Army’s divorce rate soars

Second tour a tipping point
Martha Rudd, an Army spokeswoman, attributed the recent surge in divorces to the stress and uncertainty caused by a stepped-up deployment cycle.

“An awful lot of people are going back to Iraq for a second tour — that must be hard to take,” she said. “You can get through one tour, but then you think, ’Please, no more.”’

Bloomstrom said the high divorce rate among officers was no surprise because they bear the brunt of implementing major changes in Army operations, often working 18 or more hours a day.

“Every aspect of the Army is changing,” he said. “We’ve got some very loyal, dedicated military professionals stepping up to the plate, sometimes to the detriment of their families.”

Sylvia Kidd, director of family programs for the private Association of the U.S. Army, urges military couples to seek help when needed but fears many spouses are too isolated.

“So many of these couples are very young — they tend to get married just before deployment, and then the wife is here alone and doesn’t know what to do with herself,” Kidd said. “The people who need support the most are the least likely to go get it.”

Problem could get worse
For those troops who do divorce, military breakups can pose unique legal and logistical challenges, especially when one spouse is deployed overseas.

Mark Sullivan, a former Army lawyer who now practices privately in Raleigh, N.C., says soldiers in often-deployed units may have trouble winning child custody and — when posted abroad — arranging visits from their children. In one recent case, Sullivan has represented a Tennessee father whose ex-wife is now seeking custody of their daughter because the man’s National Guard unit was sent overseas.

Kidd said the divorce problem could get even worse, as long the campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere require frequent deployments.

“All kinds of couples have problems, but they don’t necessarily break up,” Kidd said. “When you add the additional stress of these separations, it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

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