1. SOCIAL WORK AND MILITARY FAMILIES; DEPLOYMENT
CYCLE
Social Work and Military Families
Catherine O'Neil, Nikki Barnes, Karrie Remmer
Fayetteville State University
Mrs. Molly N. Williams, MSW

2. INTRODUCTION
Since the beginning of the war in the Middle East,
military families have experienced the emotional
trauma of deployment. For Deploying service
members and families, there are resources available
to help during transitions. Although the military has
faced many challenges since the war, social work has
made solutions to provide military families with hope
and encouragement to help them to focus on their
families while loved ones are deployed, and guide
them with a foundation to build upon within their
families. With many programs and services available
to the military families, they are able to use these
services for many issues in their lives.

3. DEPLOYMENT STATISTICS
Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack, American troops have been
deployed almost 3.3 million times to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to
Defense Department Data (Tan, 2009). It is estimated that more than 2
million men and women have shouldered those deployments with 793,000
of them deploying more than once (Tan, 2009). Many of the services
members are National Guard and Military Reservists called to duty.

4. EARLY LITERATURE ON MILITARY FAMILIES
 Military families have been a part of the United States
armed services for over the last two centuries, but
military life for families has changed along with societal
changes (Pryce et al., 2012, p. 120).
 During the Gulf War, deployment of 199-1991 came at a
terrible time for military families (Baker, 2008, p. 122).
This made military life a never-ending aggravation for
families.
 Today each branch of the armed services has developed
a large number of support services for families. In fact,
there are many programs designed to address the needs
of military families.
 With the help of welcome packets, a spouse, and an
orientation briefing, most military families can adjust to
life on a new base without many problems, especially if
they have been through the process.

5. CHILD CLINGING TO HIS SOLDIER FATHER’S LEG
WHILE HE HUGS HIS MOTHER ( WORLD WAR II
DECEMBER 1944)

6. CHANGES IN THE MILITARY
 The military is giving so much attention to the
needs of family members now, because most of
its history the military did not acknowledge the
existence of family members at all.
 If an officer or soldier wanted to bring his family
with him, he paid for their transportation
himself. Some wives remained with their
parents, seeing their husband briefly every few
years. Since the 19th century, military wives and
children have participated in America’s huge
global military(Baker, 2008, p. 119).

7. MAJOR POLICY CHANGES ADDRESSING
FAMILIES
 In 1983, Army Chief of Staff General John
Wickman published “The White Paper- The
Army Family”. The covenant is the Army’s
commitment to take care of soldiers and their
families, to standardize and fund family
programs and services, provide top-quality
healthcare, improve housing, ensure excellence
in schools and childcare and expand education
and employment opportunities for families. In
the past 27 years, 192 changes been made
towards program and services (Sondra, 1994).

8. ARMY FAMILY COVENANT
You are changing your life for the Army, so it
seems that a bond should be formed that lets
you know this is not a commitment taken lightly.
The Army will look out for you, your soldier and
your entire family. For we are all one family in the
Army and should act accordingly(Pryce et al.,
2012, p 124).

9. COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF MILITARY LIFE
 Military members and families from all branches of
the service all share certain characteristics
 Benefits of the military include 30 days paid
vacation, healthcare, housing or housing
allowances, job security, training and upward
mobility
 Most military posts and installations have recreation
facilities, churches, an exchange for household and
personal tax-free purchases, package stores for
alcoholic and nonalcoholic purchase, dry-cleaning
services, various social clubs, mental health
services and counseling, child-care centers, youth
services, schools, employment assistance, beauty
and barber shops and movie theaters (Pryce, et al.,
2012)

10. MILITARY READINESS: AN ONGOING ISSUE
 The ongoing issues of family readiness have
continued to adapt to changing environment,
and family programs will continue as well to
serve soldiers and families and ensure mission
readiness. More than 660 issues have been
identified and leading 123 to legislative changes
(Brouker, 2011).

