An army may march on its stomach but deployed soldiers will stay focused in the field when they know their families are being cared for at home.
When it comes to the front-line warfighters stationed on forward-deployed United States military bases and ships, concerns about financial and family health issues can be a subtle, but systemic, threat to force readiness.
Those strains can manifest in suicides, such as seven self-induced deaths by enlisted men aboard USS George Washington between April 2021 and April 2022, to poor dependent access and inadequate healthcare on military bases that can cause distractions in the field and shortfalls in retaining high-performing leaders….