Military brat (U.S. subculture)

A girl holds on to her father's leg while saying goodbye to him.

A military brat (and various brat derivatives) is a person whose parent or parents have served full-time in the armed forces during the person's childhood, adolescence or both. This can often involve many moves (geographic relocations) as the child's military family is customarily transferred along with the soldier-parent to new non-combat assignments, as well as personal connections to parents and neighbors parents who go to war at a much higher incidence than the civilian population. There are also other features of military brat life that are significantly different in comparison to the civilian population.

The term "military brat" can sometimes be misunderstood by the non-military population. Conventionally, the word brat alone may be pejorative in modern times, especially in American usage, however, "military brat" is not considered derogatory and may in fact be seen as a term of endearment and respect. The term is occasionally used in several English-speaking countries, namely Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom ("pads' brats", "base brats"); but it is in the United States particularly that the term military brat is ascribed to a collectively identifiable demographic (with extensive psychological research done on the group by the United States Department of Defense).

Primary Features of Military Brat Lifestyle

Studies show that this group (on average) is shaped by frequent moves (as the family follows the soldier-parent who is transferred from military base to military base, each move usually being hundreds or thousands of miles in distance), a culture of resilience and adaptivity, constant loss of friendship ties, never having a hometown, extensive exposure to foreign cultures and languages while living overseas, as well as exposure to a wide range of regional cultural differences due to living in a variety of different American regions, a series of military bases serving as community centers, pervasive military culture on those bases, absence of a parent due to deployments, authoritarian family dynamics, strong patriarchal authority, threat of parental loss in war, stresses associated with the psychological aftermath of war (living with war-affected returning veteran parents) and militarization of the family unit (children being treated to some degree like soldiers and being subjected to military regimentation, inculcation into a warrior code of honor and service, frequent exposure to patriotic ideas and symbols, and military discipline). Military brats also get completely free medical care until their soldier-parent retires (without a full combat related disability) or they reach the age of 18, or age 23 if they attend college.

While some non-military families may share some of these same attributes and experiences, military culture is unique because of a much higher incidence and concentration of these issues and experiences in military families as compared to civilian populations. And by tightly-knit military communities that perceive these experiences as normal. Studies show (overall) that growing up immersed in military culture can have long-lasting effects on children, both in positive and also some negative ways.

Studies of military brats

Military brats have been studied extensively, although less so in terms of long-term impact of the lifestyle. There are also some gaps in studies of more recent (post cold-war era) military brats. Collectively these studies paint a fairly consistent picture of how the lifestyle tends to influence the population (on average) in various aspects of life. These studies look at overall patterns and individual experiences may vary widely:

Positive patterns in overall study results

Some strong positives that have been identified in studies of military brat populations are a high occurrence of very resilient personalities, exceptional social skills, a high level of multicultural or international awareness, proficiency in foreign languages, and a statistically very strong affinity for careers that entail service to others. Studies show that ex-military kids end up pursuing service-related careers in very high numbers: military service, teaching, counseling, police, nursing and foreign service work being highly represented in military brat career statistics (in comparison to statistics on non-military brat patterns of employment choices). Mary Edwards Wertsch author of a well-known study on military brats also identified a pattern (for those military brats who do not choose military service) of work that is more independent (self-employment / avoidance of direct subservience to authority figures) and along those lines also favoring creative and artistic professions that offer more independence.She also reported that for those military brats who did choose military service there was a tendency to go through a phase of bucking or testing authority during military service, or a pattern of resenting authority, represented in her study population. Although military brats who become soldiers also tend to do well overall in the profession.

As adults, military brats can share many of the same positive and negative traits identified in other populations that experienced very mobile childhoods. Having had the opportunity to live around the world, military brats can have a breadth of experiences unmatched by most teenagers. Regardless of race, religion, nationality, or gender, brats might identify more with other highly mobile children than with non-mobile ones. Military brats also graduate from college at a higher rate than the civilian population and divorce at a lower rate.

Negative patterns in overall study results

On the negative side, studies show that some former military brats struggle to develop and maintain deep, lasting relationships, and can feel like outsiders to U.S. civilian culture. The transitory lifestyle can hinder potential for constructing concrete relationships with people and developing emotional attachments to specific places. As can the stresses of having a parent deployed to a war zone and also the psychological aftermath of war in dealing with returning veteran parents. And in some cases there is also the loss of a parent in combat, or a drastic change in a parent due to a combat related disability. A military brat may also personally know another child or teenager, or even a few other peers, whose parents have become war casualties (wounded or killed). A significant minority of ex military brats (although not a majority) may exhibit symptoms of (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Avoidant Personality Disorder, Separation Anxiety Disorder, etc.).

