OpTruth's Ray Kimball sounds off today about the devastating new Army divorce numbers:
From the 8 Jun USA Today:
"The number of active-duty soldiers getting divorced has been rising sharply with deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. The trend is severest among officers. Last year, 3,325 Army officers' marriages ended in divorce — up 78% from 2003, the year of the Iraq invasion, and more than 3 1/2 times the number in 2000, before the Afghan operation, Army figures show. For enlisted personnel, the 7,152 divorces last year were 28% more than in 2003 and up 53% from 2000. During that time, the number of soldiers has changed little. The Army has no comparable data for past wars."
Read the rest of the article here.
My primary duty in the Army is as an aviation maintenance officer. One of the first things I learned about inspecting helicopters was that it's not the big, unsightly gashes that worry you; it's the small, hairline cracks. They develop over time, unseen by all but the most careful eye. They don't look like much, but put the right amount of stress on them over time, and you get a bad case of "blue blades" - one blew this way, one blew that way. The whole thing comes apart.
That's what this data is: a small, hairline crack. One among many, including recruiting, increased wear and tear on vehicles, helicopters, and mission equipment, and an open-ended global engagement strategy that offers little hope of respite.
Yes, war is hell. Yes, the stress of deployment either strengthens a family or tears it apart, and we've known that for years now. But this is something new, and it does not bode well for the force.
To read more from Kimball, check out the OpTruth Blog.
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