THE IMPACT OF MILITARY DEPLOYMENT OF PARENTS ON THE
RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR CHILDREN
1. INTRODUCTION
According to Clever and Segal (2013:16), military families have developed from the
traditional military family which included senior officer`s wives and their children to also
including homosexual females and males. Recently the military family system has developed
to single-parent families, dual -parent families and same sex parent families (Bowen and
Orthner, 2015:48). Military families experience many challenges that do not only affect
military service members but their whole family including children. Among other challenges
that brings about stress is deployment of a family member especially a parent.
For the purpose of the study, the focus is on the impact of deployment of military parents on
the relationship with their children. Parent-child relationship is of paramount importance in
child development as it is a foundation of a child`s upbringing. A stable parent- child
relationship creates a healthy environment that provides for the child`s needs and nurtures the
child`s physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development (Clever and Segal, 2013:18).
Van Dyk (2016:88) explains that the Military force is used to define a profound and
structured force at which its principal objective is focused on welfare. This is one of the
reasons why during the recruitment stage, the recruits receive military training (force
preparation) where other recruits are prepared for placement within the committed
infrastructures in the military force and deployed to a certain location away from family and
friends for military action or combat. Military training helps the recruits to be mentally and
physically ready and fit for any circumstances that may come with military activities.
In addition, although some countries do not allow single parents to serve in the military, in
America, for example, single parents are restricted from joining the military. However,
parents who become single after recruited in the military are allowed to continue serving. In
the South African military context, the South African National Defense Force does not have
such policy; they recruit everyone who is fit for military activities from the age of 18-25
years irrespective of their parental status (Ling and Johnson, 2013).
In addition, the Department of defense (2010:01) further states that with the United States
involvement in the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, parental deployment is a concerning issue in
the defense force because it affects the well-being and development of military children. Ling
,and Johnson, (2013) states that the South African National Defense force (SANDF) has no
exclusion to the ethics of procedures for military forces. According to the SANDF policy,
deployment is applicable to any members of the military force, both single parents and dual
parents are the same in the eye of the SANDF irrespective of the responsibilities they have at
home. Single parents and dual parents are also required to be personally available for
deployment allocations and serve regardless Mcfarlane (2009: 369)
Furthermore, Ternus (2010:204) states that the military requires production from all its
members and it is noticeable through combat readiness and readiness to deploy. Combat and
deployment readiness necessitates soldiers to be committed to their work and in order for the
soldier`s work to be meaningful it is needed for them to be willing to be productive in both
combat and deployment. The author further states that deployment is a temporary relocation
of solders away from family and friends to complete their mission or duties in combat.
However, as stated above the separation caused by deployment has negative effects to the
family system and the individual.
Mcfarlane (2009: 369) explains that even if the military system prepares those who serve in
the military for deployment as stated above, millions of children in families all over the world
are affected by the deployment of a family member, and they experience the stress of having
to cope and adjust to the changes. Ternus (2010:203) adds that many families in different
countries experience parental deployment with an overall force of women and men. Parental
deployments especially to combat brings about many changes within the family system such
as familial separation, relocation, changes in daily routines and change in primary care giving
responsibility.
Mitchell, (2013) explains that parents are good examples and children learn practices of their
parents and build relationships with other individuals all through to their adulthood using
practices they have gained from their childhood. Therefore, it is important that parents build a
healthy relationship with their children as it adds value in their life span. However, with an
increase in parental deployment across many countries, literature proves that separation of a
child from the parent due to lengthy parental deployment to combat or any military service
can negatively affect the parent child relationship. In this regard, deployment can affect the
parent child relationship through change in family dynamics, parenting, lack of
communication, child maltreatment, parental and child emotional, psychological and
behavioral problems.
, Nevertheless, it is important to note that children respond differently to parental deployment
and understand the situation according to their level of capacity (Mitchell, 2013). In addition,
Nguyen, et al (2014: 82) states that the effects and reaction of parental deployment on
children differ with age, temperament, and developmental stage. Literature on families
experiencing military deployment of a parent indicates that separation of a parent from a
child through deployment affects younger children more in contrast with older children due
to their vulnerability.
Although parental deployment is a concerning issue in the military, the military force is
hands on in helping military personnel and their families through effective intervention. The
military system ensures that their service members receive the necessary assistance in their
journey together with their families during the stages of pre-deployment, deployment and
reintegration stages through reunification and reintegration strategies (Van Breda., 2012,
Panton 2018, and Rubin, Weiss and Coll, 2012). Even when the parents return from
deployment, it is important for them to be rendered with intervention services that can help
them to recover and reintegrate into the society and family life again (Department of defense,
2010:25).
Because of the findings obtained above, the paper intends to comprehend the impact of
deployment on the relationship of military parents with their children by investigating the
elements of parent-child relationship in the area of attachment, communication, involvement,
parenting, and parent and child behavior during and after parental deployment.
2. THE CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS THAT ARISES DURING AND AFTER
PARENT-MILITARY DEPLOYMENT
The military is a system at which when one individual member of the family joins the whole
family serves (Nguyen, et al 2014: 82). This means that every individual within the family is
affected by a member`s membership in the military, this includes children, and spouse/
partner. As elaborated on the introduction of the paper, the impact of deployment on the
parent child-relationship is the focus area. Agazio ,(2012 :22) elaborates that the relationship
of the parent particularly the mother and the child during deployment can be affected by the
period of deployment, contact during deployment, living arrangement during deployment, the
parenting style of the at home caregiver and importantly the child`s developmental stage.
