The Challenging Sacrifices Made by Military Families
Members of the military deserve our honor and gratitude for risking their personal safety and even their lives for our country’s defense. However, there’s another group of people who also deserve our thanks and respect for the sacrifices they’ve made: the families of military personnel.
The Corvias Foundation supports the families of military servicemen and women, providing them with a wide array of essential services and connecting them with helpful resources. Some of those services include psychological and emotional support; a community that understands their needs; and assistance with literacy and education, college planning, and career advancement. The Corvias Foundation sees the struggles that military families experience and works to support them through a variety of programs.
Military families are often affected by frequent moves, the absence of family members, and the psychological effects of combat deployments. The Corvias Foundation is proud to lend a hand to military families as they face these challenges.
Difficulty Establishing Long-Term Communities
Many military personnel move frequently, with deployments often lasting as little as three years. This instability means that children and spouses are regularly uprooted from friends, schools, jobs, and their communities, making it more challenging to maintain long-term relationships. Children, in particular, can struggle with these disruptions. They frequently have to adjust to new homes and schools, leaving behind the security of established friend groups and familiar locations.
The frequent change in residence also affects military spouses professionally. A relocation to a different duty station means the spouse will have to find a new job in a new city, state, or country, without their established professional connections. In addition, some spouses have careers that require licensing and/or certification—like nursing and social work—and so a relocation might mean that their credentials are no longer valid. It’s yet another hurdle they must overcome to advance in their career. And of course, if a military spouse cannot find a job, this will significantly affect the family’s income.
The Challenges of Single Parenting
In military families with children, deployments overseas create a single-parent dynamic, with the spouse left behind to care for children. As one might imagine, servicemembers, spouses, and children can all struggle with this situation.
The dynamic is different than in most single-parent families because the second parent exists but is unavailable, which can be frustrating for everyone involved. The servicemember misses their family but cannot be with them, while the spouse has to shoulder all the parenting duties—sometimes without other family or friends to help them, if they’ve moved frequently. Children may not understand why their mom or dad is away. They can be vulnerable to a wide variety of behavioral and emotional issues, and may struggle at school and in extracurricular activities.
School-Related Issues
For children, frequent school changes can be disruptive to their academic progress. Different schools in different states and regions of the world utilize a variety of standards and approaches when it comes to education, which can be confusing for kids trying to keep up in class while coping with the emotional impact of moving. School-related challenges can be compounded by the need to develop new friendships and integrate into new extracurricular programs.
These school-related challenges can have long-term consequences. A student’s grades and extracurriculars during high school can directly impact their university admissions, not to mention access to scholarships or advanced placement classes. Because access to higher education has an impact on career choices and opportunities, the effects of educational instability in childhood can have lifelong ramifications.
PTSD and Mental Health
Deployments in combat zones are highly stressful, particularly for servicemembers who see action. When they return from these deployments, some servicemembers develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions, in addition to physical injuries and health issues. This can make reassimilation into civilian life and home life difficult, straining relationships and affecting spouses and children.
At the same time, families that remain at home experience their own mental health challenges. They may be worried about their loved one’s safety and anxious for their return. Spouses, children, and even the siblings and parents of active military personnel can all be affected. The psychological stress can strain their relationships with friends and other family members, leading to isolation.
Support When It’s Needed
Military families are proud to serve their country, and despite all the disruptions to normal family life, most families thrive, especially when they can access the support they need and deserve.
That’s exactly where the Corvias Foundation comes in, with college scholarships, assistance obtaining professional licensure and certification, educational enrichment, and personal and professional growth opportunities. The foundation is also focused on creating Opportunity Hubs, where military families can access resources and referrals to service providers. In addition, Corvias acts as a thought leader, sharing insights about the unique challenges that military families face, especially in regard to education. Learn more at https://corviasfoundation.org/.