BELL COUNTY — Military spouses commit to a life of sacrifice over self. It is an important role in supporting our country, but it is far from easy. A new study shows that nearly 56% of Army spouses are feeling stressed, overwhelmed and tired.
“The military life does come with stress. It does come with a lot of change. If you have something planned, it's probably going to be something different later,” said Jule Moser, an Army spouse.
Moser is familiar with the pressures of being an Army wife. When she read the study, she said she could easily identify.
“We have learned over time, for us as a more veteran type family, of taking a step, taking a breather, and saying, "What is it that we can control?" Which is not the Army. What is it that we can make change now?” explained Moser.
The survey breaks down several categories that Army spouses identify as problems: military practices and culture, work-life balance, household management, money and legal problems, health care, relationship problems, family’s well-being, and their own health.
Overall, spouses said that their biggest stress factors were finding a work-life balance and the military practices and culture.
Almost all Army spouses, about 90%, said they took advantage of resources available, but nearly one third said they still had unmet needs.
“I always think there is always more to support military spouses. I mean, in an ideal world, what we would probably want is our soldiers to be home. Soldiers to not have to deploy, but that is not realistically going to happen. We did sign up for this as well, too. So what is it we can do to support our spouses is to empower each other,” said Moser.
For more information on military spouse support, click here.
