Military Wives

"We know that a supportive family is the key to a person's success. It is fascinating to read a history of military wives that begins to give them the credit they deserve for service to their country and their families." Patricia Schroeder U.S. Representative, Colorado "Campfollowing opens an important page in history for the military and for the role of women in the military. The women described in this book were not only devoted wives and mothers who brought a few of the comforts of home to forlorn military outposts, but they were also nurses who cared for the sick and wounded, as well as soldiers who fought bravely next to their soldier-husbands. They served their country with great love, dignity, and honor, and they deserve this long overdue recognition. I believe this book will be both an inspiration and a model for present military spouses as they follow their loved ones throughout the world or wait patiently at home for them when they are apart." Timothy E. Wirth U.S. Senator, Colorado "Campfollowers" themselves, the authors of this volume have collected published and unpublished memoirs, diaries, and letters, and have conducted personal interviews to present a comprehensive history of the military wife from the Revolutionary War through the post-Vietnam years. Second in line to their husband's career and often the object of indifference from the military establishment, these women demonstrate the strength of their commitment in this unique book.

This book is about the women who serve the military as wives and those who serve as soldiers, sailors, and flyers. Comparing wives and warriors in the U.S. and Canada, it examines how the military in both countries constructs gender to exclude women from being respected as equals to men. Written by a wide range of scholars and military personnel, the book covers such contemporary issues as the opening of military academies to women, the opening of combat posts to women, the experience of being a wife in the two-person career of an officer-husband, sexual harassment, turnover of women in the armed services, and U.S. and Canadian policies allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military. Part of an emerging feminist scholarship in military studies, this work also explores how gender has been constructed to maintain the status quo and women's narrowly defined roles as the dependent helpmates of men.

David and Mady Segal analyze the adaptation of American soldiers assigned to the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in the Sinai Desert in support of the Camp David Accords, in the context of the evolution of multinational peacekeeping forces as mechanisms for achieving international security. The reactions of soldiers and their wives to the peacekeeping assignment are considered from the perspective of the social construction of reality, in which the role of the military has been defined as war-fighting. The press has ignored peacekeeping until very recently, and it falls to military organizations, to soldiers and their families, to make sense of the mission. Lessons learned from the Sinai MFO experience should be used to help U.S. troops better prepare for their increasing role in multinational peacekeeping.

Many extraordinary women traveled west with their Army officer husbands between 1865 and 1890 and discovered a world that was completely controlled by the United States Army. The Army as a public institution colored virtually every aspect of their domestic lives. Army directives, customs, and traditions imposed social obligations on these women, and the world of the frontier Army garrison continually challenged their sense of what it meant to be "true women." Remarkably, they flourished and established a defined role for themselves that went beyond the conventional definition of true womanhood.

Today's military is a military of families. A high proportion of service members are married and have children, and many of their spouses work and contribute to family income. This book examines whether the wives of military personnel have been able to benefit from the general improvement in opportunities available to women in the workplace, or whether their role as military wives has impeded their potential opportunities. The authors provide an analysis of the various forces affecting military wives' employment and earnings, and hence their ability to contribute to family income and establish their careers. The findings provide a factual basis for the role of military wives as members of military families, and will be of interest to policymakers involved in personnel issues as well as specialists in gender and family studies.

From Robert E. and Mary Lee to Ulysses S. and Julia Grant, Intimate Strategies of the Civil War examines the marriages of twelve prominent military commanders, highlighting the impact wives had on their famous husbands' careers. Carol K. Bleser and Lesley J. Gordon assemble an impressive array of leading scholars to explore the marriages of six Confederate and six Union commanders. Contributors reveal that, for many of these men, the matrimonial bond was the most important relationship in their lives, one that shaped (and was shaped by) their military experience. In some cases, the commanders' spouses proved relentless and skillful promoters of their husbands' careers. Jessie Fremont drew on all of her connections as the daughter of former Senator Thomas Hart Benton to aid her modestly talented husband John. Others bolstered their military spouses in less direct ways. For example, Ulysses S. Grant's relationship with Julia (a Southerner and former slave owner herself) kept him anchored in stormy times. Here, too, are tense and tempestuous pairings, such William Tecumseh Sherman and his wife Ellen--his foster sister before becoming his wife--and Jefferson Davis's fascinatingly complex bond with Varina, further complicated by the hostile rumors about the two in Richmond society. Throughout, these historians paint remarkably intimate portraits of their subjects, ranging from hints of sexual passion, to the wives' fierce protectiveness of their husbands' reputations, to the surprisingly frequent visits of spouses to the front lines and battlefields. Readers will see these famed men in a way that they perhaps never considered: not merely as famous leaders, but as lovers, husbands and fathers. Illuminating a frequently neglected but extremely significant side of military history, Intimate Strategies is a must-read for anyone seeking fresh perspective on some of the war's best known commanders and a landmark contribution to Civil War history.

The voices of three women convey the dilemmas faced by many young families in the armed services.