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Ohio State University Extension

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OMK Where are our Military Kids?

 

Military families are everywhere!

If you look at these maps, you will see that military families live in every county in Ohio. As might be expected, the more populated areas of the state also have more military families. Often, military families may live hours from the facility where their unit is based.

How many military youth are in Ohio?

From the most recent numbers provided by the Defense Manpower Data Center (2012), the total number of military youth in Ohio from all branches and components is 32,964!

How many military families are there in Ohio?

There is no simple way to answer this question. The maps above show the location of Army and Air National Guard and Army Reserve service members in Ohio. Map 1 combines Ohio Army National Guard (OHARNG), Ohio Air National Guard (OHANG), and Army Reserves (USAR). Map 2 is the Army National Guard and Map 3 is the Air National Guard. Note that the scale of the first map (1 dot = 5 service members) is different from the other two (where 1 dot = 1 service member). In all, there are approximately 18,000 National Guard (Army and Air) and 4,500 Army Reserve service members in Ohio. This is not the entire picture of military families, however, because it does not account for all of the branches of the service. The dots on the map represent the service member, some of whom are single, some of whom are married without children, and some of whom have children. All of them, however, are part of families and extended families.

How many children in Ohio have a parent deployed in military service?

Again, there is no simple way to answer this question. Our best estimate is that at any point in time, about 1,000 to 1,500 children have a parent deployed. But the number is constantly changing, so it's hard to keep up with it. Additionally, there is the cumulative impact - that is, those who have ever had a parent deployed, and that number, of course, is much larger than the number at any given point in time. To get an idea of the scope of the situation, with the Ohio National Guard alone, about half of the 18,000 service members have been deployed since 9/11.

Fast Facts
  • Military youth live in every county in Ohio; they are concentrated in populated centers around the state.
  • The majority of youth are associated with the Reserve Component: 34% National Guard & 27% Reserves. The largest portion of active duty service members are in the Air Force in the area surrounding Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
  • Ages: 36% are ages 0 to 5, 39% are ages 6 to 12, and 25% are ages 13 to 18 years old.
  • The 18 counties with 500 or more account for approximately 2/3 of the military youth population.
 
 

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