Growing numbers of American servicemen and women are married to each other — up 35 percent from 2000 to 2007 — and eight years of war that have stretched the military’s resources mean deployments for both spouses can come in rapid-fire succession.
Many of those couples have children, although the Pentagon does not track that number. For the kids, it means rarely having both parents at home simultaneously. When both are gone, or when duties keep the home partner too busy, extended families often come into play. Kids head to grandparents, aunts or other relatives, sometimes across the country.
[From The Associated Press: Military couples balance raising children, warfare]