We have FT. Wainwright, and Eielson AFB here where we live. My wife and I see and interact with soldiers daily. Fairbanks is a Military town. After each deployment we see young wives that have just been married leaving to go back home to Mama, or we see them out working and getting hit on by the soldiers still here. It's hard for them, being alone their new husband that they really don't know yet being gone. A lot don't make it till he gets back, they start divorce proceedings while he is still over there. Many that do stay married till hubby get back, now has to get used to a person they don't know. Also the stress of war is not easy on the returning men, that aggravites the situation. The divorce rate gets another sharp increase. Things happen, stress, uncertainty, moral issues, health issues, even death. Sometimes it's better to wait. If she does not wait she was not worth it anyway.
Bad situtaion that I see too much of, young couple get married, then he leaves. Two weeks later she discovers she is pregnate. She carries, and has the baby while he is gone. She resents the fact he was not there to help or understand what she is going through. She is having to deal with army doctors, and services that are alien to her. She grows to resent the military. Then he comes home. They really don't know each other, she has changed, she is no longer the young innocent thing he married and left behind. He is also changed, he is not the soft caring person she married. He is harder now, less understanding, less forgiving, and with a quicker temper that he has a hard time controling. They start arguing more often, and more severe, then one night one of them crosses the line and gets violent. If he hits her in aggression or defense, and it gets reported, his carreer is over. She gets a divorce and goes home to Mama. He is discharged and sent packing. And it's hard to get a job with an other-than- honorable discharge.
