A major factor for service members as they consider whether to stay in the military is how frequent moves to new assignments affect their children.
An Army program is designed to ease that burden on military families by allowing soldiers to remain at one duty station through a child’s last two years of high school.
Roughly 4,000 soldiers took part in the High School Stabilization Program over the past year, according to a recent Army news release. The program was established in 2000 for families with a high school senior and later expanded to juniors.
Soldiers with a child who is entering their junior or senior year of high school are eligible for the program, said Maj. Travis Shaw, an Army spokesman.
“By guaranteeing geographic predictability and preventing family disruption during critical academic years, this is recognized as one of the Army’s most effective tools for reducing family-driven [permanent change of station] moves, thereby directly supporting the retention of experienced personnel,” Shaw told Task & Purpose.
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Troops with children who are about to enter their final years of high school tend to be fairly advanced in their military careers, said Brandi Jones, organizing director for Secure Families Initiative, a nonprofit organization that advocates for military families.
For those service members, the prospect of another permanent change of station move right before a senior year of high school can weigh heavily as they think about whether to stay in the military until retirement, Jones told Task & Purpose.
“This stabilization program is about retention, and especially in our higher-ranking enlisted and officer members,” Jones said. “By the time you have children this age, you are usually the leader in your units, battalions. And so this is an absolute make-or-break deal.”
Jones, who is married to an active-duty Marine, has personal experience with how permanent change of station moves can affect children’s high school years. When her husband received orders to another base, she paid out of pocket to keep living at their old duty station so their children could remain in school there.
It was a hard time for their family, Jones said. Her children did not see much of their father, but staying in the same high school helped them get accepted to college.
That would have been much more difficult if they had moved during their junior and senior years because not all schools offer the same types of classes needed to apply for college, and it is hard to join sports teams as a new student at that stage of high school, she said.
It is very important for children to have established relationships with teachers and guidance counselors when applying for college, said Shannon Razsadin, CEO of the Military Family Advisory Network, a nonprofit group that conducts research into the needs of military and veteran families.
Giving soldiers’ children the opportunity to stay at one location for the later years of high school helps them to form relationships with people who will help them transition to the next phase of their lives, Razsadin told Task & Purpose.
“Imagine arriving at a new duty station your senior year of high school and having to introduce yourself for the first time to a guidance counselor who has had four years to get to know other students,” Razsadin said. “That is just an uphill challenge that military kids are going through that civilian counterparts don’t always have to experience.”
Allowing military families to avoid such moves helps them feel that they don’t have to decide between staying in the service and doing what is best for their children, she said.
“It also could have impacts down the road, as far as people saying: ‘Well, the Army took care of my family. I was able to stay and finish out high school. I know the army will take care of me should I choose to enlist or join the future,’” Razsadin said.
