Strong, Safe, and Secure: Negotiating Early Fathering and Military Service Across the Deployment Cycle

National Guard or Reserve Service member fathers who had been separated from their children due to deployment participated in individual interviews about their beliefs and attributions regarding their young children. Qualitative analyses were used to identify opportunities to support healthy family functioning across the deployment cycle. Results indicated that fathers had specific hopes for their child’s healthy development if positive characteristics but felt unable to support the development of these characteristics due to their own emotional issues and distance.