Voices from the Backseat: Demands of Growing Up in Military Families

Children of U.S. military personnel have an exceptional experience. Growing up, many live relatively isolated from traditional American communities because they are transient, and many live in segregated government housing on and off military installations around the U.S. and overseas (Orthner, 2002). Likewise, they are hidden immigrants of sorts, as they may feel disconnected once they return to the United States or leave the military community. They carry an identity kit of socialization in a military family--it emerges frequently when they're asked, "So where are you from?" The pat replies are, "I'm an Army brat," "I'm a military brat," or "I grew up in a Navy family." The questioner somehow, in his or her schema, recognizes the unique nature of such an upbringing--a schema that may have been constructed through American cinema (Ender, in press). Details about the life of children from military families rarely become visible to those outside of the military community. The exceptions to this are when individuals develop personal relationships with a military child and when the media report on a military child (e.g., Aldinger, 2000; Komarow, 2000; "Today's Debate," 2004) or portray a military child in film (see Ender, in press, for a review). These media portrayals are few and far between and represent a civil-military gap. At the intersection of this gap is a lack of appreciation and understanding of what happens in the military family. This gap further exacerbates the unique demands of military family life. What follows in this chapter is a brief highlight of some demographics of children in military families and an extensive review of the literature on demands of the military lifestyle with specific references to the psychological and sociological implications for children from military families. These demands are found individually in the larger society. Thus, many of the demands are not unique to the military experience. However, collectively these demands make the military family and the development of children unlike any other family group (Rothrauff, Cable, & Coleman, 2004). In addition, included throughout the chapter are open-ended comments from military children, collected during a study of the military child's experience (Ender, 2000). These comments are designed to give a voice to the experiences of military children. The chapter concludes with some policy recommendations and directions for future research.