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« Thoughts From Baghdad - O...  |  Home  |  Remembering Tom Lantos »
Monday, July 11, 2005
Thoughts From Baghdad - On Military Life and Divorce

Here is the next post in a series from an American officer's journal.  For context, I should note that the career army officer who wrote the following is very happily married and has been for many years.  I should also note that the author briefly mentions being in favor of a draft.  As it happens, I am also in favor of a draft, for generally non-military reasons.  I hope to blog about that issue when I have a little more time.  On to the thoughts from Baghdad:   

An article that caught my attention was this one regarding the skyrocketing divorce rate in the Army – especially among officers:

In fiscal 2002, which ended on Sept. 30 of that year, 1.9 percent of 54,542 married Army officers got divorced, along with 3.1 percent of 193,638 married enlisted soldiers. In fiscal 2003, which included the first six months of the Iraq war, 3.3 percent of 56,078 married officers and 2.8 percent of 198,230 married enlisted soldiers got divorced. In fiscal 2004, 6 percent of 55,550 married officers and 3.5 percent of 202,134 married enlisted soldiers got divorced. The 6 percent divorce rate for Army officers was far higher than the figure for officers in the other military services in 2004 – 1.5 percent for the Air Force, 1.7 percent for the Marines and 2.5 percent for the Navy. Army soldiers serve yearlong tours of duty in Iraq. [Army spokeswoman MAJ Elizabeth] Robbins said the Army briefs soldiers on how their absence during deployments and their eventual return can affect family relationships. “We take seriously our obligation to assist soldiers and family members with the inevitable challenges,” Robbins said.

Yeah yeah yeah, the Army cares, MAJ Robbins has it right: if soldiers would just listen to the briefings…

The problem is that a stupid briefing isn’t the answer. Nor, no matter how good it is, is AFTB the answer. The Army’s divorce rates are so much higher than the other services because of Iraq and Afghanistan. Doing year-long tours vice six months for the USN and USMC or 3-4 months for the Air Force, there’s the difference.  Combine that with the much smaller proportions of the other services who are pulling those tours, compared with 30% of the active Army here every year, and there’s no wonder there’s a divorce differential…

This news about divorce rates comes just as the Army’s recruiting numbers missed targets for the fourth month in a row. It is nearly certain, given that there’s only four months left, that the Army will miss its recruiting goals this FY, for the first time since 1999. All the pundits are up in arms about it, pointing out that this is the first protracted war since the all-volunteer force was established, and how we may need to re-institute the draft. I have long been in favor of the draft, though I don’t think we’ll need it, at least until after several more years like this one.

Posted by: Jheka at July 11, 2005 08:47 | link | comments (3) |
the war against islamism, iraq, miscellaneous musings


Comments:
#1  11 July 2005 - 13:50
 
Conscripts are far less quality soldiers than volunteers, but I do think everyone should give something to his or her country. However, forcing someone to work for the state goes against my definition of freedom. We have a few more years in Iraq but for the time being they should rotate the Army more often. If we got rid of the bases in Turkey, Germany, Japan, etc. maybe we would have the manpower to send these folks home more often.
User: Rancher Contact me View user's mediablog Rancher
#2  12 July 2005 - 06:50
 
For the first time ever I saw recruiters in a fast food place last week. They came in to talk to all of the employees, but their first question was "Are you a US citizen?", and they didn't get a very good response after that.

Thanks for sharing your friend's thoughts. And of course, thanks to him for his service.
User: AmericanGirl Contact me View user's mediablog AmericanGirl
#3  14 April 2009 - 00:12
 
wars are manmade and this is tyranny on the common man whi is the army,navy,or airforce so the public must not vote those who wage wars as per their needs and make the poor husbands and wifes to suffer.
User: lalyuf Contact me View user's mediablog lalyuf
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