Spc. Deon Harris from the 3rd Infantry Division spends time with his family before deploying to Europe from Fort Stewart, Ga., in June 2023. The latest Blue Star Families annual survey of military life saw 32% of those polled choose “likely” in a question about willingness to recommend the military to family. That continues a decline from a high of 55% in 2016. (Jason Hull/U.S. Army)
Military families are growing increasingly unlikely to recommend an armed forces career to loved ones, with fewer than one-third of respondents in the largest annual survey of military life saying they would do so.
Blue Star Families this week released the 2023 Military Family Lifestyle Survey, which saw only 32% of participants answer “likely” to a question about how keen they are on recommending service in the armed forces to a family member. That compares with 55% in the 2016 survey.
A roughly equal number, 31% responded that they are unlikely to recommend military service, and the report did not say how the remaining third answered. The poll captured responses from more than 7,400 people worldwide, including active-duty military personnel, National Guard and Reserve members, veterans and their families. It was conducted from May to July 2023.
Factors driving the decline include quality-of-life issues and financial hardships, according to respondents. For military spouses, employment was the biggest concern for the seventh consecutive year.
It also is one of the primary worries for active-duty service members, according to the survey. The lack of affordable child care, difficulty accessing military health care and relocation challenges also were cited by families as concerns.
Reversing the downward trend in willingness to recommend the military is crucial, particularly amid ongoing recruitment shortfalls, because “military families are the best ambassadors of the military lifestyle,” the survey said.
Respondents were asked to select up to five military life issues that most concern them right now. The top concern of 53% of active-duty spouses was employment, followed by military pay at 38%. In the 2022 survey, 50% of military spouses cited employment as their top concern.
About 22% of active-duty spouse respondents said they are unemployed, a rate five to six times greater than that of their civilian counterparts without a military connection, according to the survey.
For service members, 46% selected time away from family as their top issue, with pay coming in next at 40%.
“Record-high U.S. inflation rates in the past two years have increased the need for two incomes for most American families, but military families still face tough barriers to obtaining two incomes,” the survey states.
Those obstacles include the high cost and scarcity of child care, and the frequent disruption of spouse employment and child care arrangements by military relocations.
The survey found that only 20% of spouses who need someone to look after their kids during work hours use base child care centers and only 5% use base-certified family care providers.
Despite recent increases in military housing assistance, affordability continues to be a challenge because of the frequency of relocation and limited ability to decide where and when to relocate, the survey found.
Almost three-quarters, 73%, of active-duty family respondents who live in civilian housing, regardless of ownership status, pay well over $200 per month in housing costs out of pocket, despite service housing allowances, according to the survey.
That figure, however, is the lowest since 2020, an indication that recent policies aimed at addressing out-of-pocket costs are having positive effects, the survey said.
To read the full survey report, go to https://bluestarfam.org.
