Military brat

This article is about the international use of the term in several English speaking countries. For the American subculture, see Military brat (U.S. subculture).
Not to be confused with Children in the military.

A military brat (colloquial or military slang) is a child of serving or retired military personnel. Military brats are associated with a unique subculture[1] and cultural identity.[2][3][4][5] A military brat's childhood or adolescent life may be immersed in military culture to the point where the mainstream culture of their home country may seem foreign or peripheral.[2][3][4][5] In many countries where there are military brat subcultures, the child's family moves great distances from one non-combat assignment to another for much of their youth.[2][3][4][5]

For highly mobile military brats, a mixed cultural identity often results, due to exposure to numerous national or regional cultures.[2][3][4][5] Within military culture, the term military brat is not considered to be a pejorative (as in describing a spoiled child), but rather connotes affection and respect.[2][3][4][6] War-related family stresses, including long-term war-related absence of a parent, as well as war aftermath issues, are common features of military brat life in some countries, although the degree of war-involvement of individual countries with military brat subcultures may vary.[2][3][4][5]

  1. ^ David C. Pollock, Ruth E. van Reken. Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, Revised Edition. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-1-85788-525-5
  2. ^ a b c d e f Wertsch, Mary E. (January 2006). Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress. Brightwell. ISBN 0-9776033-0-X.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Chatterjee, Smita. "Defense Kids In India: Growing Up Differently", Loving Your Child online magazine, December 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Ender, Morton. Military Brats and Other Global Nomads. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. ISBN 978-0-275-97266-0
  5. ^ a b c d e Suarez, Theresa Cenidoza. "The language of militarism: Engendering Filipino masculinity in the U.S. empire", ch. 4. University of California, San Diego, 2008. 130 pages, 3320357
  6. ^ Cranston, CA. "Challenging Contemporary Ecocritical Place Discourses: Military Brats, Shadow Places, and Homeplace Consumerism". Indian Journal of Ecocriticism, V. 2, 2009. pp. 73–89. ISSN 0974-2840