The U.S. military once discouraged soldier marriage and ignored families entirely

Evidence

Until the end of the nineteenth century, after all, the U.S. military had made no formal provisions whatsoever for the lives or well-being of soldiers’ partners and children. Military leaders generally referred to them as “camp followers.” The only women allowed to live on post were a few officers’ wives; the wives of ordinary soldiers had to live outside the walls. Only in the 1890s did the Army begin to create basic schools on posts for children and to provide food rations and other benefits to the families of enlisted men—benefits that barely foreshadowed the amenities to come. Indeed, until 1913 the Army actively discouraged its soldiers from marrying. A popular line has long said if the Army had wanted you to have a wife, it would have issued you one. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 120

Categorization

• CANDY: The ‘if the Army had wanted you to have a wife, it would have issued you one’ line is a great light fact.