In an apparent reversal of popular stereotype, the Air Force Times analysis of Air Force marriage statistics claims that fighter pilots actually have a divorce rate lower than the rest of the force:

Airmen in career fields with the highest deployment tempos don’t get divorced more than those who spend most of their time at home station. Fighter jocks, supposed playboys, actually get divorced less than the force as a whole.

As this site and the book Christian Fighter Pilot is not an Oxymoron continually emphasize, there is a social expectation of what makes a “standard” fighter pilot.  The AF Times article alludes to that stereotype, saying “fighter jocks [are] supposed playboys,” and implying that everyone would assume that fighter pilots divorce at a higher rate than average.

The opposite appears to be true.

The Air Force also appears to be demonstrating its friendly association with the family.  The US population is 50.5% married, 10.5% divorced.  By contrast, 70.9% of Air Force officers were married, and only 4.4% were divorced.  (Enlisted statistics were closer to the US norm.)

As it turns out, in the case of marriage, the worst statistics in the Air Force are present in the medically-related fields, with a bias toward those marriages in which the female is the active duty military member.  According to the article, active duty Air Force women were the only ones whose divorce statistic exceeded the rest of the American population.

A Chaplain quoted in the article discussed the source of divorce, noting a common misperception about what marriage should mean:

A major factor, [Chaplain (Maj.) David Carr] said, is a misunderstanding of what marriage should be and how much work it involves.

“A lot of folks just have this feeling that love should be a natural thing,” Carr said, “and when the love stops then the marriage must end, rather than thinking … love is going to be up and down and … it needs to be maintained.”

That view of marriage may be a function more of the cultural view of marriage–a view often grounded in one’s religious beliefs–than of a single tragic factor caused by military service.  Nothing highlights the need to “work” or “will” to love in a marriage like the long and common separations caused by serving in a wartime military.

The article mentions some military programs aimed at assisting members who want to strengthen their marriages, including the US Army’s “Strong Bonds.”