According to the Demographics Profile of the Military Community (2014)1 report:, there are 1,326,273 active duty US military personnel (men = 84.9%; women = 15.1%)
- Army: 504,330
- Navy: 321,599
- Air Force: 312,453
- Marine Corps: 187,891
- About half of all active duty personnel are under the age of 26
- Of all military personnel: 42.2% (906,992) are single with no children; 33.4% (718,893) are married to a civilian with children; 6.4% (138,276) are single with children; 13% (279,348) are married to a civilian without children
- There are 1,819,659 military children. The majority of the children range in age from 0 to 11 years (68.5%).
- Hawai’i has the eighth largest contingent of active military duty personnel in the US with 49,519 (Demographics Profile of the Military Community, 2014)
- Armed Forces installations in Hawai’i:
| Hickam AFB | Air Force |
| Fort Shafter | Army |
| Schofield Barracks | Army |
| Tripler Army Medical Center | Army |
| Camp H. M. Smith | Marine Corps |
| MCBH Kaneohe Bay | Marine Corps |
| Barbers Point NAS | Navy |
| Naval Base Pearl Harbor | Navy |
| Navcams E. Pacific | Navy |
- Children of a military family can experience a variety of stresses from parental deployment, relocating to a different state or country, changing schools, having their parents change their roles (e.g., as the one who disciplines, checks homework, drives to school), and adapting to different daily routines (as a result of living and studying in a new location and/or parental role changes). Even children three years and younger can exhibit signs of stress due to a deployed parent (Chartrand, 2008) . Furthermore, children may experience ambiguous loss, a condition in which the military parent “may be physically absent but psychologically present, or a family member may be physically present but psychologically absent, ”which may create emotional instability for the child (Huebner, Mancini, Wilcox Grass & Grass, 2007, p. 112; Boss, 2006). In order to reduce these potential stressors to military children, ensure stability and security to their daily routines and highlight the benefits of being part of the military community. The next section suggests some activities you might do as a pre- or in-service teacher to help get to know your school’s military children and support them and their families better.
- Demographics Profile of the Military Community (2014)
- Chartrand, Frank, White, & Shope, 2008
- Huebner, A., Mancini, J., Wilcox, R., Grass, S., & Grass, G. (2007). Parental deployment and youth in military families: exploring uncertainty and ambiguous loss. In Family Relations. 56(2) pp. 112-122.
- Boss (2006)
Other references:
- American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Military Deployment Services for Youth Families and Service Members. The Psychological Needs of U.S. Military Service Members and Their Families: A Preliminary Report. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2007.
- Kelley ML. The effects of military-induced separation on family factors and child behavior. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 1994;64(1):103-111.
Activities
Welcome to Our School book
As a classroom teacher, grade-level cohort, or school faculty, create a welcome book for your military students and their families with useful and interesting photos and facts about the school population, surrounding neighborhoods, stores, popular places for indoor/outdoor enjoyment, etc.
Relationship Networks
Establish a network of peer and adult mentors to help welcome and support the military child into your school. If you have a large population of military families at your school, consider setting up a military moms (or dads) network to support the deployed and/or non-deployed parent.
Meaning Making
Moving to a new home and school can be very confusing and frightening, especially when the majority of deployed military children are young children (2014 report). Help the military child make “meaning of the situation.”