Single Military Parents/Dual Military Parents

Many single parent soldiers are being booted out of the military. As my deployment date gets closer, I continue to hear of more and more soldiers that are being discharged of their services within the military. This is a sad and very unfortunate time for these soldiers. They will have to rely on their civilian experience and find employment and housing for their families. Losing military pay and benefits are a big deal when we are dealing with such difficult economic time.

Most of us are not told of what happens if you become a single military parent while we serve our country. As it turns out, that you must have someone that agrees to guardianship of your children for training and deployment reasons. If you fail to have this, you will lose your military career. This is so disturbing to me. I have attempted to seek help and resources for these soldiers but have came to nothing but dead ends. These soldiers deserve so much more, they are honoring and serving our country even as single parents. Their lives could be on the line but they are devoted in completing their missions but there is this block wall in their way. At this point in time there is no other resource in which can help them.

Recently a friend of mine found out that she is a few months pregnant. She is married and is dual military. Dual military is when both of the spouses are active military. She was informed that she needs a family care plan for the child or may have to leave her military career behind. She has to choose a guardian for her baby within a 50 mile radius. Neither side of this marriage has any family on this side of the country. I felt so sad to hear that this happens to dual military as well. It does make some sense to me since he is deployed and she may face training after she has the baby. However what disturbs me is the fact that she has to choose someone within a 50 mile radius. This seems unfair to me as I know that they are new to this unit and really don't know anyone well. Yet well enough to trust to keep the baby for a few weeks for training or perhaps a year for deployment.
This topic bothers me even more when I think of the program in which recruiters of the military now offer single parents in order to enlist these soldiers. This is a great opportunity for enlistment but what of the long outcome of training and deployment. I haven't received any logical explanation. A few opinions that I received from co- workers made some sense but yet I feel somehow could be overcome. Following is a few opinions in which I received on this topic:

-There is no funding

-It would take too much time and planning

-It would be too difficult to start and keep running

Expression by others of my concern in such manner makes me more determined to find a solution to this problem. I just cant believe the fact that 100's of thousands of dollars go into training a soldier but yet we cant help them in this type of situation rather than making them leave their military careers behind. These soldiers hearts are in the right places and we must help them resolve this issue. I am trying to put together a team of soldiers in which are willing to help and get a resolution started and keep it running. If we must work nights and weekends to do so, we will get it done for our single soldier parents. A lot of information, statistics and questions must be answered. I am working hard on this and have many logical solutions but don't have the resources in order to put it into thew works yet.

Any working single parent can express how hard it is to have a comfortable living environment. It is hard to make ends meet and not rely on the state system in order to help with so. These single soldiers are doing it on their own and so much more. They are helping to fight for our freedom and stand up for our rights and lives. It is so hard to believe that even with this selfless service that there is such a complex road block preventing them from continuing to do so. Being a single parent is tough and so is being a soldier. I know this from my personal experience however I do not know of being them both at once. I only can imagine, feel and see what they are going thru. So many soldiers and their children would benefit from a reasonable plan in order to keep their children safe as well as keep their career as serving our country.

Any comments or suggestions would be gratefully appreciated as I continue to help support these troops.