The life of an Army wife: one spouse’s perspective

Being part of the armed forces and deploying seem to go hand and hand. One of the many distinctions Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) holds is it is a non-deployable base meaning the Soldiers who are stationed here work on base providing services for the community. For example, the Soldiers working at the Veterinary Clinic provide care for the Military working dogs training at YPG and the Medical Clinic Soldiers provide services to the Soldiers and their families. The instructors for the Military Free Fall School train service members from almost every branch of the armed forces and the Soldiers who are part of the Airborne Test Force for Yuma Test Center.

For a military family being stationed at YPG can be a welcomed time of stability.

“We were really excited to come to YPG because with his previous duty station he was gone nine months out of the year, minimum” remarks Hannah an Army wife of five years who currently lives at YPG with her husband. This is the couple’s second duty station. They have been at YPG for about a year and a half and recently added a baby to the family,

“When our son was born we didn’t have to worry about ‘are you going to be deployed or if you are home will you have to leave in like two weeks?’ Which has happened to so many of my friends.”

The stability of a military career at YPG plus the tight knit small community (think kids riding their bikes to a school with a student population of less 100) is ideal for families,

“Having a baby here and having a family here…you get that time with them and I am so incredibly blessed and happy to be here in that sense.”

The YPG community is small because the installation is situated in the desert area outside the city of Yuma to accommodate for experimental testing such as long-range firing and test road courses for armored vehicles.

While all the elements together might sound like the perfect combination for military and family life… sometimes that togetherness, which some families have never experienced, can bring forward problems.

“I know spouses who were really excited to be here and have their families together really struggle. They don’t have many connections here and what was something they looked forward to now become another struggle because they feel isolated.”

Hannah she worked as a therapist and a mental health worker specializing in sex, love and relationship addiction and is a military spouse so she clearly sees the cycles families go through.

“There is a honeymoon phase when they come back from deployment, then reality starts setting in, you start getting resentful because you lived the last six months to a year without them, now they are doing things and you are like ‘that’s not how I want it done’ then they deploy again. So all the issues that were unresolved stay unresolved.”

When families who have lived this cycle over and over then come here there is no break. “You go from family members who have never spend more than a few months together to seeing each other all the time.” Hannah feels there needs to be a way to help family members cope.

At YPG there are programs families can turn to for help. The Families Over Coming Under Stress (FOCUS) program aims to help families better communicate and solve problems. The program offers its services via telecommunications.

The Family Advocacy Program a branch of the Army Community Service provides parenting classes and other services for those dealing with family turmoil and classes for new parents.

For more details on the FOCUS program call (928) 920-6738. For the Family Advocacy Program call (928) 328-3224.