Military families pulling double duty

U.S. service members and their families have to do double duty when adjusting to repeated deployments, but researchers from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., are providing information to help the government support the more than 1,300,000 families of active duty and reserve personnel.

"Repeated deployments mean that the postdeployment period is also a predeployment period," explains Shelley MacDermid, director of the Center for Families and associate dean in the College of Consumer and Family Sciences. "Members and families have a dual set of tasks: getting their daily lives reestablished at home and also preparing and training for their next time period away from home."

One of the most universal experiences associated with deployment is that relationships go through a complex set of transitions that can take considerable adjustment time when members return home to their spouses, MacDermid notes. "About half of the participants in the study on the reserve unit reported a 'honeymoon' in well-being following return from deployment, which was actually a smaller portion than we expected. It often took several weeks following return for spouses to relearn how to depend upon and accommodate one another. There were new expectations involving routines and responsibilities that affected the amount of time it took to make the transition."

MacDermid admits that no data was gathered from children, but parents and service providers report youngsters experiencing similar issues involving the transition. Military members say they find it more emotionally difficult to return home from a deployment to children who have changed substantially in appearance or behavior. "Supervising children during deployment is complicated not only by parental absence, but also by the limited programs for children," MacDermid contends. "It's especially difficult to know how to reintegrate returning military members into children's lives when the timing of redeployment is uncertain."

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