Lonely U.S. Soldiers Abroad Turning To Online Dating Sites

In accordance to statistics compiled from a number of top online dating sites, an increasing pattern is surfacing with regards to U.S. soldiers publishing online dating user profiles.

This trend appears to be widespread for men serving prolonged tours of duty within battle torn regions that include Afghanistan and Iraq. Although President Barack Obama has timetabled an exit strategy for both conflicts, it appears this plan cannot come quickly enough for a lot of home sick and lonely soldiers many of who have been isolated from dating and company for longer than two years.

Spokesman, Dave Jenkins, who is the director of the Wellness and Relationships Centre in North Adelaide exposed this increased online dating activity involving U.S. troops and remarks “presently there are still some 230,000 U.S. members of the military serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and our study tells us that 2% of all of these men are actively utilizing either subscription based or free dating sites which amounts to around 4600 soldiers.”

Mr. Jenkins has recently been following this particular emerging trend within the last 3 years and has documented a 110% upward trend on these reports. In 2008, there were an estimated 0.8% of U.S. soldiers using singles online dating from inside combat zones, which has approximately doubled based on the most up to date figures.

Single members of the military who had served in foreign lands for more than nine months on tours of duty were definitely the most likely to search on the internet to reach out to society considering that their lifestyles had become so isolated. U.S. troops have decent access to the net and quite often make use of additional interactive online programs such as Skype chat, as well as Face Book.

Weighing in on this story, Phil Taylor, a matchmaking expert from a popular U.S. online dating site, Today’s Dating has mentioned “I confirm and authenticate around three hundred dating profiles daily onto our internet site and there is a large volume of singles profiles coming through on a daily basis from U.S. soldiers looking for good friends and romantic endeavors, and to be truthful I can not help feel for these guys since their alternatives to interact with real life can only come by means of their laptops.”

Other research coming out of the Wellness and Relationships Centre in North Adelaide clearly shows that separation and divorce levels are undoubtedly rising in connection with U.S soldiers serving offshore. War throughout Afghanistan as well as Iraq is without question taking its toll on the spirits and well-being of long serving soldiers and low morale is specially compounded at Xmas and Thanks Giving season.

When these men are eventually released from their responsibilities, the mental scars are destined to remain impacting on their psychological well-being. For numerous U.S. soldiers serving in wars, even after the combat areas have been departed, many may experience uncertainty and challenges hoping to develop and retain new and existing connections, why? Basically because authorities tell us it will take a lot of people a long time to fit back into mainstream modern society after suffering the day in day out killing and devastation war brings.