Military Divorces on the Rise
With the ongoing war in Iraq in its sixth year, and many soldiers from the U.S. military on their third or fourth combat tours, the divorce rate among military personnel is soaring.
According to David Smith of The Guardian, last year, there were approximately 8,700 divorces that involved American soldiers, in comparison to 2001 when there were an estimated 5,500.
According to James Pritchard, a chaplain at Loyalty Base in east Baghdad, since the beginning of the year, he had 38 soldiers referred to him to discuss marital issues. He estimated that 10 of them told him that they had discovered or found evidence that their spouse was leaving them or seeing another person.
Pritchard said that marital problems are a big issue, particularly among younger soldiers who have wed a person they have not known long. He notes that suddenly spouses States side find that they have extra income, and the “spouse at home” lifestyle is convenient for extra-marital affairs. Pritchard says that there have even been instances of soldiers going home to find the house empty with the spouse and kids gone.
Original Source: PressTV, June 2, 2008
