Military brat (U.S. subculture)

In the United States, a military brat (also known by various "brat" derivatives) is the child of a parent or parents serving full-time in the United States Armed Forces, whether current or former. The term military brat can also refer to the subculture and lifestyle of such families. The military brat lifestyle typically involves moving to new states or countries many times while growing up, as the child's military family is customarily transferred to new non-combat assignments; consequently, many military brats never have a home town. War-related family stresses are also a commonly occurring part of military brat life. There are also other aspects of military brat life that are significantly different in comparison to the civilian American population, often including living in foreign countries and/or diverse regions within the U.S., exposure to foreign languages and cultures, and immersion in military culture. The military brats subculture has emerged over the last 200 years. The age of the phenomenon has meant military brats have also been described by a number of researchers as one of America's oldest and yet least well-known and largely invisible subcultures. They have also been described as a "modern nomadic subculture". Military brat is known in U.S. military culture as a term of endearment and respect. The term may also connote a military brat's experience of mobile upbringing, and may refer to a sense of worldliness. Research has shown that many current and former military brats like the term; however, outside of the military world, the term military brat can sometimes be misunderstood by the non-military population, where the word brat is often a pejorative term.

Primary features of lifestyle and culture

Studies show that this group is shaped by several forces. A major influence is the fact of frequent moves, as the family follows the military member-parent (or in some cases, both parents who are military members) who is transferred from military base to military base, each move usually being hundreds or thousands of miles in distance. Other shaping forces include a culture of resilience and adaptivity, constant loss of friendship ties, a facility or knack for making new friends, never having a home town, and extensive exposure to foreign cultures and languages while living overseas or to a wide range of regional cultural differences due to living in a variety of different American regions. Additional influences include living in a series of military bases serving as community centers, the pervasive military culture on those bases, the absence of a parent due to deployments, the threat of parental loss in war, stresses associated with the psychological aftermath of war (living with war-affected returning veteran parents) and the militarization of the family unit (children being treated to some degree like soldiers and being subjected to military regimentation, inculcation into a warrior code of honor and service, frequent exposure to patriotic ideas and symbols, experience of free medical care, and military discipline). Military brats receive Tricare until they reach the age of 21, or age 23 if a full-time student (typically college or university), or age 25 if Tricare Young Adult is purchased. While some non-military families may share some of these same attributes and experiences, military culture has a much higher incidence and concentration of these issues and experiences in military families as compared to civilian populations, and by tightly-knit military communities that perceive these experiences as normal. Studies show that growing up immersed in military culture can have long-lasting effects on children, both in positive and also some negative ways.

Life on base

Military bases are often small cities, sometimes with 10,000 or more people, and are self-contained worlds where military culture is primary and civilian culture is secondary. Military families do not always live on base, but often do. Military towns, the areas immediately surrounding a base, are also often highly influenced by military culture. While the general public uses the term base to refer any military installation, within the US military the term base primarily applies to Air Force or Navy installations while Army installations are called posts. Military brats grow up moving from base to base as they follow their parent or parents to new assignments. Sometimes living on base, sometimes off, the base in both cases is often the center of military brat life, where shopping, recreation, schools and the military community form a string of temporary towns for military brats as they grow up.

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