Survey says: Mil.spouses satisfied

WASHINGTON - The latest survey of active-duty and reserve-component service members’ spouses shows they are by and large happy with their military lifestyles. Defense Department officials briefed reporters at the Pentagon Feb. 21 on the results of the surveys, which were conducted in 2017. Active-duty and a similar survey of National Guard and Reserve spouses showed similar results. Among ACDU spouses, 60 percent said they are “satisfied” with their military way of life. Among the reserve components, 61 percent were satisfied. While both surveys showed a slight decrease from a 2015 survey, the results of both were higher than results from the same question on the 2008 survey, officials noted. Results are used to inform decisions about how the U.S. military provides services to families, he said. For the 2017 survey, about 45,000 ACDU spouses were asked to participate; about 17 percent responded. Among reserve-component spouses, 55,000 were invited with a response rate of 18 percent. Invitations to participate in the 2019 survey went out to reserve component spouses in January. Invitation will be sent to active-duty spouses in May. (Source: Defense.gov 02/22/19)