Looking Back on Life in Military Families: Lessons from Those with Troubled Civilian Outcomes

This paper presents the results of my ongoing doctoral study that longitudinally examines the lives of UK military personnel and their families. Individual, in-depth qualitative interviews have been undertaken, inviting military veterans, and the families of military veterans, to reflect on their experiences of life as part of a military family. It is interested in understanding intimate relationships over time, both whilst serving and following transition to the civilian realm. From a sociological lens the analysis considers the nature of familial support needs in a relatively unique, and rarely researched, context.The families taking part in the research are those connected to military veterans who have been involved in the UK criminal justice system since their military service ended. Whilst veteran offenders have been the subjects of some research, as are other military veterans with readily identifiable problematic civilian outcomes (eg homelessness, substance misuse etc) research to understand the experiences of their families in this limited context is noteworthy by its absence. This is a significant oversight. Families and the military are both regarded as ‘greedy institutions’ that make excessive and often competing demands on those within them (see Segal, M.W.,1986) With the benefit of hindsight, family members in this study reflect on the ways in which support has been structured, sought and assembled during military service, and the impact of this on their lives in and also beyond military service. Given the problematic civilian outcome, aspects of military family support are thrown into relief and there are lessons for Defence and support organisations in this. Further, the impact of social class (often related to service), is shown to be significant. Utilising Bourdieu’s concepts of both habitus and capitals, the study reveals how transformation in individual and familial resourcing over time, influence success in identifying and accessing appropriate support needs.