Support and Defend

This series focuses on teens from diverse backgrounds with a parent or guardian formerly deployed in the military, highlighting common struggles and challenges that US military families face.

As of 2010, more than two million children of US military service members had been affected by deployment of one or both parents since 2001. Parental deployment has been shown to affect children and teens in numerous ways: increased behavioral problems, sleep issues, falling grades, and high stress, fear, and anxiety levels overall. Older children and teens in particular experience increased rates of mental health issues including PTSD and depression, behavioral disorders, trouble in school, and stress disorders.