Description
Book SynopsisIt was 2006, and eight hundred soldiers from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) base in pseudonymous "Armyville," Canada, were scheduled to deploy to Kandahar. Many students in the Armyville school district were destined to be affected by this and several subsequent deployments. These deployments, however, represented such a new and volatile situation that the school district lacked--as indeed most Canadians lacked--the understanding required for an optimum organizational response. Growing Up in Armyville provides a close-up look at the adolescents who attended Armyville High School (AHS) between 2006 and 2010. How did their mental health compare with that of their peers elsewhere in Canada? How were their lives affected by the Afghanistan mission--at home, at school, among their friends, and when their parents returned with post-traumatic stress disorder? How did the youngsters cope with the stress? What did their efforts cost them? Based on questions from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, administered to all youth attending AHS in 2008, and on in-depth interviews with sixty-one of the youth from CAF families, this book provides some answers. It also documents the partnership that occurred between the school district and the authors' research team. Beyond its research findings, this pioneering book considers the past, present, and potential role of schools in supporting children who have been affected by military deployments. It also assesses the broader human costs to CAF families of their enforced participation in the volatile overseas missions of the twenty-first century.
Trade Review"a groundbreaking work... meticulous, accessible examination of a ... military town's home-front reactions to the deployment of troops ... [which] contextualizes the war while analyzing [its] often devastating effect ... on their children .... [It] is bolstered by extensive, frequently heartbreaking, firsthand stories of ... adolescent[s], who ... must deal with ... new responsibilities as parent substitutes, and [the] ... anxieties and depression [of] knowing a loved one is in a war zone. ...Out of the mouths of babes come remarkably perceptive insights. -- Publishers Weekly
Poet Raymond Souster, a WWII volunteer, said once that every patriot who would send Canadians to war should first walk through the ward in a veterans' hospital. They should also read Armyville. -- Holly Doan -- Blacklock's Reporter, 20161210
Growing Up in Armyville puts the spotlight not only on the offspring of service members, but directly on adolescents. The book makes an outstanding contribution to the 30 years of research and sets the agenda for understanding the experiences of military adolescents. -- Morten G. Ender, United States Military Academy -- Res Militaris 9, No. 1 (Winter-Spring 2019)
Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Real Changes for Real People: Canadian Military Involvements Since the Second World War2. Growing Up in a Military Family 3. Growing Up in Armyville 4. Life Just Before a Deployment5. Life During a Deployment 6. Life After the Deployed Parent Returns Home 7. New Beginnings at Armyville High SchoolConclusion Afterword: Some Reflections by David McTimoney Appendices
