Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
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.
The Marines did most of the heavy lifting back then. The Philippines was an Army thing, but China was all Marines. Lots of good stories about "China Marines" (4th Marine Regiment) out there. Marines were also the main units used in most of the Banana Wars.
The Marines did most of the heavy lifting back then. The Philippines was an Army thing, but China was all Marines. Lots of good stories about "China Marines" (4th Marine Regiment) out there. Marines were also the main units used in most of the Banana Wars.
Yep, Navy and Marines did most of the expeditionary stuff and especially Banana Wars stuff then. Philippines was more of an occupation of a territory hence the heavy US Army presence.
The USMC and Navy were most definitely not the only service in China.
The Marines did most of the heavy lifting back then. The Philippines was an Army thing, but China was all Marines. Lots of good stories about "China Marines" (4th Marine Regiment) out there. Marines were also the main units used in most of the Banana Wars.
Yep. Marines and China go way back pre WWII protecting US interests in Shanghai and other places. Best duty in the Corps back then. Sadly the 4th Marines wound up on Corregidor in the Philippines fighting in a last ditch battle against the Japanese.
Society has changed so much from days gone by, especially in the past 20 years or so.
From the mid-70s thru 1990 a six month deployment was mighty rare. Forces were mostly at their home station, with small numbers deployed for peace-keeping or mini-war infrequently. From late 1990-on, deployments of 6+months happen often, some career fields nearly every or every other year. Air Force deployments changed from the 90's to now, changing from 90 days, to 120 days, to the now common 180 day deployments. The force is smaller, so deployments are spread across a smaller population.
There was also essentially no internet or social media programs before the mid-90s. Young couples from Florida, California, N.Y., Pittsburg, etc. that got stationed in North/South Dakota, Mississippi, Maine, Germany, etc., couldn't easily communicate with their old friends still having a great time back home in the big city with great weather and events, etc. Back in the day when they had a hard time in their marriage they could only easily talk with other people in and around their base that could understand their situation. It's easier to work out marital problems when you talk with people that have shared experiences and/or have gone through similar problems. Now they may get their advice from their high school or college BFF who has no military experience, and has always lived where they wanted, and moved/changed jobs, etc. when they wanted.
Then the economy has changed so much over the years making it more essential to have two career income households, especially for young military couples. That puts an extra stress on military families. Military personnel move, their spouse will likely have to give up their current job, and may not have a similar career job available at the next assignment. Now the family is under financial stress, on top of any other marital stresses. Everyone the spouse communicates with can't understand why he or she should stay in such a sucky situation.
Put all those situations together, and kind of a societal acceptance of divorce, and it's not hard to see why divorce rates have climbed in military families.
Society has changed so much from days gone by, especially in the past 20 years or so.
From the mid-70s thru 1990 a six month deployment was mighty rare. Forces were mostly at their home station, with small numbers deployed for peace-keeping or mini-war infrequently. From late 1990-on, deployments of 6+months happen often, some career fields nearly every or every other year. Air Force deployments changed from the 90's to now, changing from 90 days, to 120 days, to the now common 180 day deployments. The force is smaller, so deployments are spread across a smaller population.
There was also essentially no internet or social media programs before the mid-90s. Young couples from Florida, California, N.Y., Pittsburg, etc. that got stationed in North/South Dakota, Mississippi, Maine, Germany, etc., couldn't easily communicate with their old friends still having a great time back home in the big city with great weather and events, etc. Back in the day when they had a hard time in their marriage they could only easily talk with other people in and around their base that could understand their situation. It's easier to work out marital problems when you talk with people that have shared experiences and/or have gone through similar problems. Now they may get their advice from their high school or college BFF who has no military experience, and has always lived where they wanted, and moved/changed jobs, etc. when they wanted.
Then the economy has changed so much over the years making it more essential to have two career income households, especially for young military couples. That puts an extra stress on military families. Military personnel move, their spouse will likely have to give up their current job, and may not have a similar career job available at the next assignment. Now the family is under financial stress, on top of any other marital stresses. Everyone the spouse communicates with can't understand why he or she should stay in such a sucky situation.
Put all those situations together, and kind of a societal acceptance of divorce, and it's not hard to see why divorce rates have climbed in military families.