11. PHOTOS OF MILITARY FAMILIES ACROSS
BRANCHES

12. COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF MILITARY
LIFE CONTINUED…
 Brings unique challenges that everyday civilians are not faced with.
 Early military members were mostly unmarried; less than one-
fourth enlisted (Booth et al., 2007). The emergence of married
enlisted brought situations that the army had not dealt with in the
past.
 The military family is often times relocated to other areas within the
States and sometimes to other countries.
 They are away from their extended family members and often times
feel isolated.
 The military member is usually working long hours and the spouse
or caregiver is left to take care of the family and home by
themselves.
 Empirical evidence shows that the strain on military families from
separations, deployments, and reintegration at post-deployment is
a major source of marital discord, poor parenting skills, and no
communication between the family members (Blount, Curry, &
Lubin, 1992)

13. SOLDIERS DRILLING

14. MILITARY FAMILIES SEEKING HELP FOR MENTAL HEALTH
 Variety of sources for military family members in need of
mental health services
 The service member and family have access to
counseling on the military post or installation
 Are also able to utilize Military OneSource and identify a
list of local mental health providers and up to twelve
prepaid counseling sessions can be offered to the service
member or family.
 Military is trying to dispel the stigma attached to seeking
help because of a mental health problem. Primary Barrier
to seeking help is stigma.
 (Categorized as three different types of stigma)
Public or Societal Stigma
Individualized Stigma
Institutional Stigma
(Corrigan & Watson, 2002)

16. TRANSITIONAL DENSITY AND FAMILY
SURVIVAL
 Transitional density is the term used to describe how a family can
get to the breaking point.
 Over the course of a lifetime, a family will experience many
transitions and role changes.
 Being separated from family due to deployments and
redeployments causes more stress than an average marriage
experiences.
 These stressors are a threat to the survival of families and
sometimes the family cannot overcome the stress.
 The Army Family Readiness Handbook (Lee, 2002), advises that if
a family can learn to utilize positive coping methods then there
likely to be successful in making it through a separation.
 The handbook however, only has recommendations dealing with a
single deployment. There are many questions about whether or not
it is realistic to believe that persons shall be able to continue to
cope through numerous deployments. “A deployment of fifteen
months is fertile ground for divorce, as is a deployment of thirty or
sixty months. Families are not meant to be separated like this.”
(Pryce et al., 2012, p 134)

17. PRE-DEPLOYMENT, SEPARATION, POST-
DEPLOYMENT & REINTEGRATION PERIODS
 During pre-deployment arrangements are made to get families
ready while the service member is deployed. Wills and powers of
attorneys are obtained and financial arrangements are made,
anxiety about the unknown (Martin, Rosen, & Sparacino, 2002).
 During deployment spouses of the military member miss the
companionship of their significant other. There is stress with
having to do the day-to-day tasks and chores required to maintain
the household. There are also events that are missed due to
deployments like births of babies, graduations, and holidays
(Martin, Rosen, & Sparacino, 2002).
 When the service member returns from deployment the reunion can
be complicated. Some people have the unrealistic expectation that
everything will be wonderful when they return home. Some feel
that everything should fall back into the same routine that was in
place prior to the deployment. Successful reintegration begins when
everyone understands that it takes time to adjust to family changes
that have occurred while the service member was deployed (Martin,
Rosen, & Sparacino, 2002).

18. PRE-DEPLOYMENT, SEPARATION, &
POST-DEPLOYMENT CYCLE

19. SECONDARY TRAUMATIC STRESS
 Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) occurs whenever a family member or a
caregiver of a traumatized person becomes indirectly traumatized (Schiraldi, 2000).
 Whenever STS occurs, the caregiver may even experience similar signs and
symptoms of trauma such as emotional distress and sleep disturbance.
 Whenever a family member takes on the role of caregiver for the military member
who is suffering from PTSD they end up falling into the same patterns as the one
who is actually affected with PTSD.
 They may find themselves watching certain circumstances or people who may set
them off in order to try and avoid a conflict so that nothing will aggravate or upset
the veteran.

