Sunday, February 5, 2006

The spouse selection aid program created by former minister and doctor of psychology John Van Epp has been adopted by US Army chaplains.

Since the onset of the US campaign in Afghanistan, 56,000 of the active duty, National Guard, and Army Reserve personnel have been divorced. The program titled “No Jerks” was adopted with the intent of providing Army personnel subject to periods of long deployment with effective advice for consideration in the selection of spouses who are able to adapt to the circumstances that military service causes in regard to the potential family stresses of possible injury also.

Army spokeswoman Martha Rudd has said in regard to marrying in to the military that “not everybody is cut out.”

Van Epp said of the high divorce rates and increased prevalence of domestic violence that “Settings like military bases are incubators … They try to hatch … relationships extremely fast.” Epp sent 200 program workbooks to Iraq in January 2006.