This document discusses several key aspects of military life and relationships. It notes that conflict resolution skills are important for balancing relationships that can be complicated by having more groups and people involved. Military life differs from home life in significant ways. Maintaining mission readiness is a priority, and mental health is an important consideration given that service members make up a small fraction of the overall population. The document provides references on topics like intergroup conflict, military families under stress, marital conflict resources, and research on family suffering related to war experiences.

1. What Makes Military Life Unique Why Conflict Resolution Skills are so Important

2. Relationships are Complicated! Griffin, 2009, p.162

3. Balancing Act Griffin, 2009, p.157

4. More Groups = More Complicated! Tajfel & Turner, 1979

5. Military life vs. Home Life Scott, 2009

6. Mission Readiness Gaskin, 2010

7. One in 300 Million US Department of Defense, 2011 & US Census Bureau, 2009

8. A Note about Mental Health Isovaara, S., Arman, M., & Rehnsfeldt, A., 2006

9. References Baxter, L. A., & Montgomery, B. (1996). Relating: Dialogues and Dialectics . New York: Guilford. Congressional Budget Office. (2007). The all volunteer military: Issues and performance (2960). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Drummet, A., Coleman, M., & Cable, S. (2003). Military families under stress: Implications for family life education. Family Relations , 52(3 ), 279. Gaskin, T. (2010). Leader’s guide - Marital conflict. Retrieved from http://www.usmc-mccs.org/leadershipguide/Family/Marital/maritalconflict.htm Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory (7 ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Isovaara, S., Arman, M., & Rehnsfeldt, A. (2006). Family suffering related to war experiences: An interepretative synopsis review of the literature from a caring science perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences , 20(3 ), 241-250. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-6712.2006.00432.x Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33-47). Monterey, CA: Brooks-Cole. U.S. Census Bureau. (2009). USA quickfacts . Retrieved January 19, 2011, from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html U.S. Department of Defense. (2010). An introductory overview to the department of defense . Retrieved January 19, 2011, from http://www.defense.gov/pubs/dod101/index.html