Four in 10 Active-duty family believe there is less racial discrimination int he military than there is in the general U.S. society.
The community and social context lens examines how relationships can impact well-being—positively or negatively, including experiences of discrimination, sense of belonging to the unit, supports during stressful times like a deployment, and the military family lifestyle cultural competence of the local civilian community. This survey conducted by Blue Star Families indicates that service members and their families continue to perceive and experience racial discrimination, although less so in their military community than in the general U.S. society. Among active-duty family respondents who report experiencing racial discrimination in the civilian community, 45% disagree that they feel a sense of belonging to their local civilian community versus 40% of those who had not experienced racial discrimination in their civilian community.
Nearly a quarter (24%) of active-duty family respondents cite “military family quality of life” as a top concern. Families point to instability and inconsistency of daily life as the reason. While “military family quality of life” can be defined differently by respondents, the top-five themes that emerged from open-ended responses include: time with children and family (24%), frequency and difficulties of relocating (17%), OPTEMPO (16%), time away (14%), and feeling that the military does not prioritize families with unpredictable and time-intensive schedules of service members (10%). Communication from the unit/command is a top need of all currently-serving respondents in 2021. For active-duty family respondents, this is true, regardless of service branch, where they live (on or off installation), or whether they are currently separated from their service member. Additionally, nearly one-third of active-duty family respondents note child care (32%) and mental health resources (32%) are regularly needed.
National Guard and Reserve
National Guard and Reserve service members and their families report high levels of deployment activities in the last year, and many report they would recommend military service to young men and women. Most (63% of National Guard family respondents, 54% of Reserve family respondents) had experienced at least one militaryconnected separation lasting a month or longer in the past 18 months, and characterize the OPTEMPO (daily workload, deployment load, and training load) as “stressful” or “very stressful” for a healthy work/family life (59% of National Guard family respondents, 56% of Reserve family respondents). The majority of National Guard and Reserve service members also report satisfaction with their civilian job (74% of National Guard family respondents, 82% of Reserve family respondents) and civilian employer (70% of National Guard family respondents, 82% of Reserve family respondents), yet proportionally fewer report satisfaction with the career advancement opportunities their civilian employer offers (46% of National Guard family respondents, 50% of Reserve family respondents).
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