I guess, I do remember most of the wives who had careers that they advanced in were in the Civil Service and worked on base, so when their spouse got transferred so did they. And I do remember all my moms friends take turns with whos housing unit we would all be at all day and all us kids would be playing outside while our moms would be inside gossiping and watching soaps. it was surreal looking back every time one kid would stop coming(their family got stationed off) there would be a new kid to replace him or her within a few weeks, my childhood was a revolving door of friends lol.
Society has changed so much from days gone by, especially in the past 20 years or so.
From the mid-70s thru 1990 a six month deployment was mighty rare. Forces were mostly at their home station, with small numbers deployed for peace-keeping or mini-war infrequently. From late 1990-on, deployments of 6+months happen often, some career fields nearly every or every other year. Air Force deployments changed from the 90's to now, changing from 90 days, to 120 days, to the now common 180 day deployments. The force is smaller, so deployments are spread across a smaller population.
This is true. The 90s began the "mid-east forever war" period.
There was also essentially no internet or social media programs before the mid-90s. Young couples from Florida, California, N.Y., Pittsburg, etc. that got stationed in North/South Dakota, Mississippi, Maine, Germany, etc., couldn't easily communicate with their old friends still having a great time back home in the big city with great weather and events, etc. Back in the day when they had a hard time in their marriage they could only easily talk with other people in and around their base that could understand their situation. It's easier to work out marital problems when you talk with people that have shared experiences and/or have gone through similar problems. Now they may get their advice from their high school or college BFF who has no military experience, and has always lived where they wanted, and moved/changed jobs, etc. when they wanted.
Quote:
Then the economy has changed so much over the years making it more essential to have two career income households, especially for young military couples. That puts an extra stress on military families. Military personnel move, their spouse will likely have to give up their current job, and may not have a similar career job available at the next assignment. Now the family is under financial stress, on top of any other marital stresses. Everyone the spouse communicates with can't understand why he or she should stay in such a sucky situation.
That had already become true in the 80s. Most people don't realize how military moves put the kibosh on spouse employment, particularly if the move is overseas. At best, there will be an employment break of several months and probably a start-over at the bottom range of salary in the new duty station. At worse, a move overseas is likely to mean no job at all for the spouse, because the local Status of Forces Agreements usually reserved non-specialized jobs for local workers.
We were relatively blessed in that my wife was a special-ed teacher...and there are always openings for special-ed teachers, even overseas. But it also meant she was starting over from the bottom rung with each move.
As has been said before - very few marriages can endure the near constant cycle of deployments that result from the Endless War concept.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk
Certainly. It's not only the periods of separation but also the result of PTSD and other issues.
I think that in addition to that, there is the financial incentive to marry. IE, a colleague of mine married her BF (they were serious, etc...) and scheduled the wedding ahead of his deployment.
My DW and I were both in the military (and both retired from there) - made it much easier to understand the issues and deployments.
The average divorce rate in the military (between 3.0 and 3.1% according to military.com) is only slightly higher than civilian divorce rate (2.9%) but they are measured differently so may be little difference. The divorce rate for the Navy (2.8%) is actually lower than the average and for officers is almost half (1.7%). The one rate that is very high is female soldiers at almost 7% vs male at 2.5%.
My DW and I were both in the military (and both retired from there) - made it much easier to understand the issues and deployments.
The average divorce rate in the military (between 3.0 and 3.1% according to military.com) is only slightly higher than civilian divorce rate (2.9%) but they are measured differently so may be little difference. The divorce rate for the Navy (2.8%) is actually lower than the average and for officers is almost half (1.7%). The one rate that is very high is female soldiers at almost 7% vs male at 2.5%.
At this point in time, civilian male military spouses are finding adjustment to their wives' military careers very difficult to handle. I saw it frequently...every one of the civilian male military spouses of my female troops caused them trouble.
It seems the rate of marriage among young people is higher in the military vs. the civilian world, due to the benefits that go along with being married in the military. Civilians might just shack up and have a baby out of wedlock, but not so in the military, they’re going to get married.
My oldest granddaughter was married to a USAF enlisted. Four 6-month deployments in about six years and a whopping case of PTSD did the marriage in.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
