AIr Force Families have been particularly stressed by events since 9/11/2001, because the Air Force has been engaged in combat continuously since Desert Storm in 1991.  Following that abbreviated conflict, airmen and aircraft remained deployed for Operations Northern and Southern Watch in Iraq, the Bosnian conflict, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

The flight and maintenance crews of low density / high demand aircraft like the E-3 Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) and the E-8 Joint Targeting and Surveillance Radar System (JSTARS) deploy for 4 months at a time, with 4 months at home before the next deployment.  As a result, these career fields have been deployed on average for 15 of the last 20 years.  Other Air Force weapons systems have also experienced prolonged heavy deployment schedules, and some Air Force Specialty Codes such as Security Police have long standing personnel shortfalls, resulting in longer and more frequent deployments.

In the current conflicts, the Air Force has had more personnel deployed on the ground than flying above it.  To support Army ground forces, the Air Force has been called upon to provide convoy security, tactical air control for close air support, installation security, field medical personnel, chaplains, and a host of other non-traditional Air Force Missions.

67% of Air Force personnel are married, and two decades of constant deployment are taking a toll.  Marriage counseling is now the number one reason given for seeing an Air Force chaplain, and the Air Force divorce rate has been slightly higher than the other services in recent years as a result of these repeated separations.