This Chapter:

Marital Status.  While 10 percent of enlisted recruits are married, a majority of enlisted Servicemembers are (55 percent).  By the end of the first term of service (typically four years), approximately 42 percent of male enlisted members have become married.(7) Trends in marital status of active duty members are shown in Figure 3.5.  The proportion of married enlisted members declined from FY 1977 (50 percent) to FY 1980 (47 percent).  In FY 1981 the proportion began to increase, and in FY 1997 it was 55 percent. Marital status varies by Service.  Air Force members are most likely to be married (64 percent), while Marines are least likely to be married (43 percent).

Figure 3.5.  Percentage of Active Component enlisted members who were married, by Service, FYs 1973-1997.

The percentages of FY 1997 Active Component enlisted married males and females are shown by Service in Table 3.5 and by age in Appendix Table B-24. Proportionally, more Servicemen were married than Servicewomen (57 and 46 percent, respectively), while the percentages for civilian men and women were nearly identical (54 versus 53 percent, respectively).  The proportion of married Servicemen was slightly higher than married 18- to 44-year-old men in the civilian population (57 and 54 percent, respectively).  The proportion of married Servicewomen was lower than that of women in the comparable civilian population (46 and 53 percent, respectively).

 The percentage of married military women has changed significantly since FY 1973.(8) Twenty years ago women constituted 5 percent of military members.  Military women were not expected to be married; retention directives implicitly encouraged separation of married enlisted women.  In FY 1973, 18 percent of military women were married, increasing to 36 percent in FY 1978 and to 46 percent in FY 1997.

 During and after the Persian Gulf War, questions were raised regarding the deployment of both parents in a dual-service marriage (i.e., a marriage wherein both husband and wife are military members).  The proportion of members in each Service who are married and the proportion of those married who are members of a dual-service marriage are shown in Table 3.6.

Table 3.5.  FY 1997 Active Component Enlisted Members Who Were Married, by Gender and Service, and Civilian Labor Force 18-44 Years Old (Percent)
Gender	Army	Navy	Marine Corps	Air Force	DoD	18-44 Year-Old Civilians
Male	55.6	57.3	42.7	66.8	56.9	53.9
Female	44.6	41.8	39.4	51.6	45.9	52.8
Total	54.0	55.4	42.5	64.1	55.4	53.4
Also see Appendix Table B-24 (Age by Marital Status and Gender). Source:  Civilian data from Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey File, September 1997.

Table 3.6.  FY 1997 Active Component Enlisted Personnel Who Were Married, and in Dual-Service Marriages, by Gender and Service (Number and Percent)
		Married		Married Who Were In Dual-Service Marriages
Gender	End-Strength	Number	Percent	Number*	Percent**
ARMY
Male	346,458	192,733	55.6	12,426	6.4
Female	61,661	27,492	44.6	10,904	39.7
Total	408,119	220,225	54.0	23,330	10.6
NAVY
Male	292,916	167,919	57.3	9,217	5.5
Female	41,309	17,273	41.8	7,597	44.0
Total	334,225	185,192	55.4	16,814	9.1
MARINE CORPS
Male	147,668	63,040	42.7	2,901	4.6
Female	8,499	3,352	39.4	2,088	62.3
Total	156,167	66,392	42.5	4,989	7.5
AIR FORCE
Male	246,206	164,556	66.8	14,956	9.1
Female	53,167	27,420	51.6	15,171	55.3
Total	299,373	191,976	64.1	30,127	15.7
DoD
Male	1,033,248	588,248	56.9	39,500	6.7
Female	164,636	75,537	45.9	35,760	47.3
Total	1,197,884	663,785	55.4	75,260	11.3
* There are some differences between the number of males and females reporting dual-service marriages. ** These percentages reflect the proportion of married enlisted members who are married to a Servicemember.  For example, 12,426 male Army enlisted personnel are in dual-service marriages.  That is, 6.4 percent of married male Army enlisted members (192,733) are in dual-service marriages.

Larger proportions of men than women are married, but significantly greater proportions of women are members of dual-service marriages (47 percent of married women versus 7 percent of married men; Table 3.6).  The Marine Corps has the greatest variance, with 5 percent of married men but 62 percent of married women in dual-service marriages.  Proportionally, more Air Force personnel are members of dual-service marriages (16 percent).   Across the Services, 11 percent of enlisted members are in dual-service marriages.

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7. Department of Defense, Family Status and Initial Term of Service, Volume I-Summary (Washington, DC:  Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense [Personnel and Readiness], December 1993).
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8. Department of Defense, Population Representation in the Military Services:  Fiscal Year 1989 (Washington, DC:  Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense [Force Management and Personnel], July 1990).
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