20. WHEN A WARRIOR DEPLOYS, THE FAMILY
ALSO SERVES
 Much more is being asked of military families than
ever before.
 Impact of the mental health of military spouses had
not been studied until recent years.
 250,626 Army wives were studied and it was
determined that those who had a spouse deployed
versus wives that did not, were more likely to be
diagnosed with depression, sleep disorders,
anxiety, acute stress reactions, and adjustment
disorders(Hoge et al., 2004).
 The longer the deployment the greater the
incidences of mental health problems (Hoge et al.,
2004).

21. CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
 There are 1.76 million children and youth that are part of military
families (Sogomonyan & Cooper, 2010).
 These children are mostly under the age of eleven and most of
them come from a household that is active duty versus
reserves.
 Children of military families may experience mental health
trauma due to the stress of military life.
 Factors such as multiple deployments, frequent moves, and
possibly having a parent who is injured or who was killed in
action can be a reality that many military children face.

22. HELPFUL RESOURCES
 Military OneSource  http://www.militaryonesource.m
il/
 Tragedy Assistance Program  www.taps.org/
For Survivors
 VA Caregiver Support  www.caregiver.va.gov/
 PTSD Support and Information
 Our Military Kids  www.ptsdsupport.net/
 www.ourmilitarykids.org/

23. REFERENCES
Baker, A. (2008). Life in the U.S. Armed Forces: Not Just Another Job. Westport, CT: Praeger Security International.
Booth, B., Segal, M. W., Bell, D. B., Ender, M. G., Rohall, D. E., & Nelson, J. (2007). What We Know About Army
Families: 2007 Update. Retrieved from MWR BrandCentral website:http://www.mwrbrandcentral.com/
Blount, W., Curry, A., & Lubin, G. I. (1992). Family separations in the military. In Military Medicine (157(2) ed., pp. 76-80).
Brouker, S. (2011). Meeting Needs. Soldiers, 66(6), 8. Retrieved from www.ebscohost.com
Corrigan, P. W., & Watson, A. C. (2002). The impact of stigma on service access and participation. Behavioral Health
Recovery Management project.
Hoge, C. W., Castro, C. A., Messner, D., McGurk, D., Cotting, D. I., & Koffman, R. L. (2004). Combat duty in Iraq and
Afghanistan, mental health problems and barriers to care. New England Journal of Medicine, 351(1), 13-23.
http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1056/NEJMoa040603
Lee, S. (Ed.). (2002). The army family readiness handbook: family deployment readiness for the active army, the army
national guard, and the army reserve . []. Retrieved from
http://www.1id.army.mil/documents/frg/Army_Family_Readiness_Handbook- OperationREADY.pdf
Martin, J. A., Rosen, L. N., & Sparacino, L. R. (Eds.). (2002). Providing family support during military deployments. The
military family a practice guide for human service providers (pp. 139-152). Westport, Ct: Pracger Publishers
Pryce, J. G., Pryce, D.H, & Shackelford, K. K. (2012). The Costs of Courage: Combat Stress, Warriors, and Family
Survival. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Brooks, Inc.
Schiraldi, G. R. (2000). The post-traumatic stress disorder sourcebook a guide to healing, recovery, and growth. Los
Angeles, Calif.: Lowell House Secondary PTSD. (n.d.). Family of a Vet. Retrieved January 15, 2013, from
Sogomonyan, F., & Cooper, J. (2010). Trauma Faced by Children of Military Families. National Center for Children in
Poverty, 1, 1-13. Retrieved January 12, 2013, from
http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_938.pdf
Sondra, A. (1994). Military Recognition of Family Concerns: Revolutionary War to 1993. Armed Forces & Society, 20(2),
283-302. Retrieved from www.ebscohost.com
Tan, M. (2009, December 18). 2 million Troops deployed since 9/11. Marines Corp Times.
Retrievedfromhttp://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/12/military_deployments_12180

24. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 This work was supported by Fayetteville State
University: Department of Social Work
 Mrs. Molly Williams, MSW, Professor- Research
Mentor