A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
For more on the stresses military families are facing, we've called Besa Pinchotti. She is CEO of the National Military Family Association. Besa, so with the war in Iran really showing no signs of ending, what are you hearing from your members at this time?
BESA PINCHOTTI: That they're under additional stress. And I know that's not surprising. But just to paint a picture for you, even before this crisis, many military families are already under heavy pressure. They're moving every two to three years, so they're not anywhere near those support systems that we all have. So add on things like financial stress, with 25% of military families experiencing food insecurity, now a war. And so what you're seeing on the news is their life. And it's just exacerbated. It's very stressful, and it just continues to get harder.
MARTÍNEZ: So what keeps these families resilient?
PINCHOTTI: They're resilient because they have to be. And they definitely would love to not have to be resilient, as you can imagine. But it is part of being a military family, just knowing that it's ups and it's downs. It's very unpredictable. And so you learn to cope with that in a lot of different ways.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, as stressful as all of this is for the spouses, for the family of deployed military, is there an understanding at all that this is kind of part of the deal when someone signs up for active duty?
PINCHOTTI: Well, the service member signs up, but it's the family that's serving alongside them. So it is part of the deal, but it's not always what a family understood, and it's certainly not what kids are signing up for. But they do love this country, and they love their service member. And military families, they serve with pride. But it's not something that they necessarily chose, and they certainly don't choose the ups and downs of the news cycle, but they do live with it.
MARTÍNEZ: You mentioned kids. How much does war affect a child's daily life if, say, they have a parent or a sibling in the service?
PINCHOTTI: A lot. A lot of military kids feel invisible, because you see a service member in uniform and you can tell what they are and what they're going through. But military families are serving and they look just like everyone else around them, just like other kids in their classroom. Right now, we're welcoming hundreds of military kids at summer camps around the country, and what they tell us is that this camp is a break for them. They get to be around kids who understand what they're going through, kids who understand what a deployment means. And that's not what it's like in everyday life.
MARTÍNEZ: What does it do to a kid to not see their mom or dad maybe for months, maybe even a year, I mean, considering how some deployments last?
PINCHOTTI: The stress is heavy. But as you mentioned, military kids and families are resilient, so they make it work. But it is stressful. Even when a family member comes back, as soon as you - as much as you've missed them, it's also a lot of in-and-out and a lot of changes in your family dynamic. And so kids deal with it in a lot of different ways, just like all of us deal with our stress in different ways. A lot of them get into school. They get into sports. And really, they lean on each other because it can be very isolating when those around you don't necessarily understand what you're going through.
MARTÍNEZ: I mentioned, Besa, you're with the National Military Family Association. What kind of services do you offer?
PINCHOTTI: We have camps for military kids. We also have a virtual option for kids. And it's about what we were talking about, making sure that kids are connected to other kids who get it. We have support for military families, specifically spouses with their careers and their education because of that financial stress that so many families are going through. But one of the most important things we do and we've been doing since 1969 is advocating for families on Capitol Hill, which is more and more important the more that things are happening around the world that affect our families.
MARTÍNEZ: If someone is listening, Besa, and feels compelled to want to pitch in and help, what can they do?
PINCHOTTI: Reach out to us. Reach out to the National Military Family Association. You can also reach out to local nonprofits in your community who do more direct services for families who are dealing with things at that very moment. The resilience of military families is remarkable, but it should never be mistaken for unlimited capacity to absorb more.
MARTÍNEZ: That is Besa Pinchotti of the National Military Family Association. Besa, thanks.
PINCHOTTI: Thank you.
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