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US military divorces edge up again in 9th year of war
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-11-27 23:57

WASHINGTON: The divorce rate in the US armed forces increased slightly again in the past year as military marriages continued to bear the stress of the the United States' ninth year at war.

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The Pentagon says that in the budget year that ended September 31, there were an estimated 27,312 divorces among the nearly 765,000 married members of the active-duty Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

That's a divorce rate of about 3.6 percent, compared with 3.4 percent a year earlier.

Defense officials say the increase is held down by programs that are available to military couples. Those programs include retreats, marriage counseling and other efforts aimed strengthening the bonds between couples and relieving the stresses caused by the long separations that come as troops are off at war.