The U. S. Army Future Concept for the Human Dimension

7-5. The Army Family

The Army family has a major impact on combat readiness today and there is every reason to believe this impact will be just as critical in the future. Experience and extensive research demonstrate a synergy between the unit, the Soldier, and the family that can positively affect retention and commitment to the unit, the mission, and the Army.¹⁶⁴ The quality of the family life and satisfaction with the Army affects the Soldier’s performance in the unit and successful units increase Soldier satisfaction contributing in turn to a healthy family life.

Recognizing the importance of family support programs to sustaining an Army trained and ready to meet the challenges of the future operating environment, The Secretary of the Army, Chief of Staff, and Sergeant Major of the Army recently introduced the Army Family Covenant (see fig 7-1). The covenant recognizes that the Soldiers strength comes in large measure from the strength of their Families. The covenant represents the Army's commitment to providing Soldiers and families a quality of life commensurate with their voluntary service and daily sacrifices. The “Army Soldier-Family Action Plan” and “Army Medical Action Plan” codifies the means by which the Army will fulfill the covenant. The covenant also ensures the rehabilitation and reintegration of the Army’s wounded warriors back into society.



Figure 7-1. The Army Family Covenant
Future persistent conflict will increase demands on Soldiers and their families. It is the actions of leaders that have the greatest impact on reducing military and family conflict, improving family satisfaction with military life, and enhancing unit readiness.¹⁶⁵
The Soldier, the Family, and Unit Readiness
Current trends indicate that Army families in the future will become ever more like their civilian counterparts. They will represent ethnic and structural diversity and face commonly stressful issues such as finances, child care, and physical and emotional challenges, and have increased access to family, spiritual resources, community services, and friends. Also, like their civilian counterparts, recent societal trends indicate that military families are less tolerant of the demands of work at the expense of family.¹⁶⁶ Yet, military families remain unique in that they will continue to face the additional and required challenge of adapting to multiple deployments that bring the stress of family separations, reunions, risk of death or injury, relocations, long work hours, and isolation. Future Army families will be similar to today’s Army families in that they will likely face a comparable OPTEMPO characterized by frequent deployments and separations.¹⁶⁷

Man has two supreme loyalties - to country and to family.... So long as their families are safe, they will defend their country, believing that by their sacrifice they are safeguarding their families also. But even the bonds of patriotism, discipline, and comradeship are loosened when the family itself is threatened.
William Tecumseh Sherman

General, United States Army

1864

These new conditions will also apply to reserve components. In the future, they will no longer be a strategic reserve mobilized only in national emergencies. They have assumed the role of operational reserve employed on a cyclical basis to allow the Army to operate more effectively in the future operating environment. Increased deployments and family separations will require an increased commitment from employers, Soldiers, and their families. National Guard and Army Reserve families face a unique set of stressors related to comparatively short periods of preparation. These families desperately need information, not only about deployment but also finances, tri-service medical care or TRICARE, (the health care program serving active duty service members, retirees, families, survivors, and certain former spouses worldwide), and social support resources for military families. Finances may also be a significant source of stress for these families, as military pay may not match civilian pay. There may also be concern that the service member’s job will not be available upon return, despite federal legislation designed to ensure job protection for reservists.
The unit and the family compete for the Soldier’s time, energy, and emotional commitment. Competing demands of family and the Army may exceed the Soldier’s ability to meet expectations, and, ultimately, force the Soldier to choose between the two. This tension can affect family satisfaction with Army life, the Soldier’s decision to remain in the Army, his or her performance in the unit, and ultimately unit readiness.
The Soldier bridges both institutions; the family and the Army. However, today’s Soldiers identify more strongly with the family than with the Army, “. . . [i]f there is a tug of war between the military and the family, it is the family that usually wins.”¹⁶⁸ The Army therefore must support a culture and an environment where its expectation of the Soldier is consistent with the expectations of the family. A Soldier’s ability to view his unit and family as complimentary rather than competitive strengthens the belief that he is an effective Soldier and a good family member.
When unit leaders understand and address family issues in a positive way as a unit concern rather than consider these problems a distraction, enhanced family adjustment, and commitment to the military can result. Army leaders need to understand the factors known to influence family member well-being, military life satisfaction, and support of a Soldier’s decision to continuing serving. These factors include length and predictability of duty hours, deployments and family separations, permanent change of station moves, unit communication with families, and unit support during temporary family crises. The commander can influence many of these factors.
Studies show domestic problems in the home can result in decreased combat effectiveness and increased risk for death on the battlefield. Soldiers who had experienced certain marital difficulties or stress in their personal relationships were at especially high risk to suffer combat operations stress reactions.¹⁶⁹ Concerns about family well-being and a sense of helplessness will always exist in deployed Soldiers but if the family is properly prepared to cope with separation and supported by the family support network, then the Soldier will have the confidence that they can manage independently freeing the Soldier to concentrate on the mission.
Developing this level of confidence and trust presents a significant challenge to unit leaders. Military leaders must be able to assist Soldiers’ and families having trouble and at the same time ensure that the unit’s mission is accomplished. Leaders require the skill and knowledge to direct Soldier and family members to military and civilian services designed to correct or mitigate family related stress. If ignored, family issues will adversely affect the Soldier’s performance and reenlistment, and unit readiness and performance.¹⁷⁰ Leaders of units who respected and trusted subordinates, made off duty time predictable, treated Soldier and family problems as unit problems, and fostered family readiness groups, groups found that attention to family support added to the Soldier’s warfighting capabilities.¹⁷¹
The Soldier, the Family in the Future
In the future operating environment, the structure of the Army and the way it trains and operates will continue to evolve to meet new and unpredictable challenges. The Army will continue as all volunteer force. The majority of the Army, especially officers and NCOs, will be married. Demographic changes in the composition of the force are likely to include increases in single parents and dual-career couples, and the increased requirement for family separations due to deployments. Therefore, the demands on the Army and the family are likely to remain significant and family life stress will remain an important readiness issue.
In recognition of these concerns, families will remain an important component of Army readiness policies and programs. Family issues affecting individual and unit readiness continue to play an important role in recruitment, retention, and commitment to the combat mission. Additionally, a strong healthy family life continues to be an important source of strength and support for Soldiers and their families and serves as a protective factor in preventing COSR.
The Army has committed and will continue to commit substantial resources to family well-being programs. These efforts reflect the view that family members are true partners in a challenging but rewarding way of life, and not simply in a job. The family’s responsibility in this partnership is to support the Soldier and other unit families and to participate in building and sustaining healthy, supportive Army units and organizations. The military’s responsibility is to create an environment where families and family members expect a good quality of life and opportunities to realize their potential.
In order to achieve this vision, the Army must establish an environment where the Soldier and the family believe it possible to be a great father, mother, husband, wife, as well as a great Soldier. Army leaders through their knowledge, skills, abilities, and decisions will have the greatest impact on the lives of Soldiers and their families. Leaders must also recognize that they, “…must develop the expert knowledge and abilities necessary to create both the perception and reality of caring for families and understand how they can improve their Soldiers’ and their Soldiers’ families’ satisfaction with military life.”¹⁷² If they fail, Soldiers both married and unmarried will be more likely to conclude being a Soldier is incompatible with family life and it is unlikely the Army will be able to raise and sustain the force required to meet the challenges of the future operating environment.