tepintzin brought it to my attention

[desertvixen]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23884819/

In a historic but little-noticed change in policy, the Army is allowing scores of husband-and-wife soldiers to live and sleep together in the war zone — a move aimed at preserving marriages, boosting morale and perhaps bolstering re-enlistment rates at a time when the military is struggling to fill its ranks five years into the fighting.

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Opinions?

Personally, for myself, I'd rather we deployed separately so that someone is here, providing stability for MV. Also, I think I would spend a lot of time worrying about whether or not we were presenting an image that would make people jealous. I also think the no-PDA rule would be very hard.

DV

Comments

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

The more I think about it, the more I think it's a bad idea. I think it's cruel towards the people whose spouses and partners aren't Army and thus not in Iraq. I can see it as more of a morale buster than booster.

Am cross-posting this comment to my own journal.

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

I think the E-prince had the right of it.

Like I said, for the 2 of us, it would make me uncomfortable.

At the same time, we've never had the option, so I can't tell you what deploying together would be like.

DV

[domesticjulie.livejournal.com]

I think it is a lose-lose for everybody.

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

I think you're probably right...

DV

[gi-janearng.livejournal.com]

It would be nice in a perfect world, but I think in reality, it would mean living under a microscope.

On the other hand, I saw lots of married couples deploy together in the same unit but couldn't live together due to then policy. I'm sure that would be like having a carrot dangled in front of you all the time. You can see it, but you can't have it.

Sounds like it could be a crappy situation either way.

[mukhtar.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm deployed to Afghanistan right now, and we have more than one couple in the BN that are here together. They really tend to get left alone as long as they don't flaunt the fact that they get to sleep with their spouse while everyone else is suffering with "Rosey Palm" and her sisters.

The way it works here is, there are B huts for everyone, couple's B huts, and then senior ranking B huts. The common B huts are divided up into 8 "rooms" (we call them hooches) and are separated amongst male and female B huts. The command B huts are usually 1/4 to 1/2 of a B hut for BN commanders and higher or Sergeants Major. The married B huts are divided in half, with 2 couples to a B hut, divided by a wall. Decent amount of living space for a couple with all of their gear. This also provides room for a double bed (instead of the single beds in the other huts)

I think it's a good idea for those couples who are forced to deploy together. They get the chance to work out some of the stress of being deployed by being with each other, and don't have to deal with added stress of having a spouse right there and never being allowed to touch them. That's just assinine. But I agree with DV that it is better to have the couple deploy at different times if there are kids involved.