Military divorces are slightly higher than the average population. Why do you think this is so?

Most solider get married to move out of the barrack's. Barrack's life isn't peachy, very very sloppy live conditions. The other reason is the constant training and all the last minute details
and you just have some high ranking personal that just don't want to go home. Time management and what's important need to be learn, not what you thinks important.

I think all of these are accurate but I think the biggest thing is that spouses don't really know what they are getting into (this could be said for service members too). Trying to raise a family or nurture a marriage is hard, but it is so much harder when your job requires you to do things that sabotage your relationships: i.e. confidentiality, lack of emotional or physical availability, a lack of job stability for the spouse because of changes in duty stations, etc.

Average Age of Military member (28~) versus Average Age of Population.

Much higher "risk group."

It's not that we are "younger" at time of marriage, it's more that we are comparing two different groups. It would be like trying to compare divorce rates of 20-40 year olds (that's assuming "most" did 20 years) vs 20-80 year olds.

The military isn't for everyone and marrying into the military is even harder to adjust to. Even if you were married before entering the military, the ability of 2 people to make the adjustment is tough. All the answers in the survey probably have some impact, but bottom line, military life is not civilian life and it is probably harder to make that adjustment. It takes a special type of spouse to put up with the demands of the military and for all of you who have stuck it out I salute you.

Separation does not always make the heart grow fonder. Three men on my crew got "Dear John" letters from their wives during my one year tour.

What I've seen most was military folks just marrying the first person that comes along. I think if they were a bit more selective in who they marry, things would be very different. One would think this is based on youth, but I have seen it with older Soldiers too.

Stress * Separation....

Biggest issue I've seen is infidelity. People just don't understand what commitment means anymore. It's harder on military personnel because then the couples could be apart anywhere from 6 months to a year or even more. Not trying to justify it, I just understand what drives people to cheat.

I think it is amazing and a tribute to the quality of the men and women in the military AND their spouses that it is only slightly higher.

At one time, if you were enlisted, you had to be at least a SSgt to get married, and get the COs permission, at least that's what I've been told.

As we used to hear in the Crotch, "If the Marines wanted you to have a wife, they would issue you one!"