Mission. Soldier. FAMILY. Team.

Mission. Soldier. Family. Team.

Carissa Picard | December 13, 2007

"Mission. Soldier. Family. Team."

This is the motto of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. In four words, 4th ID has identified the essential elements upon which the strength and stability of the Division is based. The soldier, the family, the unit, and the mission are all interconnected and interdependent. What impacts one, impacts the other. Now the Army needs to recognize this as well.

The Army's problems with recruitment and retention are very much a reflection of its failure to truly appreciate this interdependence. When it comes to decreased morale and retention, our prolonged presence in Iraq has become the scapegoat, masking a larger problem within the military: a reluctance to value the family as much as the service member does and a resistance to allocate funds accordingly.

No matter how high the bonuses are many soldiers, particularly those with families, believe that the benefits fail to outweigh the hardships of service. Too much has been asked of too few for too long--families and soldiers alike.

Of course, reducing combat tours from 15 to 12 months would certainly help soldiers and military families, but it is important to understand that it is not combat tours alone that are keeping soldiers from staying in the Army. It is the lack of support for the soldier and his/her family before, during, and after those tours.

Whether a soldier is deployed for 9 months, 12 months, or 15 months, the fact remains that while he (or she) is gone, the spouse has few resources to compensate for the long-term absence of the second parent under conditions of high stress and isolation. During deployments the incidents of child abuse and neglect, alcohol and drug use, and post-partum depression all increase. Meanwhile, the divorce rate for Army officers nearly tripled and for its enlisted soldiers nearly doubled (between 2001 and 2005). Even without deployments, frequent moves disrupt career aspirations, educational goals, and community ties for families.

Understandably, the Director of Defense Capabilities and Management testified before the Senate (in 2002): "a significant body of research by the military services shows that family satisfaction with military life can significantly influence a service members decision to stay in the military or leave." More recently, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Pace testified that family satisfaction and support played a key role in soldier morale and retention. In light of this, one would expect the Army to expand family benefits and support services much more significantly than it has to date.

For example, the Army could increase the number of daycare providers (especially for evening and weekend hours), expand non-cosmetic dental and vision benefits, provide on post front lawn care for the families of deployed soldiers, allow educational benefits to be transferable to the spouse or child, force Tricare to provide Prime coverage to active duty families who move home during deployments, and/or relocate families to places where they will have support during a deployment that is twelve months or longer.

Of course, while I write this, officials have announced they want to increase the permanent Army by 20,000 to 30,000 troops. (Although the White House initially wanted to increase the number of troops by 65,000.)

You have to admire their moxie. In 2005, the Army failed to meet its annual recruiting goal by eight percent. Despite recruitment bonuses as high as $40,000, the Army again failed to meet its recruiting goals in May and June (usually its best recruiting months) of 2007. The propensity to serve is in the military is its lowest in 20 years, desertion is its highest in 20 years, and junior officers and NCOs are running (not walking) from Uncle Sam.

To meet their post-9/11 recruiting goals they have already increased the maximum enlisting age, granted "moral" waivers for criminal convictions (12% were granted this year), lowered educational standards, and offered bonuses up to $40,000.

Benjamin Franklin said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. If the Army wants to accomplish its mission of recruiting and retaining troops, it needs to take care of its soldiers. To take care of its soldiers, it needs to take care of its soldiers' families. That means higher salaries and improved benefits and family support services. Period.

To preserve manpower and protect the integrity of the overall force, the Army needs to recognize that an investment in the family IS an investment in the soldier.

Taking care of military families isn't just a moral imperative - it is a troop multiplier.

Copyright 2007 Carissa Picard. All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.

Source: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,158187,00.html

If you go to the actual op-ed at military.com, there are eight hyper-links in the text that take you to the sources used to write this piece.