# Are there no more "warbrides" in the US military? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-no-more-warbrides-in-the-us-military/623667 "2012-05-31T16:20:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-no-more-warbrides-in-the-us-military/623667/41 "2012-06-03T12:32:07Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Hate speech alert. You do not have a clue about what you are talking about. Please confine your opinions to MSDNC which no one pays any attention to I don’t think hate speech means what you think it means. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-no-more-warbrides-in-the-us-military/623667/42 "2012-06-03T14:58:29Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > There might be hardly any Afghanistani/Iraqi brides, but a good number of soldiers still marry German, Italian, and Korean woman. I think the rules in Afghanistan/Iraq are just a lot stricter. I know a handful of couples who met when both partners were working at the embassy or in an office or in some other professional capacity. According to one couple I interviewed, their relationship was treated no differently than any other office romance. (He was obviously American and his wife was a Bolivian citizen; they met when they were both working at the American embassy in a third country. She became an American citizen after they married.) So it does happen, but not in the way most people assume. > [@](#): > > I’m also skeptical that it’s a matter of soldiers marrying later, or being more cautious, or more mature, or whatever. I work on an Army base, and have been surprised at how many very young soldiers are married. IMObservation, a lot of these young soldiers are married to their high school sweethearts, and a fair number of these marriages do not survive because the spouse is unprepared for the stress of military life, and/or both partners aren’t really mature enough for marriage. Or there’s an unintended pregnancy that makes marriage desirable. > [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Hate speech alert. You do not have a clue about what you are talking about. Please confine your opinions to MSDNC which no one pays any attention to Assuming you’re talking about military sexual trauma (you weren’t clear on what you were reacting to), I disagree with you. Quite strongly, in fact. According to the DoD, 60% of servicewomen have experienced some form of military sexual trauma, which is the umbrella term that includes harassment, assault, and rape. ([Cite.](http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/336/fact-check-military-sexual-trauma.html) The link to the DoD report is dead, but PBS is a trustworthy source.) A lot of it is that, in some branches and some units, there is a culture of misogyny that allows – and in some cases, encourages – this kind of behavior. Additionally, these units often discourage victims from reporting the harassment/assault. It’s also a problem the DoD and VA aren’t very keen on talking about, so the numbers in the link may be off. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-no-more-warbrides-in-the-us-military/623667/43 "2012-06-03T15:10:10Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Hate speech alert. You do not have a clue about what you are talking about. Nonsense. The widespread sexual abuse of female soldiers by male soldiers in the American military is a real and serious problem. Nor is pointing it out “hate speech” - but vilifying those who mention the problem like you are trying to do to me is quite common. I recall [this recent CNN story](http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/14/health/military-sexual-assaults-personality-disorder/index.html) on the pattern of the military trying to discredit sexual assault victims by declaring them mentally unstable and discharging them if they report the assault. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-no-more-warbrides-in-the-us-military/623667/44 "2012-06-05T18:50:53Z")
Bringing home a warbride works better if you don’t happen to be[married](http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/06/army-colonel-james-johnson-iii-bigamy-fraud-adultery-charges-060512w/)already. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-no-more-warbrides-in-the-us-military/623667/45 "2012-06-05T20:43:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Bringing home a warbride works better if you don’t happen to be[married](http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/06/army-colonel-james-johnson-iii-bigamy-fraud-adultery-charges-060512w/)already. That guy looks very familiar ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-no-more-warbrides-in-the-us-military/623667/46 "2012-06-05T23:09:38Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > During my first deployment (to a non-combat zone) married couples weren’t allowed to live together or have conjugal visits. Not live together I can understand… the other part not so much. What on earth could justify that restriction? > [@](#): > > My next deployment to Iraq married couples were put in the same CHUs on the FOB. And no one cared about relationships as long as neither were married… Or presumably married to each other. 😉 > [@](#): > > …and they were of equal rank and out of each others chain of command. Just out of curiosity, how “equal” is equal? As in officers / non-coms / privates, or as in “Honey, we can’t any more, my promotion from E-5 to E-6 just came through”? And did the rank (and chain of command) restriction apply to married couples? (And/or are married couples never in the same COC?) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-no-more-warbrides-in-the-us-military/623667/47 "2012-06-06T04:23:21Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > Not live together I can understand… the other part not so much. What on earth could justify that restriction?.. My WAG is that you’d have to provide a private space in which to have “conjual visits” (since neither sex is allowed in the other’s living quarters), and it could cause resentment from the other personel who don’t have their spouses present. ---
**Author:** ![cynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@cynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cynyc)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-no-more-warbrides-in-the-us-military/623667/48 "2012-06-08T06:24:42Z")
Perk! Oh please PM me whoever brought up the highlighted below!!! > [@MsRobyn](#): > > Assuming you’re talking about military sexual trauma (you weren’t clear on what you were reacting to), I disagree with you. Quite strongly, in fact. According to the DoD, 60% of servicewomen have experienced some form of **military sexual trauma** , which is the umbrella term that includes harassment, assault, and rape. ([Cite.](http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/336/fact-check-military-sexual-trauma.html) The link to the DoD report is dead, but PBS is a trustworthy source.) A lot of it is that, in some branches and some units, there is a culture of misogyny that allows – and in some cases, encourages – this kind of behavior. Additionally, these units often discourage victims from reporting the harassment/assault. It’s also a problem the DoD and VA aren’t very keen on talking about, so the numbers in the link may be off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-no-more-warbrides-in-the-us-military/623667.md?page=2)