Since Sept. 11, 2001:
Nearly 2.8 million service members have been deployed.
Nearly 500,000 service members have returned home with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or varying degrees of traumatic brain injury (TBI)
Roughly half of deploying service members have at least one dependent child living at home
— from the 2016 Deployment Life Study by the RAND Corporation
72% of military families feel the current optempo exerts anunacceptable level of stress for a healthy work/family life.
42% of military families have experienced more than 6 months of family separation in the last 18 months.
Deployment ranked as the #1 lifestyle stress or for military families, followed at #2 by separation
Both service members and their spouses ranked the impact of deployments on kids in their Top 5 Most Concerning Issues, with 37% of military spouses and 32% of service members voicing that concern.
—Blue Star Families’ 2016 Military Families Lifestyle Survey
