Hilton Head Island Packet Logo

Marines Corps seeing largest rise in divorce rates of armed services | Hilton Head Island Packet

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Archives
    • Contact Us
    • eEdition
    • Newsletters
    • Subscribe
    • Contests
    • About Us
    • Sponsorships
    • News
    • Beaufort Gazette
    • Bluffton Packet
    • Special Reports
    • Databases
    • Local
    • South Carolina
    • Traffic
    • Crime & Public Safety
    • Business
    • Politics & Elections
    • Military
    • Nation & World
    • Professional Opinion
    • Lottery Results
    • Blog: Untamed Lowcountry
    • Sports
    • College
    • Golf
    • RBC Heritage
    • Recreation
    • High School
    • MLB
    • NFL
    • NBA
    • Outdoors
    • Columnists
    • Jeff Shain
    • Cast & Blast
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • Business
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    • Full Stock Listings
    • Market Summaries
    • Mutual Funds
    • Treasury Rates
    • New Employee/Promotion Form
    • New Business Owner Form
    • Living
    • Celebrations
    • Religion
    • Food & Drink
    • Family
    • Outdoors
    • Holidays
    • Columnists
    • Lowcountry Gardening
    • Made With Love
    • Faith in Action
    • Entertainment
    • Arts & Culture
    • Local Events
    • Holidays & Seasonal
    • Horoscopes
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Columnists
    • Mindy Lucas
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Other Views
    • Readers Opinion
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Submit a Letter
    • National Voices
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Columnists
    • David Lauderdale
    • Liz Farrell
  • Obituaries

    • Classifieds
    • Legal Notices
  • Special Sections
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Place An Ad
  • Mobile & Apps

Local

Marines Corps seeing largest rise in divorce rates of armed services

By PATRICK DONOHUE

pdonohue@beaufortgazette.com

843-986-5531

    ORDER REPRINT →

December 29, 2008 12:00 AM

Two branches of the nation's military continue to push programs to help service members strengthen their marriages as divorce rates increase among their ranks.

Divorce rates among married members of the Marine Corps and the Army increased during the 2008 fiscal year, according to statistics released this month by the Pentagon. The fiscal year ended Sept. 30.

The Corps experienced the largest increase, with 3.7 percent of the more than 84,000 married Marines getting divorced in 2008. That's up from

3.3 percent in 2007, according to the Defense Department.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Island Packet

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

The divorce rate among the Army's 287,000 married troops rose to 3.5 percent, up from 3.3 percent last year.

Long and repeated combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq have had an undeniable effect on the home lives of the nation's troops, said Kelly Hruska, deputy director of government relations for the National Military Family Association, a Fairfax, Va.-based nonprofit group.

"The operational tempo is extremely high," she said. "Few people were surprised by this news. I think we would have been surprised if divorce rates were declining."

Marines and soldiers have been the largest part of the fighting force on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Hruska said the Army and Marine Corps have made admirable attempts to help their service members readjust to family life after returning home from war.

"The services are trying to respond and trying to be proactive, but they've got to overcome that mindset and that stereotype that sees going to counseling and asking for help as a weakness," she said.

Marine Corps Community Services in Beaufort offers programs and workshops to teach couples conflict management, problem-solving and communication skills.

Still, Hruska said it's incumbent uponservice members to get the help they need because the programs offered by the military are not mandatory.

"The military facilitates all of these programs. I mean, there's no shortage of opportunities here, but this isn't a lawful order," she said. "You can't force anyone to participate in these programs."

Comparing divorce rates among the military with civilian divorce rates is difficult because there is no comparable system for tracking those statistics among civilians, the Pentagon said.

  Comments  

Videos

Video shows river otter swimming, playing in Bluffton pond. It even caught its lunch

Solicitor says why deputies won’t be charged in death of Beaufort County man

View More Video

Trending Stories

Services set for Laura Von Harten, former Beaufort County Council member, who died at 54

February 14, 2019 09:34 AM

‘A tragedy, not a crime,’ solicitor says of Beaufort Co. man’s death. Family disagrees

February 14, 2019 04:12 PM

Top-ranked Port Royal restaurant closes 4 years after opening. Building listed for sale

February 15, 2019 12:22 PM

Be my Valentine? Lady’s Island photographer captures alligator giving turtle a ‘kiss’

February 14, 2019 11:33 AM

Bluffton students face drug charges after administrator sees them exchange cash, police say

February 14, 2019 04:01 PM

Read Next

Death Notices

Hazel DeBerry

Hazel Pinckney DeBerry, 69, of Beaufort and native of Lobeco,died Friday at Beaufort Memorial Hospital.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Island Packet

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE LOCAL

Death Notices

Gray Tomlinson

February 15, 2019 04:50 PM

Death Notices

Guy Claxton

February 15, 2019 04:47 PM

Death Notices

Joseph Gardner, Jr.

February 15, 2019 04:44 PM

Death Notices

Malik Spencer

February 15, 2019 04:41 PM
More Hilton Head power lines will be invisible by 2020. But will your electric bill go up?

Local

More Hilton Head power lines will be invisible by 2020. But will your electric bill go up?

February 15, 2019 01:07 PM
Beaufort County EMS driver was speeding, didn’t brake before fatal crash, lawsuit says

Crime & Public Safety

Beaufort County EMS driver was speeding, didn’t brake before fatal crash, lawsuit says

February 15, 2019 03:54 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Hilton Head Island Packet App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Photo Store
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Information
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • Special Sections
  • Place an Obituary
  • Today's Circulars
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story