I sure hope this is the right place to put this but I need some advice/information on any studies conducted or being conducted on the effects of multiple deployments on our spouses and children. Here's my situation.
I have been deployed since Dec to OEF this time. Been to OIF twice already. Through the first 2 deployments my family went through what I consider fairly normal problems that all families generaly went through. However this deployment has been different.
Fact one is that my kids which I have 3 all got older as the deployments went by and we dealt with the differing problems but now I sit in a delimma where I have a son,13, who became very aggressive in my home to the point that we sought help and he was hospitalized. I was sent home on emergancy leave to assess the situation. Upon arriving home I found out that he had actually assaulted both my younger son and my wife which led to his being hospitalized. Of course at this point my whole family base is in shambles basically in a domestic abuse type scenario. We went to counseling and was told that my being available for at least a month would greatly enhance the ability of the therapist to assess and help us get the family base back on track. I forwarded all this information through the chain of command and was granted an extension of 15 days but that was it and was told to return to Afghanistan. That is the cut and dry version of the situation. I am back in Afghanistan now. I have been trying to figure out what changed so dramatically as to cause this breakdown in my family. The only conclusion I can come up with at this point is that the families of deployed soldiers are feeling the effects of multiple deployments, seeking mental health is still so taboo that many still don't use it. All the research I have found is based on the soldiers and that is great being a multiple deployer I can attest that it does seem to change the more times I deploy. With the Armed Forces as a whole claiming that the families are just as big a part of this as the soldiers which is more true than anyone has assessed that I know of, shouldn't there also be research and solutions found for our multiple deployment family members as well. If there is information out there I would appreciate the point in the right direction as I am at wits end with how to show this chain that my family deserves no less of me than they expect of me to give my soldiers, when I've had soldiers threaten suicide or go violent I've dedicated many hours of time in getting them to therapy or wherever they needed to get to with the full support of the chain until that soldier was deemed fit for duty why should my wife and children be relegated to less dedication.

I think this is the wrong place. There is a spouses forum. These forums can be found here
Military Life, Spouses and Community