Deployment Experiences of Guard and Reserve Families. Implications for Support and Retention
Abstract
The nation's reliance on the Reserve Component, which includes the Army National Guard, Air National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Marine Forces Reserve, and Coast Guard Reserve, has steadily increased since the first Gulf War in 1990-1991. Over 550,000 reserve component members have been deployed to Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, and these guardsmen and reservists represent almost 30 percent of all deployments. This increased dependence on the Reserve Component has implications for reserve families. Although some research has examined the effect of deployment on service members and their families, such research has focused almost exclusively on the Active Component. Because reserve component counterparts demographically, such research may have only limited applicability to reserve component families. For example, reserve component personnel tend to be older than their active component counterparts, and a greater proportion of the Reserve Component is female. Further, guard and reserve families tend to be more geographically dispersed, which may have important implications for how best to support them.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA492576
Entities
People
- Danielle M. Varda
- Kimberly Curry Hall
- Laura Werber Castaneda
- Margaret C. Harrell
- Megan K. Beckett
- Stefanie Stern
Organizations
- RAND Corporation