The United States is making huge demands on its military people, the toughest since the Vietnam War. But most soldiers during Vietnam were young, single men. Today, in the all-volunteer military, about half of all service people are married with children, so the burdens of fighting these wars are shared back home.

Read the transcript to the hour-long radio program.

The Army Wife

Jeannette Mulligan is married to Sgt. Clinton Mulligan of the 82nd Airborne Division. Sgt. Mulligan left for Iraq, for the second time, in December, 2004. As Jeannette waited and worried and cared for their three children, she recorded a journal, and moments from her daily life, over several months.

The Army Town

Fayetteville, North Carolina is home to Fort Bragg, the Army's biggest post by population. Soldiers and their families make up half of Fayetteville's population of 130,000. Fort Bragg's $2 billion annual payroll fuels the local economy. But Fayetteville struggles with image problems, and real problems, that come with being a military town.

Do you have a family member on deployment? How do you manage the separation?