The Problem

Intimate partner violence is a national public health issue, resulting in devastating personal trauma and effects on our country. Intimate partner violence includes physical violence, non-consensual sexual violence (including non-physical sexual events, such as sexting), stalking, and psychological aggression.

According to the CDC, intimate partner violence in the United States is far more common than we would want to believe, impacting approximately 25% of women and 10% of men¹.

This issue is also prevalent in the military. In 2020, there were 12,663 reports of spouse abuse and 2,026 reports of intimate partner abuse in the U.S. military. Among all military incidents, 63% of active-duty abusers were Non-Commissioned Officer Ranks (E4-E6); when accounting for only those incidents involving spouses, the highest rates of active-duty abusers were among junior enlisted ranks (E1-E3)[1].

The physical and emotional suffering of intimate partner violence victims is profound. What is also clear are the consequences for our Armed Forces. When intimate partner violence involves service members or their families — either as victims or offenders — the resulting trauma harms overall unit readiness.

Prevention Strategies

Collectively, Magellan Federal has over 30 years of experience supporting Family Assistance Programs and positions us as experts in the field. We interact with 30,500 service members and families yearly providing vital services to ease the unique stressors of military life that can aggravate or trigger patterns of abusive behavior within the family home.

Recognize the Risk Factors

Drawing upon our wealth of experience, we believe that if warning signs are recognized and addressed early, intimate partner violence instances can be significantly reduced.

The identifiable factors unique to military service that may aggravate intimate partner violence risks include:

• Frequent permanent change of stations (PCS) disrupts access to natural support networks, increasing stress and social isolation. Frequent moves may also limit the ability of non-military spouses or intimate partners to find and maintain employment, increasing financial reliance on the abuser.
• Frequent or unpredictable deployments and a related increase in domestic duties of the partner may contribute to a sense of instability, increasing relationship stress, or conflict[2].
• Stigma of reporting abuse may lead to the belief that there may be a negative impact on the service member’s career. This may hinder the victim from seeking help for fear of retaliation by the service member and/or loss of financial support and benefits.

Suggested Solutions

The Department of Defense (DoD) offers a foundation of programs, tools, and personnel to promote awareness of intimate partner violence. However, they are often hindered by a lack of uniformity across the military Services and participation is often voluntary, rather than mandatory.

We believe the following will enhance outreach to spouses and intimate partners, with particular focus on those who live off installation and/or may not regularly interact with military life resources.

Key activities to better reach spouses and intimate partners on installation include:

• Expanding FAP communications plan to include the installation level. Updating the DoD-level FAP communications plan to include the military Service and installation levels will better enable FAP officials to gauge spouse awareness needs as well as trend responses longer term.
• Leveraging spouse groups. Every installation, regardless of the specific military Service, should have a spouse club that can be leveraged for outreach.

Key activities to better reach spouses and intimate partners off installation include:

Partnering with other government entities in community outreach. Programs and resources like the New Parent Support Program (NPSP), Domestic Abuse Victim Advocacy program (DAVA), Military & Family Life Counseling (MFLC), and Child & Youth Services (CYS) regularly engage in community outreach and training and, therefore, present an opportunity to increase FAP promotion to off-installation spouses and intimate

• More consistent collaboration between installation-level FAP resources and these programs and resources will serve as a force multiplier.
• Partnering with non-governmental entities. More consistent engagement with local chapters of Non-Government Organizations, such as the American Red Cross, and Military Support Organizations already working in the communities around an installation will better capture off-installation spouses and intimate partners.
• Leveraging non-traditional community resources. Some who live and work off installation may be isolated even from community-facing resources like NPSP and MFLC. Reaching these spouses and intimate partners may require a more creative approach encompassing more “touchpoints” in their day such as leaving education materials at a local daycare, food pantry, thrift store, library, junior league chapter, or church.
• Increased tailoring of outreach strategies to specific populations. The spouses or intimate partners of more junior enlisted personnel may not be in a leadership position to distribute information, so they may just be interested in a more informal meeting with a victim advocate or a pamphlet of FAP resources, rather than a formal briefing. Increased flexibility in outreach strategies will ensure more complete utilization of existing prevention resources.

