How Female Soldiers Experience Deployment More women are deploying than ever before. According to the Department of Defense, almost 11% of the soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan today are female, up from just 7% during the Persian Gulf War. Like their male counterparts, military women often look forward to overseas duty. When Charlotte McClumpha, […]

Staying Involved in Your Child’s Education If deployment means you’re leaving kids at home, it may be difficult to imagine staying involved in their lives while you are concentrating on your mission overseas. But experts say continuing to be a part of your child’s life on a daily basis is an important part of helping […]

Be Careful What You Tell Yourself… We’ve all heard the saying ‘attitude is everything.’ But sometimes it can be hard to look at a major life change like deployment as anything but negative. Watch Out! It turns out that telling yourself deployment will be a horrible experience could actually make it worse. “The subconcious mind […]

Don’t Ignore Retirement Planning When facing a deployment, your immediate goal should be getting through the year of separation. It can be tempting not to look beyond the date when you’ll be back together as a family. But with a little planning, a deployment year can really pay off for your family’s financial future. The […]

Post-Deployment Relationship Rescue When your soldier comes home safely from a deployment, of course you’re happy to have him back, but that doesn’t mean things automatically fall into place with your relationship. Jennifer, who is married to a Captain in the Marines, says one of the hardest parts of a deployment for her is the […]

Using Humor to Beat Deployment Stress When our partners deploy, it’s tempting to look for ways to keep ourselves busy while they’re gone. But taking on additional roles and activities during the year could actually be making it harder on us. Leigh Anne Jasheway, Humor & Stress Management Expert and Author of “How’d all These […]

Setting Financial Goals During Deployment For some military families, a deployment is an opportunity to save money, or pay off debts. “With the possibility of combat zone tax-free income and a host of allowances (separation pay, hazardous duty) added to the monthly bottom line, you may be able to pay off credit cards, build your […]

When and How to Address Their Fears When a parent is deployed, kids may worry that mom or dad is in danger. It’s hard to know how honest to be about the situation. Rise VanFleet, Ph.D., President of the Family Enhancement & Play Therapy Center, says a worried child will usually ask questions and you […]

 Deployments aren’t fun. They test our patience, our marriages and our multi-tasking abilities. They require us to be both mom and dad, and to put our own feelings aside to support our spouses. But deployments also make us stronger. They reveal hidden talents we didn’t know existed, and give us the opportunity to learn about […]

What You Need To Know Before They Go No matter how much time you have to prepare, deployments always sneak up on you. “There’s so much to do,” says Michael Kothakota of Wolfbridge Financial, “Things like finances can fall by the wayside very quickly.” But Kothakota says that’s the last thing you want to happen […]