Divorce Rate Among Active Duty Army Personnel On The Rise

By Christina Rentz

Published on August 02, 2005

In the past three years, the Army divorce rate has jumped from 5,658 to 10,477. An Army spokeswoman blames the spike in the divorce rate figure on the extended deployments active duty Army enlistees and officers are now facing. She says the lengthy and more frequent deployments place added stress on couples, many of whom are young and recently married.

In response to the alarming increase, the Army has stepped up its efforts to help couples survive deployments. They provide several supportive resources such as counseling hotlines, support groups, and couple's retreats.

The Army is not solely focusing its efforts on preparing couples to be separated for an extended period of time. Sometimes the most difficult challenge is coming home from a war zone to a spouse who has been alone for a long period of time. This spouse usually has had to bear extra responsibilities while their mate was overseas, which adds to the stress level.

The Army hopes its extra efforts will prove fruitful. However, some are skeptical because, as deployments continue to be long and frequent, the divorce rate threatens to continue to climb.

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