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But from the mid 70's back solders were going to war all the time the only decade we didn't have a war or police action was the 30's and GI's have been shipped around the world on assignment since after WW2. Now once you got a little rank that slowed down, but not completely
So it has to be something else, the only thing I can think of was in the past there was a stigma against divorcing a GI as if it made you unpatriotic or something. up until the 80's the majority of the few divorces that did happen were filed by the GI(usually when deployed overseas) and that was still rare now the vast majority are filed by the spouse whether deployed or not.
Is our current culture not conducive to creating women who are happy being military wives(many women want their own careers and that would be hard if you have to move every 3-4 years and have to start over somewhere else)?
The part I highlighted might very well be a factor, even if not for the exact reason you speculated on.
Many things were socially frowned upon, such as teenage pregnancies with heavy social stigma attached. That could involve not only a family being embarrassed over their kids behavior, but religious reasons that caused shame for such behavior.
Now MTV runs some type of rubbish that being a teen mom is empowering and somehow a positive thing.
In my family almost everyone from my Dads generation (and before) stayed together for a variety of reasons, but the social stigma of divorce was much stronger then.
Heck you heard of parents who would stay together for the sake of the children, which in many cases was the right thing to do.
But now everyone considers their own life, with their kids suffering the consequences.
So while I have not heard of the specific reason you have given "unpatriotic", I can see where any divorce use to have a social stigma attached to it, that no longer seems to exist.
But from the mid 70's back solders were going to war all the time the only decade we didn't have a war or police action was the 30's and GI's have been shipped around the world on assignment since after WW2. Now once you got a little rank that slowed down, but not completely
So it has to be something else, the only thing I can think of was in the past there was a stigma against divorcing a GI as if it made you unpatriotic or something. up until the 80's the majority of the few divorces that did happen were filed by the GI(usually when deployed overseas) and that was still rare now the vast majority are filed by the spouse whether deployed or not.
Is our current culture not conducive to creating women who are happy being military wives(many women want their own careers and that would be hard if you have to move every 3-4 years and have to start over somewhere else)?
The world has changed. People have changed. Nowadays, women can go out to work. And when they work, they can support themselves financially, they don't need to rely on men for money and benefits. Relationships need both financial and emotional supports. In this modern world, people (both men and women) have no patience, no loyalty at all. When they feel dissatisfied with something, they quit, jump, and move on. Marriages and jobs are alike.
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Rabrrita
Societal changes.
Spouses no longer feel compelled or forced to put up with marital problems because it's expected of them. For a long time it was almost a sin to divorce a servicemember as if it's some unpatriotic thing. Now, if the person is a rats dropping butt head, dump the bum! As society's maturity advances, so will it's people and their thinking.
Because we've been at war for 20 years. I was recently watching a WWII documentary and it stated that approximately 40 or 60 percent of returning servicemen got divorced. I don't recall the exact percentage, but it was one of those two numbers.
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Originally Posted by Panhandle Pete
As has been said before - very few marriages can endure the near constant cycle of deployments that result from the Endless War concept.
Certainly. It's not only the periods of separation but also the result of PTSD and other issues.
But from the mid 70's back solders were going to war all the time the only decade we didn't have a war or police action was the 30's and GI's have been shipped around the world on assignment since after WW2. Now once you got a little rank that slowed down, but not completely
So it has to be something else, the only thing I can think of was in the past there was a stigma against divorcing a GI as if it made you unpatriotic or something. up until the 80's the majority of the few divorces that did happen were filed by the GI(usually when deployed overseas) and that was still rare now the vast majority are filed by the spouse whether deployed or not.
Is our current culture not conducive to creating women who are happy being military wives(many women want their own careers and that would be hard if you have to move every 3-4 years and have to start over somewhere else)?
Prior to the Iraq invasion in 2003, we never had a period where soldiers were deployed almost continuously. During the Cold War, soldiers moved with their families to Germany, the UK, and other nice places where they might spend some time in the field, but seldom more than 30 days. Even during Viet Nam, there was less family separation than now.
