Divorce Rates Among Military Families

The military divorce rate went down slightly in 2012, settling at 3.5 percent, according to Pentagon statistics released to Military.com on Tuesday. Military officials and divorce experts are hopeful that the overall rate, which had crept slowly up from 2.6 percent in 2001 to 3.7 percent in 2011, is starting to move downward. Still, researchers are hesitant to call the decrease a real trend until they see it continue for a longer period. “The sense is that things are possibly drifting down,” said Benjamin Karney, a researcher with the RAND Corp. who has studied military divorce. “Interpreting it is a challenge. As much as it would be terrific to say ‘Oh great, we’ve turned a corner,’ it’s really hard to do that in one year.” The divorce rate is measured by comparing the number of married military members at the beginning to the end of the fiscal year while taking into account attrition, new recruits, and new marriages. Between 2011 and 2012, the divorce rate went down slightly in every service among male and female servicemembers of all ranks. Enlisted female soldiers and Marines, however, continue to experience the highest rate of divorce -- 9.4 percent and 9.3 percent respectively. In the Army, the female enlisted divorce rate is more than triple that of enlisted males. Still, those rates are down from the 2011 rates of 9.6 percent in Army and 9.8 percent in the Marine Corps. But the incremental rate change does not necessarily translate into a noticeable day-to-day difference. One divorce attorney in military-rich San Diego said he has not seen any substantial increase or decrease in military divorces over the last 10 to 20 years. It is improving slightly, the entire picture is looking up.

Dropping the Disorder from PTSD

I know I focus a lot on Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome from troops returning from Afghanistan, but there are a growing number of cases being diagnosed from people who are not even related in any way to military service. Trauma that can bring about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can range from anything like losing a child in a car accident to surviving a kidnapping that you feel you should not have. The disorder is brought on by the feeling that you are the one that should not have made it, or that you were affected by it in any number of ways. Maybe you feel as though you were trapped for any number of times and now you cannot stand tight spaces. Maybe you cannot handle flying after a rocky ride gave you nightmares for years after. Although being in a combat situation is the most likely way you will receive Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is not the only way. Studies show that there are over eleven million Americans living with some form of P.T.S.D. today, and that there are more than likely many more than that. With that being said there should probably be more comprehensible ways of treating and diagnosing P.T.S.D. right? Well the answer is that only in recent years have there been enough consensuses amongst the scientific community to actually look heavily into the problem. In my own opinion there should have been a lot more going into it, especially if there are more then eleven million suffering from it.

Dropping the Disorder from PTSD, Maia Szalavitz, Time Magazine, (97) 103

Living with PTSD: One Man's Story

In this article a young man received a lot of injuries in the war in Afghanistan. His shoulder has torn ligaments. His left arm has a major loss of function and nerve damage. There is a chunk of shrapnel in his leg the size of a quarter but despite all of these things, the soldier claims that the worst injury he sustained there was the Post Traumatic Stress from his everyday living. More and more the soldier shies away from large crowds and social events, even to the point where he can no longer stand to be in a crowd longer than a few minutes. Now that there are new regulations on the treatment of the syndrome, the soldier has been receiving help, but cannot help the feeling that the system is failing him in some way. It took more than thirteen months after his return before the military could properly diagnose the soldier with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and even after he was they still refuse to give him the financial aid he requires. Returning to work is difficult for someone with P.T.S.D. Now that he knows what is wrong with him he can start to fix the problem. Unfortunately there is no quick fix or correct cocktail of drugs that will help the soldier carry on, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Living with PTSD: One man's story. (2011). Safety & Health, 184(6), 64.