Specific Study Areas

Mobile Lifestyle Preferences

Although neither a clearly negative or positive trait, studies also show that many adult military brats report difficulty settling down in one geographic location and also report a desire to move (relocate) every few years, many adult military brats call this "the itch". However some adult military brats report the opposite tendency and relate refusing any and all pressures from spouses or employers to ever move again.

Perfectionist tendencies

Many former military brats report struggling at some point in their lives with issues related to perfectionism and learning how to let go in areas of personal performance (perhaps due to the demanding nature of military culture). Paradoxically, a majority of those very same military brats who report having struggled with perfectionism and performance control issues also describe themselves as being successful in their lives, indicating a resilience that also surfaces in overcoming or learning to manage those issues in the long run.

Adaptability / Outsider Feelings

Overall a majority of military brats report having developed a kind of extra-adaptability and assimilate into new situations quickly and well, as they have done with each move to a new military base, town or country. Long term feelings of being an outsider in relation to civilian (non-military) culture are however common to a majority of military brats. For example one major study shows that 32% of ex military brats feel as if they are only spectators on U.S. life and another 48% do not feel as if they are central to any group.

Size of Population

Although no exact figures are available, the U.S. Department of Defense has estimated that approximately 15 million Americans are former or current military brats, including those who spent all or part of their childhood and / or adolescence in the lifestyle. This population (of current and former military brats) includes an age range from less than 1 to over 90 years of age, since there have been military brats for generations. Many military brats spent all of their growing up years in the active lifestyle, some for only part, although military family issues, dynamics and influences may continue nevertheless.

Wide use of the term "Military Brat" / Linguistic reclamation

Within military culture the term is widely used and is not seen as negative. Noted military brat researcher Mary Edwards Wertsch polled 85 ex-military children as to whether or not liked the term "military brat" and only five people (5.9% of the study group) objected to the term.

The term is now widely used by researchers and academicians and so is no longer merely a slang term, but an name clearly attached to a recognized and well studied segment of U.S. culture: "Most of the professional research on growing up in military families has contributed to the perpetuation of the 'brat' label," sociologist and noted expert on the study of military brats Morten Ender wrote, "It is no wonder that the label endures and is as popular as ever."

A lieutenant reunites with his family of brats after a deployment.

Linguistic reclamation is the appropriation of a pejorative epithet by its target, to turn an insult into a positive term and deny others the ability to define it; non-military personnel may find the term "brat" insulting if they do not understand the context. Sociologist Karen Williams used it reluctantly in her research, with the disclaimer, "to follow the wishes of the participants. It is a term that they use and feel comfortable with."

There is evidence that professional military culture has also reclaimed ownership of the term. Admiral Dennis C. Blair, former Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command and now U.S. Director of National Intelligence said, "There’s a standard term for the military child: 'Brat.' While it sounds pejorative, it’s actually a term of great affection." This trend is also visible among notable and influential civilians: Senator Ben Nelson, a member of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services, wrote "when the word 'brat' is used to describe someone it is not meant as a compliment, but when it is preceded by another word and becomes "military brat" it becomes a term of endearment." Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter said, "I married what is affectionately known as an Army brat." Senator John Cornyn identifies himself as a military brat, and also identified Judge Janice Brown as one, during her confirmation hearing before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Military culture has created numerous positive backronyms (acronym-style derivations invented for existing words) for brat, such as "Born, Raised And Transferred" or "Brave, Resilient, Adaptable, and Trustworthy." While some may not like the origins of the term, most are comfortable with it.

Origin of the Term

The origin of the term "Military brat" is unknown. There is some evidence that it dates back hundreds of years into the British Empire, and originally stood for "British Regiment Attached Traveler". There have been American military brats dating back 200 years to the birth of the United States. There is also ample historical evidence that under various other names, military spouses and their children have been following armies for thousands of years, perhaps for as long as there has been organized warfare. An older (and more general/non-U.S. specific) term for these mobile military-dependent populations is "camp followers".

