On good days, I try to remember and appreciate the ways in which being a military kid can make a child more adaptable and well-traveled. However, I’m also constantly aware that being a part of a military family is one of the single most defining features of my child’s life, and of any military child’s life.
Being a military child impacts the role that their serving parent can play in their daily
lives. It impacts their parent’s safety (and their perception of that parent’s safety), where they live, when they move, whether extended family is a regular part of their lives, their educational trajectory, and, ultimately, their life goals.
Critics regularly dismiss military spouse concerns, arguing (often incorrectly), “You chose this life. You knew what you were getting yourself into.” But our kids, they didn’t have a say in the matter.
As my sixteen-year-old sits on the edge of the next chapter of his life—decisions about college, career, and adulthood—I’m reflecting and asking myself, “Have we done enough? Has growing up in this uncertain, ever-changing military life left him more focused on the present than the future?”
We’ve always emphasized the importance of education and community involvement. We talk about the future, and we work as a team with his teachers. We’ve taught him perseverance and patience, and we think we have set him up for success.
But in the daily ins and outs of life as a military family, have we forgotten something? Have we done everything we can do?
My parental uncertainty in light of those questions, as well as my professional commitment to military families, make me excited for the beginnings of our Military Youth Job Network.
I look forward to building a program that helps to set our military youth up for their futures and success as adults and professionals—one that focuses on our kids’ here and now, with an eye towards who they will one day be.
According to the Department of Defense’s 2015 Demographics: Profile of the Military, 41.2% of military personnel have children. Across active duty and reserve components, there are approximately two million military kids, ranging from birth to age 23. Approximately 575,000 of those children are ages 12-23, and my son is one of them.