Given the demands of military life, soldiers and their families need to master resilience, a panel of experts said. 

“The challenge of living a life of service can be devastating at times, especially when something bad happens. And sadly, bad things do happen,” retired Gen. Vincent Brooks, a former commander of U.S. Forces Korea who now is a consultant, said during a Hot Topic on Army Holistic Health and Fitness hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army. “The ability to bounce back, to not be crushed by pressures, to not be distorted out of shape by impacts, is really what this is all about, and that absolutely applies to our families and our communities.” 

Though facing challenges is an inevitable part of life, families are a vital support system for soldiers to fall back on. “The connection between resilience and family is what allows our soldiers to perform their warfighting mission,” said Sgt. Maj. Ruben Murillo Jr., senior enlisted adviser in the Army’s Prevention, Resilience and Readiness Directorate. “That's exactly what we do, and that's our job every single day. … Our families are the support system behind us.”

During times of difficulty, soldiers and families can depend on their spiritual fitness to persevere, Brooks said. “It's the only thing that cannot be taken away,” he said. “Your rank can be taken away. Your position can be taken away. Your physical condition can be taken away. … All these other things can be taken away, ... but do you lose your spirit?” 

Following a cultural shift in the military community in 2011, some millennial and Gen Z spouses are reconsidering what being a military spouse means to them. “The generational shifts have changed,” said Corie Weathers, an Army spouse and licensed professional counselor. “You now have millennial, but especially Gen Z, spouses that say, ‘I don't really want to be a military spouse. You go do your job, and I'm going to go do my job. And, even if that means we have to … live apart, then that's what we'll do, but I don't want to identify myself as part of this community.’ ”

Future and current generations of military families will look to tomorrow’s leaders for hope, Weathers said. “The more I research what makes that community resilient in the face of large-scale combat, it comes down to hope,” Weathers said. “The next generation, and … my generation, needs to know what we're hoping in, because those that went through two decades of global conflict thought they were hoping for a peace time and didn't get it.”