The end of a deployment can be a tough time for a married couple in Virginia. It may seem like a time to celebrate since your spouse is finally coming home, safe and sound. Spouses are thankful for the safe physical return of their significant other, but sometimes the mental trauma that happened to them while they were facing combat remains long after they come home.

Since 2001, military divorce rates have increased by 42 percent. This large spike may have something to do with the serious effects that war can have on an individual. With post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, depression as well as alcohol and drug abuse, a return home can be a lot harder than it sounds.

All of these statistics seem to be working against marriages lasting while at least one spouse is in the military. But programs have been put in place to help combat the effects of deployment. Resiliency training programs, counseling and psychological tests have been created and implemented in the hopes that soldiers and families will be able to better cope with their situations.

Even with these programs, it seems that occurrences may still be happening that are less than ideal.

As active-duty military members come home from foreign lands, the frustration often begins with the struggle to rejoin society. This frustration sometimes translates into domestic violence which has the potential to hurt a marriage worse than any other behavior.

A now-defunct domestic violence task force at the Pentagon attempted at one time to maintain several programs designed to prevent this from happening. It seems that once troops were initially deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, the needs for these programs disappeared and the task force was disbanded.

Some are saying that a normal family life has become yet another casualty to war. If this is true, it may mean tough times ahead for anyone that is married and in the military.

Source: Top Secret Writers, "Battle on the Home Front: Rates of Violence Soar for Returning Soldiers," Jan. 18, 2012