with each stage comes with different stressors and adjustments for the military member and family members left behind. The stages are predeployment, deployment, sustainment, redeployment and post deployment ((Devoe, & Ross, 2012), within these stages are the seven emotional stages of deployment anticipation of departure, detachment and withdrawal, emotional disorganization, recovery and stabilization, anticipation of return, return adjustment and renegotiation and reintegration and stabilization (Morse, 2006).

Often children of parents serving in the military receive the term of being a “military brat”. This is often thought of with a negative connotation as the term “brat” is seen as a child with contempt. Those with limited knowledge of the military culture are frequently misunderstood and believe it is demeaning; however, many in the military culture see it as a term of endearment. Another common misconception can be highlighted from the typical Hollywood “Army Wives” where every episode is filled with drama and scandal. Furthermore, many people have a thought that adultery is common among military spouses. However, as with all families there is drama, yet no more prevalent in the military culture than others believe.

Throughout many years, military deployment has affected the family system. Especially young children are effected by their parents shipping overseas since they are still are trying to figure out how to cope without guidance during their development into adult years. In this particular study, researchers examined adolescents between the ages of 12-18 to determine their thoughts about their parents going into war. More specifically, researchers wanted to study the children’s experiences with ambiguous loss within their military families. Researchers hope to find ways in prevention and intervention in order to reduce the feeling of uncertainty within adolescents.

All people face challenges and setbacks in life. Many military children face these challenges and obstacles on a more frequent basis and at a much younger age than most children who aren't raised in this type of household. Through setting goals, passion, and being open to change, I believe that anyone can overcome any situation and become successful. As a military child, having a father in the U.S. Navy and having a Japanese mother, two of the biggest challenges I have faced in life have been moving every three years and switching between American and Japanese school systems.

I was raised in a military family type environment with my father being away on tour during my early years as a child. This helped created an environment where I was only left with my mother with my father being there for either four days to four months before returning to tour. After my father left the Navy, he kept with him the mentality that he was still there, he would treat us like his patrol by “barking” orders at us and demanding us around. My mother would the mediator of the house and remind my father that this isn’t the Navy but his family. My mother was the one who helped me and my brother throughout our younger years being the provider of our family during the years my father was in the Navy.

Deployment has become a very popular topic over the years . Recent psychiatrist has studied the effects of deployment on one’s mental health. In regards to studies, many civilians are curious about the struggle service members are enduring over the period of time of deployment, and how it impacts the family emotionally, mentally and physically. On a daily basis military spouses and children face the emotional transitions of deployment. We began to discuss the importance of deployment and “identify specific challenges and transitions that parents face in their parenting roles as they and their children cope with prolonged separation and reintegration” ( DeVoe 184) . While recognizing the issues the family faces , we re-examine the

Canadians all try and balance the stress of personal life, family life and work. Canadian Military families experience the same kinds of challenges as well as the unique challenges that come from meeting operational needs of the country. National Defence and Canadian Forces This is a community that experiences frequent moves, experiencing isolation from family and supports and frequent long absences of a partner or parent due to operational deployments overseas and in the country. The military family is seen as the “strength behind the uniform” and an important factor of the readiness of the military member to engage in active duty activities; however, the isolation, ongoing relocation and separations have an impact on the family’s well-being

Although the military family unit comes with a great deal of pride it does not come at a small cost. Per Hall, “family readiness is essential to unit readiness (Hall, 2016, p.71)”. What is family readiness? Well this is the “family’s ability to adapt to and deal with the stressors associated with military danger and a military life style, such as frequent moves, deployments, unaccompanied tours, and overseas assignments (Adler-Baeder & Pittman, 2005, p.5) (Hall, 2016, p.71)”. All of these can cause a strain on anyone. As a result there are many support programs for families and spouses to help them better cope with things such as deployments, the secrecy, isolation, alienation is a tough thing for families to struggle through and the military obligation itself.

While researching for this assignment, I learned that being the child of a military service member could be extremely challenging for a child to deal with. Not only do they have to deal with constant changes of schools and friends whenever their parents are reassign to other locations in addition to the high levels of stress caused when their parents are deployed to combat. Being deployed is a fact of life for military members. This experience has enabled me to develop a deeper sense of awareness and compassion for military children and the hardships the face.