While women are in combat, eh, with the dad?

Do ya think that will work, eh?

Hell, we don't even have affordable child care, so what are you going to do with them babies you want to force us to have eh, Saletan?

And what will happen when she returns with post traumatic stress syndrome?

The divorce rate is already 50% so what the hell... IMHO no one in their right mind who is working class would have a child in this child hating place anyhow.

so, if the wife is a warrior, why can't the children (assuming there are any) can stay with their father? You seem to think that won't work, why not?

nobody is forcing you to have babies (...babies you want to force us to have eh, Saletan?)

the post traumatic stess syndrome will be vicious.

oh, I agree you shouldn't even think of having children

There's too many babies already, especially in enlisted military families. Maybe more women in combat would curtail the numbers of young families with two, three, or more toddlers I keep seeing at the mall in military towns all the time.

I was an air force brat growing up. Though dad was often gone, I ended up with seven siblings. Primarily they were all born about nine months after he came home from a deployment, so I would assume he was making up for lost time with mom.

Which is probably also why you might see toddlers at the airport waiting for daddy to come back from overseas. As for men remaining home with the baby, I know of one example at my former workplace. Both worked there, and prior to 9-11 she had joined the reserves to earn a bit of extra money, and for the educational benefits. She ended up being called to active status, was sent to Iraq, and he stayed at home with the kids. He said it was an adjustment and a learning experience, but he managed. She returned after about a year, went back on reserve status, and luckily wasn't recalled to active service.

When you are in a military family you learn to be adaptable. As I said, dad was gone about as much as he was home. Never pleasant times because you missed him, but we all took it in stride. His time in Vietnam was the hardest to cope with for me at least. He had also been in Korea in 1951, but I was too young to remember that. I do know that it was easier for me to be in Vietnam myself a few years after he had been there, than it was to sweat out the year that he was over there. I was 14 at the time, and certainly knew the potential dangers of the situation.

It's tough to have a loved one in a combat zone, but as I said, you learn to cope and adapt.

Which is something the families of today's young warriors do.

It just goes with the territory, and most military families know how to tread upon that ground very well.

They are a breed apart.

My dad was Army too, but thankfully I was an only child. My concern for contemporary military families is in large part that I see very young couples, mainly enlisted, with two or three kids already. The wife often has little education and the husband supports his growing family on an E-2 or E-3's salary, the paltry amount such is . . .

What kind of future do most of those kids have? How many of these marriages wind up ending in divorce? How over-extended is the credit of many of these young families?

candoxx:

While women are in combat, eh, with the dad?

Do ya think that will work, eh?

Hell, we don't even have affordable child care, so what are you going to do with them babies you want to force us to have eh, Saletan?

And what will happen when she returns with post traumatic stress syndrome?

The divorce rate is already 50% so what the hell... IMHO no one in their right mind who is working class would have a child in this child hating place anyhow.

What about gays? They can carry the job well, I presume!

CloudBoy, your point is well taken, and I personally happen to agree with you. There was never enough money in my household growing up, owing more to dad's alcoholism than anything else, but we got by. He was a good man, but just had a weakness for the bottle. No money for college after high school, and I was too bull headed and stupid to keep my grades up for a scholarship. At the time I figured I would end up in Vietnam as well, and I did.

One has to learn to cope with the situation and try to make the best of one's circumstances, and as you indicated, many can't. But it's the same way in civilian life. For the soldier at least, there are guaranteed educational benefits and promotion opportunities. A friend on mine went in with a 9th Grade education in 1967, and retired 20 years later as a major with a Bachelors Degree. One does have the opportunity to better one's self, but just as in civilian life, one has to take advantage of the opportunities.

Life as a military dependent can be very hard and trying, and some families can't hack it. For the kids though, your neighbors on base are pretty well in the same social and economic boat that you are, so it's just something you're used to. Just a natural thing, though it was bad making friends only to lose them a year or two later when dad got reassigned to another post. Or going to live with my maternal grandfather when dad was deployed overseas.

I guess a lot of hardships, but also a lot of advantages. I got to see a lot of exotic places I'd have never seen otherwise (and a lot of shit holes), and the kind of education one can only get by travelling. And I am thankful for that.

Like any other situation in life, military familes take the good with the bad. Many can't hack it, but the same could be said of families in civilian life. It's just a matter of toughing it out and trying better your own circumstances.

And the support of friends and neighbors who are in the same circumstances is also invaluable.

It's no picnic, but it does toughen you up. I always felt a kinship with my friends and neighbors growing up, that I've never felt in civilian life. You were often close knit, and were there for each other.

All just all a matter of rolling with the punches.

Oh, I have nothing against the military lifestyle either for service-members or their kids, and in fact have the utmost respect for them all. My issue is that I see, on a routine basis, young enlisted couples with more than two kids. And by "young" I mean between 19 and 23 . . . how do they expect to make enough money to support these kids and why do they want so many? I mean seriously? Isn't one or two enough?

Oh, I agree.

Soldiers during a war would be better off single and childless. And as you said, one has to consider the financial aspects of taking care of the children.

My dad used to be fond of the phrase "young and dumb".

Maybe that covers the situation in a nutshell.