Military culture

A significant percentage of Military brats report difficulty in forming strong relations with people or places, but very often do form strong connections with (or in some cases aversion to) the notion of a military base and the communities in which they find themselves. This is because the knowledge, experience, values, ideas, attitudes, skills, tastes, and techniques that are associated with the military can sometimes differ from civilian culture. Military bases are miniature, self-contained, government-subsidized towns that promote conformity. Military families shop at some of the same stores, whose discounted merchandise is regulated to prevent unfair competition, so they can often end up with the same clothes and products. Male brats were, at one time, likely to get the same "military haircut" at the base barbershop, but this has changed over time. To a child growing up on a military base, in a homogeneous culture, the individuality of civilian life was once thought to be completely foreign. However, as the individual children have attended civilian schools near base and socialized with their peers, this perceived difference may have reduced to varying degrees.

Values and patriotism

Patriotism may come to mean different things for different ex-military brats, but nevertheless figures strongly in the upbringing, language and thinking of many who grew up in military families. The comfort, or sense of restriction, (or both) that can be found on military bases is not limited to the physical trappings, but can be fortified via some of the consistent rituals common to them. When moving around the world, these rituals can help brats feel at home in their new community. Even though the faces and geography change, the "base" can remain recognizable because the rituals are often uniform. The underlying principle of these rituals is consistent: to promote patriotism.

It has been claimed by Samuel Britten on the basis of anecdotal evidence that life on military bases is associated with comparatively greater patriotic sentiments. For example honoring the American Flag is expected. At the end of the business day, on a military installation, the bugle call "To the Color" is played while the flag is lowered. While no longer universal, formerly anybody outside, even if participating in sports or driving a car, was expected to stop their activity and stand at attention. Uniformed personnel salute and non-uniformed people place their hand over their heart.

Until recently, the Pledge of Allegiance was recited every morning and patriotic and militaristic songs may have been sung at Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) overseas and Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS) within the United States. Patriotic ideals often form the basis for church sermons. Protestant and Catholic worship services may include militaristic hymns. Prior to movies at base theaters, patrons and staff stand for the National Anthem and often another patriotic song, such as "God Bless the USA."

The military family knows that the service person may be killed in the line of duty, but may accept that risk because they understand the values of duty, honor, and country. The mission is one in which the brat shares by extension through his military parent.

Military law requires commanding officers and those in authority to demonstrate virtue, honor, patriotism, and subordination in all that they do. In the 1990s, the army officially adopted what have come to be known as "The 7 Army Values," which are summarized with the acronym "LDRSHIP." LDRSHIP stands for Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. While this acronym is relatively new, the ideas it represents have been at the heart of military service for generations. Similarly, the motto "Duty, honor, country" is the standard of the U.S. military. Military brats are raised in a culture that stresses LDRSHIP, Duty, Honor, Country, and being a "lady" or "gentleman." Their strict (outward) adherence to military values is what separates most from their civilian peers. Children of military personnel often mirror the values, ideals, and attitudes of their parents more than children of civilians. Marine General Peter Pace, the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff said "There's no way, in my mind, that you can be successful in the military and have a family unless that family does, in fact, appreciate your service to the country.[...] [Brats are] patriots and role models for us all."

Discipline

The stereotypical military family might have had a "duty roster" on the refrigerator, parent-conducted room inspections, and children who say "yes sir/ma'am" to adults. Eighty percent of Cold-war era brats described their father as "authoritarian" or desiring to exercise complete control over their lives. They described their military parent as rigid in discipline, inflexible, intolerant of dissent, disapproving of non-conforming behavior, insensitive to their emotions, and not accepting of personal privacy. A Cold War era military psychologist, publishing in the American Journal of Psychology, reviewed the parents of patients who came to his clinic, and concluded that 93% of patients came from military families that were overly authoritarian.

Disciplinary expectations extend beyond the military family. Family members know that their actions and behavior can have a direct impact on the military service member's career. The consequences of misbehavior for a military brat are generally greater than for civilian children. A military person’s career and social identity can be dashed in seconds by a willful or careless child. For example, when a military brat gets in trouble, the authorities may call the parent's Commanding Officer or the Base Commander before, or instead of, calling the brat's parents. If the Commanding Officer or Base Commander is contacted, the brat's behavior may become a part of the military member's record, and adversely affect his or her ability to be promoted or the duty assignments (particularly overseas) that lead to advancement.

