Tag Archives: Research
When we survey military spouses, who are we really studying?
You might have heard a lot about military spouses in the last week because President Trump signed an executive order about military spouse employment and “Military Spouse Appreciation Day” was last Friday. When we hear information or reports about military spouses we tend to think we are talking about the community as a whole—anyone who […]
The Myths and Truths about Homelessness among Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans
Stephen Metraux (@SteveMetraux) is a researcher at the National Center for Homelessness Among Veterans of the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and has done extensive research on homelessness. More information on him and his research is at http://www.stephenmetraux.com. Opinions are his and do not reflect official VA positions. Americans feel a keen obligation […]
(Belated) One Year Celebration: Our Top 5 Posts
With a busy end to the Fall semester followed by the holidays, we’ve been too tied up to recognize and celebrate our one year blog anniversary! But…we figure better late than never! While the idea for this blog began several years ago, we finally launched on Veteran’s Day in November 2016. We couldn’t be more […]
Transgender Servicemembers: What We Know
Nearly a week ago, President Trump made a surprising policy announcement via Twitter about transgender servicemembers and prospective military recruits. On Wednesday, July 26th he wrote: (1) “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow……”, (2) “….Transgender individuals to serve in any […]
Is there a Military Spouse Hiring Penalty?
Brittany N. Dernberger (@bdernberger) is a Doctoral Student in Sociology at University of Maryland, College Park, where she studies social inequality and mobility. Her research focuses on gender and sexuality, the changing nature of work, and how social institutions influence life outcomes. Military spouses are what you would call “tied migrants.” Tied migrants are people who […]
A Tale of Two Wounded Veterans
Last week I was honored to represent the American Sociological Association (ASA) at a Coalition for National Science Funding (CSNF) exhibition on Capitol Hill. The annual event gives lawmakers a chance to see the impact of research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). I received a Dissertation Improvement Grant from NSF, which helped me […]
When A Simple Statistic Isn’t So Simple: The Story of Rural Enlistments
On Monday April 3 I participated in a congressional briefing sponsored by the Population Association of America, and several other organizations, on the demography of rural America. I was asked to present about rural veterans in the short time span of twelve minutes, but twelve minutes goes by quickly and doesn’t offer much time to […]
The Emotion Work of “Thank You For Your Service”
In the post-9/11 era, “thank you for your service” (TYFYS) has become the new mantra of public support bestowed upon the veteran community. In the early 2000s, as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began escalating, “Support Our Troops” car magnets increasingly appeared on the trunks of cars across America. After well over 15 years […]
Who supports contemporary US veterans? And who’s lying about it?
In the nearly fifteen years since we began “creating” veterans of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it would seem that the public has embraced contemporary veterans. The ritual of thanking those who serve or have served in the military at sporting events is one example. While veterans from the Vietnam War may have returned […]
Do employers discriminate against veterans in hiring?
I am currently in Tucson at the Arizona Methods Workshops refreshing and updating my knowledge on experiments in social sciences. It’s been a number of years since I last conducted a field experiment of hiring, often called an audit study. This research method is deceptively simple—send applications for fictitious job seekers in response to real […]
Sidra Montgomery
Meredith Kleykamp
Veteran Scholars 