A young gal called saying that her wedding was at the failure mark. As a matter of fact, there were not any benefits, period. As she put it, "he came back home, they debriefed him and that was it - it was like, 'thank you for serving, we are done with you ; go home.'". The tale appears to be a downcast repeat, simply a different couple. And while this isn't representative of all returning Guard and Reserve troops, it does stay true for too many. More than 40 % ( forty percent ) of our army forces in Afghanistan and Iraq are made of National Guard and Army Reserve troops. In the initial years, many of these families were ill-prepared for deployment - particularly the Guard. It was well known that any person who joined the Guard would serve their state, not the central government. Also called the "backdoor draft," this policy permits the regiment to keep troops outside the date they are due to leave the army. Wedding failure in our army is actually the "numberless casualty of war." Currently, there are 2.8 failed army weddings each hour - and this only accounts for our active duty troops. This does not account for the ones that are in our Guard and Reserve who leave service after weeks or days of returning from combat and end their unions weeks or months later on. Preparing on the front end is even more significant. If you know that you are about to stroll thru a mine field, it only makes perfect sense to follow in the foot steps of a pair or couples that have walked the field and made it. Find your baseline as a couple by taking a check up. Do this prior to going and after. The "check-up" is meant to identify your strengths as a couple and build on them, these include financial checkups as well for good credit, any outstanding cash advance loans and possible debt arrears. You may search for a guru in your area to help guide you through this. To actually avoid being a casualty, you want to prepare both on the front end and on the back-end. Follow in the steps of those that have succeeded and you enhance your possibility of succeeding too.