It is not even about jsut the deployments having to do with conflicts. Deployments for training, goodwill, testing, etc etc, happen all the time, and have no idea more frequently over the last 20 years or not, but from my perspective "yes".
Sure, the person is not going out on a six month deployment, just a few dozen week, month deployments in between the six month ones (referring to the Navy).
I know a few years back they extended the sea-shore rotation.
But again, just my perspective that they have ramped up the hell out of commitments via deployments, whether it is a day or years. But who was it recently, the Lincoln that spent ten months deployed? And some destroyer or something that spent over 200 days at sea without even a port call?
And we still have small numbers of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq albeit in non combat roles. So technically troops who were in the initial military operations could conceivably have children old enough to serve in these countries just like their parents.
Prior to the Iraq invasion in 2003, we never had a period where soldiers were deployed almost continuously. During the Cold War, soldiers moved with their families to Germany, the UK, and other nice places where they might spend some time in the field, but seldom more than 30 days. Even during Viet Nam, there was less family separation than now.
Having been an Army brat in the 60s and Air Force active duty myself through the 70s and 90s, I will testify to that.
I actually did no "remote" tours at all. I semi-gamed the system by constantly volunteering for long tours. The first day I got back to CONUS, I marched right into the personnel office and volunteered for another long tour. Filling a long-tour billet with a volunteer is more economical for the military than filling a short-tour (remote) billet with a non-volunteer, so I always got long-tour assignments.
The positive aspect for me was that I was always able to take my family with me on long tours. Although we were a family of nomads spending most of my career overseas, we were always together. And today, my children appreciate having been places in their childhoods.
Of course, this didn't mean I didn't get TDYs of a few weeks or a couple of months here and there, but that was never a serious trial.
I have a close cousin who was also in the Air Force who took a different tact. He permanently situated his family in San Antonio where there were four Air Force bases. Then he continually volunteered for short tours because that kept his family in place and gave him the choice to go back to that area before his next remote tour. But spent most of his career away from them. He's divorced now and separated from his family.
Last edited by Ralph_Kirk; 02-10-2021 at 09:47 PM..
Having been an Army brat in the 60s and Air Force active duty myself through the 70s and 90s, I will testify to that.
I actually did no "remote" tours at all. I semi-gamed the system by constantly volunteering for long tours. The first day I got back to CONUS, I marched right into the personnel office and volunteered for another long tour. Filling a long-tour billet with a volunteer is more economical for the military than filling a short-tour (remote) billet with a non-volunteer, so I always got long-tour assignments.
The positive aspect for me was that I was always able to take my family with me on long tours. Although we were a family of nomads spending most of my career overseas, we were always together. And today, my children appreciate having been places in their childhoods.
Of course, this didn't mean I didn't get TDYs of a few weeks or a couple of months here and there, but that was never a serious trial.
I have a close cousin who was also in the Air Force who took a different tact. He permanently situated his family in San Antonio where there were four Air Force bases. Then he continually volunteered for short tours because that kept his family in place and gave him the choice to go back to that area before his next remote tour. But spent most of his career away from them. He's divorced now and separated from his family.
The airforce has always been the most family friendly branch(for the enlisted) except for the climb in rank being much slower because of the slower turnover, my father was in the AirForce and he was only away like 5 times(for training) the whole time i was growing up and only one of those times was over a few weeks(almost a month) I had other relatives in other branches and they were away much more often, especially my uncle in the navy, my aunt made him retire as soon as he got his 20 in lol.
But from the mid 70's back solders were going to war all the time the only decade we didn't have a war or police action was the 30's and GI's have been shipped around the world on assignment since after WW2.
Just an aside, but the Banana Wars were a thing back then. So was our presence in China and the Philippines. The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps were all over the world in the 30s.
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