A military brat (colloquial or military slang) is a child of serving or retired military personnel. Military brats are associated with a unique subculture[1] and cultural identity.[2][3][4][5] A military brat's childhood or adolescent life may be immersed in military culture to the point where the mainstream culture of their home country may seem foreign or peripheral.[2][3][4][5] In many countries where there are military brat subcultures, the child's family moves great distances from one non-combat assignment to another for much of their youth.[2][3][4][5]
For highly mobile military brats, a mixed cultural identity often results, due to exposure to numerous national or regional cultures.[2][3][4][5] Within military culture, the term military brat is not considered to be a pejorative (as in describing a spoiled child), but rather connotes affection and respect.[2][3][4][6] War-related family stresses, including long-term war-related absence of a parent, as well as war aftermath issues, are common features of military brat life in some countries, although the degree of war-involvement of individual countries with military brat subcultures may vary.[2][3][4][5]
- ^ David C. Pollock, Ruth E. van Reken. Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, Revised Edition. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-1-85788-525-5
- ^ a b c d e f Wertsch, Mary E. (January 2006). Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress. ISBN 0-9776033-0-X.
- ^ a b c d e f Chatterjee, Smita. "Defense Kids In India: Growing Up Differently", Loving Your Child online magazine, December 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Ender, Morton. Military Brats and Other Global Nomads. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. ISBN 978-0-275-97266-0
- ^ a b c d e Suarez, Theresa Cenidoza. "The language of militarism: Engendering Filipino masculinity in the U.S. empire", ch. 4. University of California, San Diego, 2008. 130 pages, 3320357
- ^ Cranston, CA. "Challenging Contemporary Ecocritical Place Discourses: Military Brats, Shadow Places, and Homeplace Consumerism". Indian Journal of Ecocriticism, V. 2, 2009. pp. 73–89. ISSN 0974-2840