Military divorces edge up again in 9th year of war

[The Straight Story]

Military divorces edge up again in 9th year of war


WASHINGTON (AP) - The divorce rate in the armed forces increased slightly again in the past year as military marriages continued to bear the stress of the nation's ninth year at war.

The Pentagon says that in the budget year that ended Sept. 31, there were an estimated 27,312 divorces among the nearly 765,000 married members of the active-duty Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

That's a divorce rate of about 3.6 percent, compared with 3.4 percent a year earlier.

Defense officials say the increase is held down by programs that are available to military couples. Those programs include retreats, marriage counseling and other efforts aimed strengthening the bonds between couples and relieving the stresses caused by the long separations that come as troops are off at war.

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=11580325

[elocs]

1. Sad, but it is still quite small compared to civilian divorce rates.

Not surprising considering the stress, but also consider divorce rates for high stress civilian jobs such as police which are higher than the national average.

[classysassy]

2. The facts about some military

unions.Some military marriages are very unstable for several reasons,the age factor,the money factor,the fact that some of the younger men in the military are just not mature enough to handle the responsibility of family life.