Research into military brats has consistently shown them to be better behaved than their civilian counterparts. Sociologist Phoebe Price posed three possible hypotheses as to why brats are better behaved: firstly, military parents have a lower threshold for misbehavior in their children; secondly, the mobility of teenagers might make them less likely to attract attention to themselves, as they want to fit in and are less secure with their surroundings; and thirdly, normative constraints are greater, with brats knowing that their behavior is under scrutiny and can affect the military member’s career.

Teenage years are typically a period when people establish independence by taking some risks away from their parents. When the teenager lives in a "fish-bowl community," a small self-contained community such as a base, challenging boundaries may be more difficult (and, due to such strictness, much easier). Brats know that misbehavior or rebellious activity will be reported to their parents. Brats are sometimes under constant pressure to conform to what military culture expects; this means they are sometimes seen as being more mature in their youth than their peers. If they grow up overseas or on military bases, they might have limited opportunities to see a wide range of role models in different professions.

Strict discipline can have the opposite effect: brats may rebel or behave in adolescent manners well beyond what is normally considered acceptable. Others develop psychological problems due to the intense stress of always being on their best behavior.

Military classism

Military life is strictly segregated by rank; the facilities provided for officers and enlisted personnel differ dramatically. The officers' housing will generally be more accessible to base activities, larger in size, and better landscaped. On larger bases, the officers' housing may be broken down into different categories, with senior officers receiving larger and more opulent housing; sometimes, the highest-ranking officers live in a row of large houses often referred to as "Colonels'/Captains' Row" or "Generals'/Admirals' Row," as the case may be.

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Seoul American High School's Army JROTC Honor Guard presents the U.S. and Republic of Korea colors at the 2006 Asian region JROTC Drill Team competition.

The Officer Clubs are more elegant than the Enlisted Clubs. Officers have cleaner, more elaborate recreational facilities than their enlisted counterparts. Historically, base chapels and movie theaters would have designated seating for officers and their families. For a part of the twentieth century, some bases had two Boy Scout and two Girl Scout troops—one for officer children and one for enlisted children.

These differences are not merely external, but a core aspect of military life. Children of enlisted personnel often believe that children of officers receive specialized treatment because non-officers are afraid to upset the officers. The physical separation and differences between available activities make it very difficult. Most military brats on a personal level do not let this affect their social interactions and in most cases it is often frowned upon to treat others by their parent's pay grade or rank.

The separation by rank has the intended purpose of maintaining military discipline among service members. According to the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice, it can be illegal for an officer to fraternize with an enlisted person because it would corrode the military hierarchy. This is often conveyed to the children of military personnel. Two brats whose parents have a subordinate-supervisory relationship can cause problems for both their parents.

To a lesser degree, military classism also includes the branch of service to which the military parent belongs. If asked to name "the best branch of service," military brats will almost invariably name the one to which their parent belonged. They will be able to articulate many reasons why "their" branch of the service is the best. These biases are maintained well past the time they cease to be military dependents. When brats grow up, these boundaries are replaced by a shared identity based upon that of being a military brat.

Anti-racism

In 1948, President Truman signed Executive Order 9981 integrating the military and mandating equality of treatment and opportunity. It made it illegal, per military law, to make a racist remark. Fifteen years later, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara issued Department of Defense Directive 5120.36. "Every military commander," the Directive mandates, "has the responsibility to oppose discriminatory practices affecting his men and their dependents and to foster equal opportunity for them, not only in areas under his immediate control, but also in nearby communities where they may gather in off-duty hours." The directive was issued in 1963, but it was not until 1967 that the first non-military installation was declared off-limits to military personnel due to its discriminatory practices. While these directives did not eliminate racism in the military, they do impact the culture in which children of military personnel grow up.

When families go overseas, minority students rarely experience overt racism from their expatriate neighbors. This is also true on military bases within the U.S.; as the community is isolated and smaller than the off-base community, military dependents are less likely to resort to racist notions. The military community is normally a stronger bond than the differences of race. Military brats grow up in communities that actively condemn racist comments. This results in, according to Wertsch, brats who "aren't just non-racist, but anti-racist."

