HIS300CHILDHOOD1: TOPIC STATEMENT [PAPER-IN-PROGRESS]

SEAN P. CORCORAN
HIS 300 – INTRODUCTION TO HISTORICAL METHOD
OCTOBER 6, 2004

TYPEPAD POST #5 – TOPIC STATEMENT [PAPER-IN-PROGRESS]

“MILITARY BRATS”
Growing up in a Different World

by: Sean P. Corcoran

Over the past twenty-five years, our nation's military presence and diplomatic efforts in the world have intensified, and have become increasingly more important to our nation’s security. As a result, members of our armed forces, and their families, have been serving and living all over the world in greater numbers, as they protect our nation’s interests around the globe. Most military families move from country to country, from base to base, every few years, and many live abroad for over ten years without returning to the United States. As a former “State Department brat” who traveled the world and lived overseas (in eleven different countries over eighteen years) during my childhood, I am writing my research paper on how the childhood of “military brats” has been affected by the plight of the military family living abroad. In this paper I will cover both the positive and negative experiences of “military brats” living abroad, as I discuss a wide range of topics such as family life, personal relationships and friendships, adapting to different cultures, education (both formal education and personal education), social issues (alcohol and drug abuse, sex, and child abuse), assistance by peer groups (both civilian and military support groups) and re-adjustment (culture shock) upon returning stateside. As I analyze and discuss each topic, I will also compare these topics, and their issues, with the positive and negative experiences that I, and my siblings (one sister and two brothers), experienced while living abroad during our childhoods.

The world as we know it is defined by our personal experiences. Every experience in life accumulates and we use them to analyze, draw conclusions about, and form judgments of the world we live in. How an individual sees the world around them is different than that of the person standing next to them. Before discussing the experiences that affected “military brats” living abroad and how they affected their childhoods, I must first attempt to answer the question - What is a “military brat”? Ask this question to a group of “military brats” and each one would provide you with a different answer. Based on the extensive research I have done, a “military brat” can best be defined as an individual who (as a child) has spent a significant part of their developmental years (their childhood) in another culture (whether in a different state in the United States or in a different country abroad), as they follow their parent’s military career(s) across the globe. In an article for The Gateway, the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Student Newspaper, Crystal R. Reid describes her life as a military dependent in this statement – “I am a military brat by the purest definition: I learned to walk on the cobblestones of a small town in the Philippines, learned to ramble in the deep forests of Bavarian Germany, saw my first whale off the coast of Monterey, California. I landed my first job in a boutique on the corner streets of Cambridge, England and downed my first beer in the Seven Wives Pub in St. Ives, England. I've been to 15 different state fairs, as many elementary schools, one junior high school and three different high schools …” (Reid). As you can see from this example, “military brats” (military dependents) grow up and experience a different world compared to their civilian counterparts. Being a child raised in today’s society is tough, but being a child raised in a military family is even tougher. When a parent serves in the military, it isn't just a job - it is a lifestyle, where a parent’s devotion to military duty dictates the life of the family, and has a direct influence on the lives of their children.

TOPICS TO BE COVERED:

ROOTLESSNESS

·The sense of not belonging – “homeless”
·Loss of friendships and relationships (Letters, phone and email)
·Not feeling part of something – “absence of an identity”
·Emotional loss to a community (a way of life)
·Resistance to change
·Creation of Nomadic lifestyle (adjusting to constant change)

LONELINESS

·Frequent relocations – changing addresses every 2-3 years
·Loss of friends (and pets) – no lifetime (long-term) friendships
·“Orphan”
·Absent parents (physically and emotionally)
·No extended family
·Use of defense mechanisms

MILITARY DEPENDENT

·The “family” – moving as a unit
·Different culture, different challenges – overcoming challenges as a unit
·Family support and closeness out of necessity

·Childhood boundaries vs. parental boundaries (the mixing of the two)
·Mutual dependency – caring for the family

·Military upbringing – rules and regulations (discipline)
·Hard work and “controlling” (borderline oppression)

CULTURES

·Interaction, acceptance, and tolerance of other cultures
·Relationships with “cultural caregivers”
·Life experiences
·Introduction to diversity
·Ignorance vs. Innocence

ISSUES

·Alcohol and drug abuse (addiction)
·Experimentation
·Teenage Sex – teenage pregnancy
·Rage and anger – Depression
·Child abuse – emotional and physical abuse (feelings of “neglect”)
·Experience the “vices” – prostitution, gambling, nightlife
·Parent divorce and separation

READJUSTMENT/CULTURE SHOCK

·America – a different country
·Culture
·Fashion
·Life experiences

ADULTHOOD - SENSE OF SELF

·Identity – “Who am I?”
·Personality characteristics
·Handicapped by life experiences
·Control – without choice
·Commitment – relationships, jobs, community

ASSISTANCE

·Military support groups
·Post assistance
·Peer assistance

·Youth groups and activities

·Websites
·Discussion groups
·Books and Magazines

HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD

·Affects on childhood
·Relation to childhood in America vs. childhood abroad

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TOPIC STATEMENT [PAPER-IN-PROGRESS]

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