WASHINGTON, 24 August — Some people find the term, “military brat” offensive, but not the “military brats” I’ve met. And I’m married to a military brat.
Mary Edwards Wertsch, author of “Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress,” say military brats see themselves as having special values — they consider themselves to be idealistic, anti-racist, loyal, patriotic and honest.
The military is more than a lifestyle, it’s a culture with its own norms and values, says Wertsch. The book’s title uses fortress, she says, with a capital “F,” because their culture includes togetherness within and a separation from civilian America.
It’s the military’s demand for readiness that sets it, and its people, apart from civilian America, she says. The author calls the “all-powerful military mission” the “unseen member of the family.”
The military mission calls all the shots. “It tells the family where and when it’s going to move, what the conditions are going to be and whether the father or mother is going away and for how long,” Wertsch says.
“The military is not a democracy or an ‘anything goes’ environment, which sets it apart from civilian America. The military works on the principle of authority because that’s the way things need to be,” she says.
This can make it difficult for children. Wertsch says the military mentality supports the authoritarian lifestyle, and so kids growing up in it have to negotiate two different worlds.
“When you’re dealing with military kids, you may be dealing with someone who comes out of a very militarized family who has to cope with a very loose civilian context in a civilian school.”
Wertsch says: “It’s an identity that supersedes almost all others. It cuts across line of gender, race and class. It shapes us our entire lives. You don’t stop being a military brat when your parents retire from service life.”
In addition, “Military brats carry an attitude that’s not just non-racist, but anti-racist,” says the author.
The life of military brats is a “mixed bag,” according to Wertsch. In some ways, they are worldly and sophisticated.”
“Military brats can also be very hard for other people to figure out. That’s because that kind of worldliness makes people think that we have a higher level of maturity that we sometimes do.”