Growing up military

Range of International Experience and Influences

Sociologist Morten Ender conducted the largest scientific study to date exclusively on career military brats (those who had at least one parent in the military from birth through high school). He interviewed and sent questionnaires to over 600 brats who belonged to various brat organizations and responded to his newspaper and internet ads. His study revealed that 97% lived in at least one foreign country, 63% in two, 31% in 3. They averaged 8 moves before graduating from high school and spent an average of 7 years in foreign countries. Over 80% now speak at least one language other than English and 14% speak three or more. Ann Cottrell's work with Third Culture Kids, however, shows slightly lower results, but her results did not specify career brats. Sociologist Henry Watanabe showed that military and civilian teenagers share the same concerns and desires, but that growing up in a mobile community offers opportunities and experiences generally unavailable to geographically stable families.

Friendships

Because military brats are constantly making new friends to replace the ones that they have lost, they are often more outgoing and independent. According to the largest study conducted on nearly 700 TCKs, eighty percent claim that they can relate to anyone, regardless of differences such as race, ethnicity, religion, or nationality.

A typical military school can experience up to 50% turnover every year (25% graduate while a third of the remaining 75% of students move); social groups that existed one year cease to exist as new groups emerge. The brat learns to adapt quickly to fit into this ever changing environment. Highly mobile children are more likely to reach out to a new student because they know what it is like to be the new student.

Recent studies show that, although brats move on average every 3 years, they do not grow accustomed to moving. The constantly changing environment and openness to others has a price. Rather than develop problem-solving skills, there is a temptation to simply leave a problem without resolving it. If a person does not like somebody or gets into a fight, they know that in a few years somebody will move and the problem will disappear. On the other hand, when brats marry it is generally for life; over two thirds of brats over 40 are married to their first spouse.

School life

Moving during the summer months can be challenging. Courses students have taken at their old schools may not fulfill the graduation requirements at their new school. Moving during the winter holidays or mid-year, however, has traditionally been viewed as the worst time to move. The student is forced to join classes that have already begun. Social groups become even more difficult to break into and activities that the student enjoyed may be barred to him or her. For example, an athlete may not be able to join his or her sport because they missed tryouts and the season had already begun. A student who excelled at their old DoDDS or DDESS school suddenly feels inadequate at the larger school. Recent studies, however, show that mobility during the school year may be less traumatic than summer time moves.

DoDDS schools overseas and DDESS schools in the United States tend to be smaller than many public schools. Students and teachers often interact in a more social manner with one another. When returning to civilian schools, the lack of camaraderie with the faculty can be an unexpected obstacle for many highly mobile families.

Military brats have lower delinquency rates, higher achievement scores on standardized tests, and higher median IQ than their civilian counterparts. They are more likely to have a college degree (60% v 24%) and possess an advanced degree (29.1% v 5%). While these rates are higher than the general U.S. population, they are lower than those of other non-brat Third Culture Kids (84–90% college degree and 40% graduate degree). United States Military brats are the most mobile of the Third Culture Kids, moving on average every three years. Brats move frequently between bases in the United States and typically spend only a few years abroad, and sometimes none at all.

Abuse and alcoholism

Two of the common themes in Wertsch's book are abuse and alcoholism. These are echoed in other literature of the Cold War, such as Pat Conroy's The Great Santini. In the 1980s and 1990s the U.S. military focused on the issues of abuse and alcoholism. The impact on the military's efforts remains inconclusive. Some studies report higher rates of abuse in military families, while others report lower rates.

The studies that conclude abuse is a bigger problem in military families than civilian families attribute this to the long hours, frequent disruptions in lifestyles, and high degree of stress. They point out that military families may be more reluctant to report issues of abuse because of the potential impact on the service member's career. Other studies, however, argue that military families have a smaller problem than civilian families because military culture offers more accessible help for victims of abuse. Military families have health care, housing, and family support programs often unavailable to lower income civilian families. Abusive family members are more likely to be ordered (by their Commanding Officer or Base Commander) to obtain treatment, thus reducing reoccurrences of abuse.

Current military brats

The U.S. Defense Department reports that there are currently 2 million American children and teenagers who have had at least one parent deployed in a war zone in the current Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Over 900,000 have had a parent deployed multiple times.

