There are currently 1.2 million military children of active duty members worldwide

Approximately two million military children have experienced a parental deployment since 2001

The repeated and extended separations and increased hazards of deployment compound stressors in military children's lives

One study found that rates of anxiety among military children—as well as emotional and behavioral difficulties—are higher than the national averages, and that longer periods of parental deployment exacerbated these challenges

The average military family moves three times more often than their civilian counterpart.

The repeated and extended separations and increased hazards of deployment compound stressors in military children's lives

It is not uncommon to see kids who have grown up in military families who have been in 5, 7 or 9 different schools by the end of their high school career. There is very high mobility. With high mobility come issues of engagement, disengagement and reengagement. These are stressful for kids

One third of school-age military children show psychosocial behaviors such as being anxious, worrying often, crying more frequently.

Coming into a school at a time of the year when most people don’t come into schools – at the middle of a term, for example – is also very challenging for kids.

A child who has a parent in the Reserves, for example, may be in a school where there are no other children whose parents are deployed. That child may feel extremely isolated

State graduation requirements, such as "you can’t graduate unless you take fill-in-the-blank course," can preclude a student who enters the school in the middle of their senior year from graduating

According to research, military teens need people in their community to know what they’re going through

The majority of military families are healthy and coping well with the challenges of deployment.

Being a military kid teaches you to be strong.”

Strength, perseverance, and sacrifice are words we associate with our troops. And these are the same traits we see in military teens. They send care packages to their military parents when they are fighting overseas. They take on new tasks when situations change in their families. They grow up with a sense of community and service to country.

Celebrate the Month of the Military Child in April. A month of celebration in recognition of the children of service members for the daily sacrifices they make in supporting their military loved ones.

References and Resourceshttp://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=9554

National Military Family Association RAND Study: What-Teens-Want-You-To-Know

http://www.militaryfamily.org