Married to a United States Marine Corp Disabled Veteran - Essay Example

One of the main challenges faced by the families of these soldiers is relocation. Soldiers, depending on their job within the military, receive orders to move to different bases all over the country and occasionally to other countries. These orders can be given sporadically, either within a day’s, week’s, or year’s notice. When these families are moved to new and different places it puts a strain on everyone connected to the family, not just the immediate family themselves. Being moved to a new home isolates the family, for the time being, from everything they know.

The family has no friends or other relatives in their new home, no one outside of their home to share a relationship with. A soldier’s wife or husband has no friends to talk with or to confide in or seek help. The children of these soldiers have to deal with attending a new and potentially frightening school and making new friends while worrying about replacing the ones they had to leave behind. Truly relocating is a scary and challenging time for these military families. One of the biggest and most difficult and stressful times for these families is the deployment process of their loved one.

During deployment itself, the soldier becomes physically and geographically separated from his or her family. Regardless of whether or not the family has to relocate, the absence of the family member can be stressful. The soldier’s spouse is now acting as a single parent. He or she may have sole responsibility for maintaining the household and raising the children and accomplishing the day to day duties. The family’s financial situation may also require the spouse to take on another job or else change to a new one.

If the deployed parent was a single parent, to begin with, these problems are intensified. The children may feel isolated if they are unable to communicate with their deployed parent, their only parent. They will worry about their parent’s safety. Because of the changed family structure, they may be experiencing inconsistent parenting, or changes in the family schedule, responsibilities and rules.