Most of the research into military brats has been conducted on the long term effects on adults who grew up during the Cold War and also during the Vietnam and Korean wars. As the Cold War came to an end, the role of the United States Armed Forces changed. The U.S. military realized that there was distinct correlation between the quality of life and retention and operational effectiveness. To this end, the military started to change the living standards that most Cold War brats grew up with. The demographics of the military changed. The modern military has a larger proportion of married military members. Since base housing is designed for fewer families, more families are forced to live off-base. Military personnel are being supplemented by more civilians filling essential roles. And the introduction of the large megabases that intermesh different service branches and their individual cultures has also affected the demographics. Finally, during the Post Cold War period, the United States has been involved in three extended military engagements (two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan). The long term effects of these changes are unknown, but research has been conducted on short term effects on Post-Cold War Era brats.

War in the 21st century

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Winning drawing entitled, "Why I'm proud to be a part of the military family" during "Operation Enduring Families."

Today's military brat faces some additional challenges. For example, it is estimated that approximately 50,000 military families have both parents serving in the armed forces; this creates the possibility that both parents may be deployed at the same time. Another significant difference is the speed of communication. With the advent of the Internet it is possible for family members to communicate with servicemen in combat zones. This allows brats to remain in closer contact with their military parent(s), but it also increases tension as more details reach the military families. Round-the-clock news agencies, such as CNN and Fox News, spread news faster than the military bureaucracy can process the details. This means that military families know that servicemen have died before official word reaches the family. Military Psychiatrist Colonel Stephen Cozza says that a "sense of fear" accompanies news of the death of a service member until confirmation that the service member was not a loved one.

Wertsch has pointed out, however, that during the Vietnam war, televised news war coverage was also very intense and constant, and that similar issues of military family fear being intensified by television coverage were also present for military brats and spouses of that era with a family member in the war.

Despite these facts, studies show only a slight increase in immediate stressors among military brats whose parents serve in a combat zone, although no studies on the longer-term affects have ever been done. Boys and younger children do show the most risk when a parent is deployed, but rarely does this require clinical intervention. However, studies show that when a military member is deployed to a combat zone, the family cohesion is more disrupted than when service members are deployed to non-combat zones.

Military members can be deployed for days, months, or even years without their family. When a parent is stationed without his family, the children experience the same emotions as children of divorced parents. In addition to the effects of the divorce, military brats have additional concerns. When a military member is sent away, the family does not always know where they are going or when (or if) the service member will return. Studies show that there are three phases to deployment and each phase has different impacts on the family. Military spouses reported the following when their spouse was deployed:

• Predeployment — Marital stress/conflict, distancing from spouse, anger, resentment, sadness/depression, negative child behavior.
• Deployment — Marital problems, isolation, loneliness, anger, resentment, sadness/depression, reduced communications, stress, less social support, assuming the role of single parent, child care difficulties, sleep disturbances, physical symptoms, home and car repairs, difficulty accessing military services, negative child behavior.
• Postdeployment/Reunion — Redefining responsibilities, marital stress, communication problems, anxiety, anger, resentment, parent-child attachment issues

While separation produces stress, according to the US military it strengthens the children by forcing them to take on additional responsibilities when a parent is absent, encouraging independence.

A Pentagon study released in June 2009, show that children of combat troops show more fear, anxiety and behavioral problems. According to the study, spouses report that when the service member is sent to a combat zone, that their children start to experienced increased anxiety. One in four parents say their children respond poor or very poorly and a third experienced academic problems. Another study done by the University of California - Los Angeles indicated that a year after the parent returns, the 30% of children "exhibited clinical levels of anxiety." The Pentagon Study found the effects most pronounced in children between the ages of 5-13, while the University of California study found the issues were the strongest in children under the age of 8.

"Suddenly military" brats ("Reserve brats" or "National Guard brats")

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Family members of a deceased soldier walk to a grave site

"Suddenly military" (reservist and National Guard) families face additional challenges, related to isolation from other military-family peers, and isolation within their home-town communities, not faced by traditional military families:

With the increased demands on the U.S. military, reservists have been called to active duty. The children of these reservists, who are suddenly called to extended active duty, are technically military brats, but they may not identify with or share all of the characteristics of traditional brats (although in certain specific areas, such as war-related issues, they may share a great deal). In an effort to help integrate "suddenly military" brats, groups like Operation: Military Kids and "Our Military Kids, Inc." came into existence. Operation: Military Kids is a program designed to help "suddenly military" children understand the military culture to which they now belong, and "Our Military Kids" provides monetary grants that support tutoring, sports and other extracurricular activities of National Guard and Reserve children, whose parents sometimes incur a lapse in income upon being called to active duty.

