1、InvisibleWomenInvisibleWomenJunior Enlisted Army WivesMARGARET C. HARRELLRRAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis. RANDis a registered trademark.RANDs publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of itsresearch s
2、ponsors.Cover design by Eileen Delson La Russo Copyright 2000 RANDAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form byany electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, orinformation storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from RAND.Published 20
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4、errand.orgLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataHarrell, Margaret C.Invisible women : junior enlisted Army wives / Margaret C. Harrell.p. cm.“MR-1223”Includes bibliographical references.ISBN 0-8330-2880-41. Army spousesUnited StatesInterviews. 2. United States. ArmyMilitarylife. I. Title
5、: Junior enlisted Army wives. II. Title.U766 .H32 2000355.1086550973dc2100-055264vContentsTables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixPreface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiAcknowledgments
6、. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiiiCHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Background of the Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Why the Army?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7、. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2A Word About Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Selection and Description of Research Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Ft. Stewart, Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Ft. Drum,
8、New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Selection of a Unit at the Research Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Spouse Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Selecting and Interviewing Spouses. . . . . . . . . . . .
9、 . . . . . . . . . . . 11Organization of This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13CHAPTER 2DANAS STORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Her Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Rela
10、tionship with Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Family Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Financial Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Career Ambition and Current Wor
11、k. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29His Future in the Military . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Family Support Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12、 . . . . 32Rank Among the Spouses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Army Policy on Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34vi INVISIBLE WOMEN: JUNIOR ENLISTED ARMY WIVESHousing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13、. . . . . . . . . 35Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Household Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Her Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37CHAPTER 3
14、JENNIFERS STORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Her Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39A New Army Wife. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Their Relationship. . . . . . . . . .
15、 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Friendships and Family Support Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Her Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Financial Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
16、. . . . . . . 48Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Parenting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Her Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52CHAPTER 4
17、TONIS STORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Her Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Their Relationship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Why He Joined the Army . . . .
18、. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Off to Basic Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Welcome to Ft. Stewart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Finding a Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19、. . . . . . . . 61Getting Busted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Financial Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Her Pregnancies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Family
20、Relationship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Her Friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Problems in the Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Family Support Group. . . . . . . .
21、. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87She Has an Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Her Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97CONTENTS viiCHAPTER 5CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
22、 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Overview of Danas Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Overview of Jennifers Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Overview of Tonis Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Stereotypical Women
23、? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113ixTables2.1. Danas Typical Monthly Pay Statemen
24、t. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202.2. Danas Monthy Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233.1. Jennifers Typical Monthly Pay Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . 493.2. Jennifers Monthly Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494.1. Tonis Typical Monthly Pay Statem
25、ent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674.2. Tonis Monthly Bills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67xiPrefaceIn the best of circumstances, military manpower policy is craftedby policymakers with input from military personnel managers, ana-lysts, and military leadership with an in-dep
26、th understanding of thelife experiences and views of junior enlisted personnel. It is plausibleto expect that some policymakers attribute the attitudes and experi-ences of these young soldiers to particular features, such as youth orlack of advanced education, and thus believe themselves able toempa
27、thize with this population group by recalling their own parallellife experiences. However, this approach oversimplifies the life expe-riences of these families and neglects the reality that most policy-makers and professional managers have never experienced the com-pendium of problems these couples
28、face, such as youth, lack ofeducation, financial difficulties, emotional and physical distance fromextended family, and invisibility in a large bureaucracy.At the center of this book are the personal stories of three juniorenlisted spouses, told in their own voices and selected to emphasizethe dilem
