The military personnel included two private soldiers, a sergeant, two junior officers and one senior officer. Length of military service ranged from five to thirty-seven years. Within the families, two of the military members were women, and four were men. The number of dependent children within families varied from one to four. Each family brought a personal dimension to the research that enriched the text and allowed for meaningful analysis. Some of the participants had experienced traumatic incidents while on overseas service. This offered a perspective on how the experience may have altered the phenomenon of overseas deployment and its impact on them and on their family members. Other families had
specific domestic factors, including dependent children with special needs. One family encountered overseas deployment having suffered the recent loss of a child.