Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/understanding-the-cycle-of-military-deployment/5018024/
This is the second article written by Rachel Robertson for Exchange about Military Deployment. Her first article “Suporting Children and Families Throughout Military Deployment” appeared in our November/December 2007 issue of Exchange. Please visit www.ChildCareExchange.com to see our Articles Online.The statistics of children and families experiencing military life and affected by deployment are astounding. According to the U.S. Department of Defense (2005):
• Over 1.4 million are serving in our military and over 800,000 are in the National Guard or are Reservists.
• Many of them have families and children, leading to over 2.5 million children under 18, nearly 500,000 under age 3.
• Currently, over 350,000 of our military are deployed at any given time. This experience changes and disrupts the lives of most affected children.
And this doesn’t even take into consideration the children who have an uncle, aunt, brother, or other family member serving in the military. Many of these children live near a military duty station, but others live far from other military families. As caregivers and teachers of young children, we share a common goal of providing safe, nurturing, learning environments for children. We ensure this by continually educating ourselves about the needs of children and best ...