Army Spouses

Morten G. Ender is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership at the United States Military Academy at West Point and the author and editor of numerous books.

This book has the potential to be a seminal work in the field of military sociology and military families. Theoretically-driven and research-based, the book is ideal for researchers, practitioners, teachers and students, but is also rooted in the experiences and narratives of military families and written in accessible language that will appeal to popular audiences. The past two decades of war have created a thirst for understanding and connecting to military families—this book meets that demand."—David G. Smith, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School"Written by one of the nation's leading scholars on military families, Army Spouses: Military Families During the Global War on Terror, provides an in-depth analysis of consequences separation has on Twenty-First Century military family members. The book focuses on deployment of active-duty Army servicemembers and their families. Employing four theoretical models in the social sciences (stress, greedy institution, triad, and militarization), Morten Ender illustrates multiple dimensions of challenges faced by Army families when servicemembers prepare for, deploy to, and return home from war. Although difficulties in family adjustmentshave historically been associated with military deployment, Ender shows how Army spouses, and their offspring address such problems in new and novel ways.Drawing on two decades of semi-structured interviews with husbands and wives of deployed servicemembers, Ender illuminates not only problems GWOT military families face, but also revisions in Army support programs and services to assist service members and their families cope with life in and around the military. Professionally researched and beautifully written, this book is a must read for military scholars and Army policymakers."—Brenda L. Moore, The State University of New York at Buffalo"If you are interested in how Army spouses fare during deployments, this study will help you understand how the military affects them, which ones thrive or wither, and what can be done to support them. Some of the recommendations are common sense, and others are more intriguing – like spouses being more emancipated from military life, rather than being enmeshed in it.If an Army spouse (or for that matter, a spouse of any other service person in any branch of service), is looking for an enlightening read, they should pick up this book."—Military Writers Society of America

• DedicationTablesAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsAbbreviations for U.S. Army Officer and Enlisted RanksIntroduction: U.S. Army Spouses1. "The Deployment Before the Deployment": Pre-Deployment2. "The Temporary Widow": Deployment3. "The Big Group Hug": Post-Deployment4. "I Have No Idea about Service": (In)Formal Social Supports5. "They Take the Brunt of the Deployments": Army Children and Adolescents6. "He has a Laptop": Social Networking Between War and Home Front7. "Wolf Blitzer Doesn't Talk to Me Anymore": War on TelevisionConclusionAppendix: Notes on MethodsNotesIndex