--"USA Today" reported that the divorce rate has reached its highest level since 1999. The overall divorce rate was 3.7 percent (the civilian divorce rate is 3.5 percent).

While individual units of the military had different rates -- Air Force divorce (3.9 percent), Marine divorce (3.8 percent), Army divorce (3.7 percent) and Navy (3.6 percent)  no one unit of the military has consistently held the highest rate. In 2006, Navy enlisted had the highest rate and Marines the lowest. (Officers consistently have lower rates of divorce than enlisted.)

The military personnel who have consistently had the highest rates of divorce are women. And that is not new data. Military women are more than twice as likely to be divorced as military men, whether enlisted or officers.

In 2011, nearly 10 percent of enlisted women were divorced. In 2006, it was more than 7 percent, according to Rand Corp. researcher Benjamen Karney, who studies military divorce.

While there are no clearly identified reasons for this difference, though Karney has some ideas:

  • Support services are generally geared toward the wives and children of male service members, not toward husbands.
  • There may be a difference in marriages of women who are in less traditional roles in society. (Military recruits tend to be the most traditional men and the least traditional women.)

Some in the military are concerned that the rate of military divorce may rise again as soldiers return from the Middle East.

Source: USA Today and Divorce360