[djmcmath]

I see single mothers (and fathers) come through my facility pretty routinely. As "primary caregiver," they are ultimately responsible, but are required to have a backup caregiver when they deploy. Traditionally, the "backup" is the other parent, but that isn't always possible these days. (Somehow, John 5:5 comes to mind, "Do you want to get well?" Don't know why.) So backups end up being high-priced nannies, grandmothers, friendly neighbors, etc. (Sometimes the backup caregiver molests the children -- I've only seen that a few times in the last year or so.)

If, for some reason, the backup fails, then the single parent is recalled from deployment. They are generally given a reasonable opportunity to find alternate care for their child. If reasonable care cannot be found, the parent is then separated under MILPERSMAN 1910, using a chapter with a title like "Convenience of the Government, unable to comply with parental care certificate." I don't remember the article number off the top of my head.

The only real provision made for dual-military families is co-location, in which the detailer attempts ("attempts: tries to succeed, but does not guarantee success") to produce orders for both members in the same geographic region ("geographic region: within 3 hours drive, give or take").


(shrug) Bummer of a deal, in some cases. Some people use it as an excuse to get out, others are disappointed.

Dan