During my first week in the army, we sat down with our group leaders. They ask us to introduce ourself and tell them why we had chosen to sign up to the all-volunteer army. I felt very much put on the spot and said something about learning and personal growth. My comrades said things like looking for adventure, getting an education, support for the family and lack of better options. Supposedly that are the kind of answers you would expect. But when I got to know my comrades during training, I learned that there is often a different reason that we didn’t tell our superiors when asked.
In a cleaver approach scientists used date acquired by The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in 2010 (pdf). The BFRSS is an annual telephone survey that was first established in the U.S. in 1984. It provides a large sample size (more then 60 000) and is less biased since it is not commissioned by the military. They analyzed the 11 questions on Adverse Childhood Experience (e.g., domestic violence, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse) ask in the BFRSS. The results show clearly that men that were in the military are more likely to have been abused as children (1). One explanation for this finding is that joining the military is a way to escape a dysfunctional home asap. The army provides you with accommodation, food, health insurance and pay. In short anything you need to never have to call your parents again.
They didn’t find a difference in Adverse Childhood Experience in women with a history in the military. Maybe women don’t see the military as a save space since it is mainly made up by men. However, a different study asked more detailed questions regarding Child Sexual Abuse. They too found that the same amount of women, military service (49%) or not (43%), had experienced Child Sexual Abuse. But, for women with a history in the military the abuse had been more frequently, lasted longer and most significantly the perpetrator had been a parental figure in 91% of cases (10% in non-military) (2). Some view the military and the camaraderie as a surrogate family. Well, if this many women in the military grew up with a sexual predator in the family, it is indeed an upgrade to view the army as family.
When I tell people I was in the army, they often soon forget because it seems so „unlike“ me. On the surface I might look like it, a wallflower, an academic but beneath it all there is the abuse. Today I come to realize that my life choices were guided by my abused subconscious are not strange at all. In fact, I am actually very typical given my life experience.