Key Takeaway

Ultimately, effective prevention strategies must ensure outreach and mitigation activities incorporate all categories of risk factors—individual, relational, community, and societal. The methods to battle intimate partner violence must also ensure all at-risk people (perpetrators and victims alike) receive appropriate education and aid.

We believe prevention is the best opportunity for affordable, high-impact solutions to the needs of our military.

---

[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, November 2). Preventing intimate partner violence | violence prevention | Injury Center | CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved December 8, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/intimatepartnerviolence/fastfact.html.

[2] Kamarck, Kristy N., Ott, Alan, Sacco, Lisa N. (2019, December 4). Military Families and Intimate Partner Violence: Background and Issues for Congress (Report No. R46097). Congressional Research Service. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R46097

As a newlywed military spouse fourteen years ago, I was fairly overwhelmed with how much there was to learn about military culture and common military family experiences. Lost in a sea of acronyms and roads named after famous military commanders that I had never heard of, I tried to learn military lingo with the help of Google and new friends. There were also hard realities that I had much to learn about: the stress of deployment and war, the strain of combat experiences on servicemembers, families, and relationships, and shockingly: food insecurity.

Food insecurity is a challenge that I first encountered during a new spouse training on military culture and military family life experiences. At the conclusion of a military resources lesson, a fellow participant piped up, “But you didn’t talk about the food pantries. Someone in this room might want to know where they can get food if they run out.” The military spouse shared information about the local food pantries that they were personally aware of and reached out to when their own family struggled.

It was uncomfortable to hear this. As a young college student who did not yet understand the challenges that many families face in terms of financial challenges, I was taken aback. How can that be true? I remember asking myself. How can it be that families in our own military need to use a food pantry for assistance?

Shortly thereafter, I became a Registered Nurse who cared for military families and witnessed firsthand that food insecurity in the military community is a complex issue compounded by multiple factors, like spouse unemployment, economic inflation, and the everchanging landscape of family expenses needed for daily life. Military families often fall in an income bracket in which they do not qualify for some government nutrition assistance programs, like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (often referred to as food stamps.) Addressing food insecurity promptly is key: while helping families connect with resources to maintain adequate access to nutrition, the development of the even more serious concern—hunger—can be prevented.

The brave spouse who spoke up to discuss food pantries several years ago was clued into something that remains true for today’s military: food insecurity is a very real challenge that military families face, and a concern that requires a compassionate response from those whose life’s work is to support and care for service members and their families.

It is vital that all professionals who care for military families are aware of the local and military resources available to support military families in times of need. In response to the government’s request to empower Military & Family Life Counseling (MFLC) Program Counselors to address this concern at military installations all over the world, our training team developed a comprehensive food insecurities training. This training informs MFLC Counselors on the challenges of food insecurity, the prevalence of this dilemma, and how MFLC Counselors can respond when food insecurity is identified. This training utilized the survey data from the most recent 2020 Blue Star Families survey to describe food insecurity as a concern that impacts nearly 14% of today’s military families. The recorded webinar available to Magellan Federal MFLC Counselors discusses approved practices to casually inquire about food insecurity when potential warning signs are identified. MFLC Counselors are encouraged to share referral information with MFLC program participants about local and military resources to address any nutritional concerns. MFLC Counselors are experts in the resources available to the military community and play a powerful role in unlocking military families’ access to resources simply by sharing referrals to food pantries, military installation programming, and even relevant government-assistance programs, like Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Our Magellan Federal MFLC team continues to provide prompt and comprehensive responses to the food insecurity concerns that face the military community.  Embracing a compassionate, holistic approach to supporting military families is key to reducing the incidence of food insecurity, and as a result, promoting service member and family readiness to respond to mission requirements.

Military families should connect with an MFLC Counselor on their local military installation for information about available local food insecurity resources in their communities.