Staff Perspective: Military Family Deployment Cycle Challenges
Recently I reviewed the current literature on military families and deployment in preparation for updating the Center for Deployment’s (CDP) online course, The Impact of Deployment on Families and Children. While this is a topic that I’ve been teaching since I first joined the CDP almost nine years ago, I was excited when I ran across an article that summarized the deployment cycle challenges that military families face in a new way.
I have been watching and experiencing Navy deployment reunifications for decades. As a clinical social worker, I’ve talked to many Sailors and families about what they can expect following a deployment. The first deployment I personally experienced was in the mid-90s when my now-husband and I first started dating. His Japan-based ship was completing a scheduled five-month deployment. In those days, families knew the date the ship was leaving, the date they would return, as well as dates and locations of every port visit while they were out.