National Guard families are not as familiar with military culture. They are physically separated from other military families, meaning they may get less emotional support during wartime, and may not be as emotionally prepared for active duty deployment. Both the formal and informal support structures available for the regular military families are not as readily available to reservist families. Operation: Military Kids teaches "suddenly military" brats about military culture and expectations.

Children of reservist soldiers also don't share the highly mobile aspect of 'regular service' military brat life. They may however still develop feelings of difference or isolation in relation to non-military children or teenagers in their home towns, due to war-deployment related stresses and war-aftermath issues that their non-military peers may not be able to fully understand. Consequently it may be harder for teachers and health care professionals to identify and address war-deployment related child, adolescent or family problems, unless they are specifically screened for. Although the family may not be as fully immersed in military culture, individual reservist parents may still effect varying degrees of militarization of the family social environment and the child's upbringing. Some children born to no-longer active duty veterans may also experience a number of these issues.

Death of a parent in combat

The effect of having a parent killed during military operations has not been specifically studied. Studies on children who have lost a parent show that 10–15% experience depression and a few develop childhood traumatic grief (the inability to recall any positive memories of the deceased parent). Military psychiatrist Stephen Cozza speculates, based upon his experience, that the long-term effects of having a parent killed during war would be more traumatic and difficult to deal with than other causes of parental death.

Reunited and reaching out

As adults, military brats sometimes try to reunite with their brat heritage.

A recent study, "Military Brats: Issues and Associations in Adulthood," identified several reasons why some military brats, as adults, seek out brat organizations. Military Brats can feel a "sense of euphoria" when they discover that other brats share the same feelings and emotions. According to the study, brats share a bond with one another through common experiences that transcends race, religion, and nationality. Another common theme behind their joining brat organizations is to stay connected or reconnect with their old friends.

History of Research Efforts

Early Identification of Third Culture Children

In the 1970s, sociologist Ruth Hill Useem coined the term Third Culture Kids (TCKs) for a child who follows his parents "into another culture." Useem used the term "Third Culture Kids" because TCKs integrate aspects of their birth culture (the first culture) and the new culture (the second culture), creating a unique "third culture." Globally, offspring of military households comprise about 30% of all TCKs, but they are almost exclusively from the U.S.

Start of Department of Defense Research

Systematic research on individuals in such environments has been conducted since the 1980s. Responding to social and psychological issues recorded in military families and communities, the U.S. Armed Forces sponsored research on the long-term impact of growing up as a military dependent. Outside of the U.S. there is no significant literature on the effects of growing up as a military dependent. Since the Department of Defense does not track or monitor former brats, any study on adult brats is based upon self identification. Thus, even though the studies are performed using scientific sampling methods, they may contain bias because of the difficulty in conducting epidemiological studies across broad-based population samples. Some researchers used referrals, the Internet, and newspaper articles to identify military brats.

Military Brat Cultural Identity: Social Psychological Research and Writing by Mary Edwards Wertsch

Many military brats identify with their subculture as a distinct ethnicity or quasi-ethnicity. In 1991, Mary Edwards Wertsch "launched the movement for military brat cultural identity" with her book Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood inside the Fortress. In researching her book, Wertsch identified common themes from interviews of over 80 offspring of military households. While this book does not purport to be a scientific study, subsequent research has validated many of its findings.

In the introduction to the book, Patrick Conroy, former military brat and author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, wrote,

"Her book speaks in a language that is clear and stinging and instantly recognizable to me [as a brat], yet it's a language I was not even aware I spoke. She isolates the military brats of America as a new indigenous subculture with our own customs, rites of passage, forms of communication, and folkways .... With this book, Mary [Wertsch] astonished me and introduced me to a secret family I did not know I had."

Military Brat Documentary "Brats: Our Journey Home"

In 2005 military brat and filmmaker Donna Musil released the first documentary ever made exclusively about military brats, "Brats: Our Journey Home". To date, the documentary has won 21 Film Awards. Musil furthers the premise that military brats form a distinct American subculture with a commonly held sense of identity that borders on ethnicity. The documentary also draws on many studies and the testimony of numerous researchers and also counselors and psychologists who have extensive experience with former and current military brats, as well as interviews of many military adult brats.

