Children of Deployed National Guard Troops: Perceptions of Parental Deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom

Children of deployed Service members may face many difficulties and concerns, but little research addresses child deployment perspectives. Children of newly-deployed National Guard Soldiers were interviewed about their perspectives on deployment and frequencies of responses were calculated. Children’s greatest difficulty was the absence of their parent (e.g. missing them, not being able to spend time with them) and greatest concern was the safety and well-being of their parent and family.