What standardizing the ‘deployment-to-dwell’ ratio means for military families
The military is standardizing its deployment-to-dwell ratio for troops. (Capt. Robyn Haake/Army)
Military leaders have announced the amount of time troops spend at home between deployments will become standardized.
Starting Nov. 10, the service branches will move to a 1-to-3 deployment-to-dwell ratio for active-duty service members. This means that for every one year deployed, troops will spend three years at home.
The intent is for combatant commanders at every level to ensure that individual service members, “regardless of unit assignment, are not repeatedly exposed to combat, do not experience disproportionate deployments, and do not spend extended periods of time away from their homeport, station, or base unless required by operational necessity,” according to a Department of Defense memo.
There will be some exceptions to this rule, but the memo goes on to say that the secretary of defense will need to give approval before a unit, detachment or individual with a 1-to-2 ratio or less can be deployed.
For reservists, the standard deployment-to-dwell ratio is going to be five years at home to every one year deployed. Again, the secretary’s approval is needed if troops are going to be at home less than four years in between deployments.
As a Military Times article points out, services have aimed for a standard 1-to-3 deployment ratio for a while now. And with the end of the war in Afghanistan, there’s a much greater chance that they’ll actually meet it.
Army spouse Becky Hoy, whose husband has deployed three times during their 10-year marriage, joined The Spouse Angle recently to discuss what it means for military families like hers.
“When I think about this dwell ratio changing and kind of pulling back a little bit, I’m excited about some of the stability that’s going to provide for military families — our family as well,” she said.
Becky Hoy
But there are many other types of separations that don’t get counted in this ratio.
“When we talk about things like dwell ratios, we aren’t talking about [temporary duty orders], we aren’t talking about field training exercises, we aren’t talking about all these other reasons why we might be separated from our partners that, as many of us know, the military can just choose to spring on us whenever is necessary,” said Hoy, co-founder of the Pillar Deployment Retreat for military spouses.
The DoD’s change “doesn’t mean that deployments are ending, and it doesn’t mean that military life is necessarily just going to be the same as living a day-to-day civilian lifestyle,” she said. “I’m cautiously optimistic and trying to stay aware of both sides of that coin.”