Invisible Subculture

Musil's documentary also broaches the idea that the culture and lives of military brats are largely invisible to most Americans. That some sparse and supercificial aspects of military brat life may be known to many Americans, but that a fuller sense of awareness of one of Americas largest (and oldest) subcultures is largely non-existent. The documentary starts with country music singer and former military brat Kris Kristopherson calling military brats "an invisible tribe" comprising 5% of the American population.

The documentary closes with another quote from former military brat and author Pat Conroy who writes,

"We spent our entire childhoods in the service of our country, and no one even knew we were here".

References

• Bonn, Keith. (2005) Army Officer's Guide: 75th Edition, Mechanicburg, PA:Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-3224-X
• Cottrell, Ann (2002) "Educational and Occupational Choices of American Adult Third Culture Kids" In Morten Ender, "Military Brats and Other Global Nomads."
• Eakin, Kay Brennan (1996). "You can't go 'Home' Again" in Strangers at Home: Essays on the effects of living overseas and Coming 'home' to a strange land. Edited Carolyn Smith, Aletheia Publications: New York. 1996
• Eakin, Kay Brennan (undated). Template:PDFlink, U.S. Department of State. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
• Ender, Morten, "Growing up in the Military" in Strangers at Home: Essays on the effects of living overseas and Coming 'home' to a strange land. Edited Carolyn Smith, Aletheia Publications: New York. 1996
• Ender, Morten (2002) "Beyond Adolescence: The Experiences of Adult Children of Military Parents" In Morten Ender, "Military Brats and Other Global Nomads," Portland:Greenwood Publishing Group 2002
• Ferguson-Cohen, Michelle Michelle Ferguson-Cohen (2001), "Daddy, You're My Hero!" and "Mommy, You're My Hero!" Little Redhaired Girl Publishing, Brooklyn, NY. ISBN 978-0-9729264-4-7 and ISBN 978-0-9729264-3-0
• Jordan, Kathleen Finn (2002). "Identity Formation and the Adult Third Culture Kid " In Morten Ender, "Military Brats and Other Global Nomads."
• Morten G. Ender, ed. (2002). Military Brats and Other Global Nomads: Growing Up in Organization Families, Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-97266-6
• Price, Phoebe. (2002). "Behavior of Civilian and Military High School Students in Movie Theaters." In Morten Ender, "Military Brats and Other Global Nomads."
• Smith, Carolyn (ed) (1996). Strangers at Home: Essays on the Effects of Living Overseas and Coming 'Home' to a Strange Land, New York: Aletheia Publications. ISBN 0-9639260-4-7
• Truscott, Mary R (1989). BRATS: Children of the American Military Speak Out," New York, New York: E. P. Dutton. ISBN 0-525-24815-3
• Tyler, Mary (2002). "The Military Teenager in Europe: Perspectives for Health care Providers." In Morten Ender, Military Brats and Other Global Nomads
• Watanabe, Henry (1985) "A Survey of Adolescent Military Family Members' Self-Image" Journal of Youth and Adolescence Vol 14 No 2 April 1985
• Wertsch, Mary Edwards (1991). Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress, New York, New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-58400-X. Also, Saint Louis, MO: Brightwell Publishing, 2006, ISBN 0-9776033-0-X.
• Williams, Karen and LisaMarie Mariglia, (2002) "Military Brats: Issues and Associations in Adulthood" in Morten Ender Military Brats and Other Global Nomads

External links

• Military Brat Life - an online magazine" This website has articles, essays, poetry and blogs about growing up as a child in a military family.
• "Brats: Our Journey Home" Award Winning Documentary about Military Brats Funded and produced by the Nonprofit organization, "Brats Without Borders"
• Military Brats Registry Podcast Military Brats Registry sponsored a series called "Every Brat has a story." These are interviews with famous and not-so-famous military brats.
• Military Brats Online (For all ages) Military Brats Online is a free social network and lively community for military brats of all generations.
• Military Teen online Online community and support network for Military Teenagers.
• Military Brats (Internet) Forum for Reminiscing and Discussing All Aspects of Military Brat Life
• Overseas Brats On-Line Community Free on-line forums for military brats and overseas brats.
• 17 Ways to Help Army Brats (Third Culture Kids) from TCKID, the community for TCKs
• Brats: Our Journey Home - Teleconference An Interview with Donna Musil
• Australia and New Zealand Military Brats of singapore is a website especially for the ex-dependants of Australian and New Zealand Army, Airforce and Navy Servicemen who in particular served in Singapore between 1971 & 1989.