Stripes: Study: Deployment takes toll on kids at home, in classroom

[lebkuchen]

The study itself can be accessed at the bottom of the article...worth archiving here.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?article=32743

How teens deal with deployment


Teens interviewed by Virginia Tech researchers spoke openly about how they’re dealing with their military parent’s deployment overseas.

On getting the news:

“… I just kind of kept away from my dad because, you know, I was kind of mad at him.”

“… I find out that he’s leaving and I really didn’t care at first. But then when I see him packing up his bags and getting all his stuff ready, I felt, I felt like a {expletive} myself because I didn’t help him through anything …”

On coping with deployment:

“When my father got deployed, I was the only kid in my neighborhood whose dad got sent to that. So no one really knew besides just me and my sisters how we were feeling.”

On the military:

“I feel enraged. {It} just means that he got taken away from me; they took my dad away from me.”

“I wouldn’t say I feel mad but it’s kind of confusing about why he would want to do {that} and put himself in that position.”

On their families:

“Just because I’m suffering because my dad’s gone, I mean my sisters are going to be too. … I have to, you know, deal with it and help them deal with it because they are younger.”

“I’m always trying to, like, help my mom and stuff and be helpful, but there’s only so much a 13-year-old can do. And it’s just hard without my dad there to kind of help and stuff.”

On coming home:

“It was kind of hard because he had been away from the family for so long and we were all able just to depend on mom so it was kind of hard letting him back into the family.”

“… They’ve missed out on so much stuff and it’s, like, hard to catch them up with it … And it’s not like you can be mad at them for it, like, inside you’re going to be a little bit mad, but you know it’s not their fault.”