29、mas numerous enlisted families face. The stories provideinsight into the experiences and attitudes of some junior enlisted fam-ilies. Those who live a military lifestyleat any pay gradewill findthese stories both useful and engaging. Some junior enlisted person-nel and their spouses will recognize t
30、hemselves in these stories, andothers in the military community will gain a better understanding ofproblems they may have seen. Additionally, these insights help pro-vide some human context for official statistics and should be of inter-est to the military leadership; personnel managers; analysts; a
31、nd pol-icymakers involved in the recruiting, retention, and management ofjunior enlisted personnel and their families, as well as to Congressand the media.xii INVISIBLE WOMEN: JUNIOR ENLISTED ARMY WIVESThese stories were excerpted from a long series of interviews con-ducted during research for a dis
32、sertation that addressed the roles andexperiences of Army spouses. This research included 105 recordedand transcribed interviews with military spouses, as well as less for-mal interviews and discussions with military personnel, spouses, andother individuals in the military community. The author also
33、 spokewith numerous other spouses and soldiers during Enlisted SpousesClub meetings, Officers Spouses Club meetings, visits to Army Com-munity Services facilities, and various other gatherings. This researchalso included an extensive review of the archives of local military andcivilian newspapers.Th
34、e dissertation research was supported in part by the Universityof Virginias Center for Children, Families, and the Law; the NationalScience Foundation; RAND; and the Forces and Resources PolicyCenter of RANDs National Defense Research Institute, a federallyfunded research and development center spon
35、sored by the Office ofthe Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Commands, andthe defense agencies. While the research was not part of a RANDproject and was not funded through the Department of Defense, theArmy officially acknowledged it and enabled it to occur. At each ofthe research lo
36、cations, the author was formally acknowledged by thelocal military leadership and was approved for interviews and dis-cussions with military personnel, civilian Department of Defenseemployees, and military dependents. While the research was not partof a RAND project and was not funded through the De
37、partment ofDefense, the Army facilitated the interviews and discussions with mil-itary personnel, civilian Department of Defense employees, and mili-tary dependents.xiiiAcknowledgmentsI found the local support and endorsement of commanders atFt. Stewart, Georgia, and at Ft. Drum, New York, as well a
38、s the assis-tance of personnel from Army Community Services and others atthese installations invaluable to this research.Like many ethnographic works, this product resulted from can-did conversations with the women featured in this work, as well aswith many other Army spouses, Army officers, and pro
39、fessionalswho work in the Army and local civilian communities. Although con-fidentiality precludes the mention of these individuals by name, Ideeply appreciate the time they spent with me and the positive atti-tude they showed toward this research. Most of the interviews withArmy spouses were conduc
40、ted in their homes, and many of thesespouses both welcomed and befriended me.This work benefited from the involvement of my academic com-mittee members from the University of Virginia, professors SusanMcKinnon (Anthropology), Peter Metcalf (Anthropology), CharlesPerdue (Anthropology), and Sharon Hay
41、s (Sociology), as well asfrom the extremely constructive review by Professor Laura Miller(Sociology), University of California at Los Angeles. The support and encouragement of RAND colleagues SusanHosek, former Program Director, Forces and Resources Policy Cen-ter, and her successor, Susan Everingha
42、m, were also very important tothis work. Jerry Sollinger contributed the title and helped to developthis piece from a chapter of an academic dissertation. Jennifer Sloanprovided helpful comments in the initial compilation of the tran-scribed material, and Shirley Lithgow painstakingly transcribed th
43、einterviews conducted. The cover is the work of Eileen LaRusso andJohn Warren, and the entire document benefited from the adminis-xiv INVISIBLE WOMEN: JUNIOR ENLISTED ARMY WIVEStrative assistance of Hjordis Blanchard. Finally, Phyllis Gilmoreedited the book and prepared it for publication.Additional
44、ly, Pamela Stevens transcribed many of the spouseinterviews and Margaret L. M. Cecchine reviewed an early versionof the transcribed material.The field research for this work was made possible, in part, by adissertation seed grant from the Center for Children, Families, andthe Law, University of Virg
45、inia, and a dissertation research grantfrom the National Science Foundation.Finally, my love and thanks to Mike and Clay, who encouragedthis work and tolerated my absence from home for so many weeks,and to Tommie, whose arrival was effective motivation.1Chapter 1IntroductionThis book differs markedl
46、y from what many think of as a typicalRAND reporta heavily quantitative analysis of a public policyissue. Rather, this document tells a storythree stories, actuallyofwhat it is like to be the wife of a junior enlisted soldier in todays U.S.Army. Most unusually for RAND, the book tells this story lar
47、gely byusing the words of three young women who are married to juniorenlisted soldiers.This story is important for those charged with crafting personnelpolicy for the military services to hear. Taken together, these narra-tives open a window into the lives of young enlisted families that pol-icymake
48、rs rarely, if ever, have an opportunity to peer through.Although told by individuals and highly personal, these storiesextend beyond the three women who tell them. The problems theyface, their perceptions (and misperceptions) of the Army, and the con-cerns they have both make for compelling reading
49、and bring an indis-pensable human dimension to the need for, and effects of, policy ona very important segment of the group that the policies are intendedto serve.Background of the ResearchThese stories are excerpted from a dissertation regarding theexpectations for and roles of U.S. Army spouses. That researchinvolved taped and transcribed interviews with over one hundredArmy spouses, as well as extensive discussions and time spent withArmy personnel and civilians who work in the Army community.2 INVISIBLE WOMEN: JUNIOR ENLISTED ARMY WIVESWhy the Army?To reduc
