Blue Star Families releases 2010 Military Family Lifestyle Survey

Press Release

After eight years of war, what is the state of today's military families?

After eight years of war, what is the state of today's military families? That was the question asked by Blue Star Families in its 2010 Military Family Lifestyle Survey, which surveyed more than 3,500 military families of all ranks and services nationwide and recently presented its findings on Capitol Hill.

"This is a wide-screen, big-picture study, and shows the challenges families face with such a small percent of our country serving in the military and bearing the burden of eight years of constant deployments," said Vivian Greentree, director of Research and Policy for Blue Star Families, and an 8 year Navy spouse whose husband recently returned from a deployment to Iraq. "We asked not just about DoD programs, but about relationships, communication, volunteering. In particular, it is just amazing how much military families volunteer when these are the families who are already facing challenges from repeated deployments."

The Senate Military Family Caucus and the House Military Family Caucus hosted the survey launch last week, at the first ever joint meeting of both the House and Senate caucuses. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) opened the presentations, noting, "We need to know...the good and the tough, the bad, the beautiful that you're going through. Because if we know that, information is power - we can do something about it."

Fellow senate co-chair Richard Burr (R-NC) and congressional co-chairs Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA) and Sanford Bishop (D-GA) also spoke at the event, along with Glenn Nye (D-VA), a member of the House Armed Services Committee. Seventeen national military family and veterans organizations also participated in fielding the survey, and many of their representatives were present as well.The highlights of the survey include findings you might expect from a military facing ongoing deployments and a challenging operational tempo - military families feel stressed and in need of more support. Military families are also concerned about the strain on military children. Survey respondents specifically cited the strain of deployment on children and challenges in education - from changing schools to facing civilian education systems uninformed and ill-equipped to handle the unique challenges of being a military child.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Doug Wilson, strongly defended the need for the 99 percent of the population not currently serving in today's military to reach out to the 1 percent who are, to equip them with the resources and support they need. Wilson pointed out that military families aren't "victims" or "special entities," but members of a community, who need to feel like a part of a community.

Despite the challenges, the survey showed signs of strength, too. Many family members see their children gaining in pride and a sense of contribution from their parent's service. Although most military family members feel the larger community doesn't understand or appreciate the sacrifices they make, the number who "strongly agree" with that statement has fallen slightly, suggesting that messages of support are reaching them.

A number of respondents in particular cited First Lady Michelle Obama's interest in military families and providing comfort. Perhaps most surprising is the fact that these over-stressed family members nevertheless find the time to volunteer at three-times the rate of their civilian counterparts. More than two thirds of survey takers volunteer regularly - 68 percent - compared to 26% who volunteer in the larger community, according to the survey.Speakers at the Capitol Hill event continually cited the need to ensure that the survey's findings don't simply become conversation pieces but establish a framework for improving how Congress, the Department of Defense, and the average citizen look to make the changes necessary to improve life for military families.

"If we don't stay in front of these issues, especially crises issues of divorce, mental health problems, and suicide, we won't be able to support these families," said Sheila Casey, wife of Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. George Casey and a Blue Star mother herself. "It will be too late."

Blue Star Families Chair Kathy Roth-Douquet was asked what members of the community could do to help support military families. "We're working to make it easy for folks from the larger community to help families. On our website you can see links to a very simple program called Operation Appreciation Letters - through that program people can organize a group, or simply by themselves write a thank you note to a military spouse or child and send it to us, we'll get it to families from a deployed unit. There are honor-cards you can send with those, where a person can pledge to do community service ‘in honor of' the service of the military family."

The website for Blue Star Families is www.bluestarfam.org.

Blue Star Families is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit network of military families from all ranks and services including guard and reserve, with a mission to support, connect and empower military families. In addition to morale and empowerment programs, Blue Star Families raises awareness of the challenges and strengths of military family life with civilian community and leaders. Membership includes spouses, kids, parents, service members, veterans and civilians. For more information, please visit www.BlueStarFam.org. The survey was fielded by Blue Star Families and seventeen partner organizations.

Media contact: Lindy Kyzer Communications

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