The heart, the backbone, the counterweight: constructing relationships between military families, the military, and the nation in the UK Armed Forces Families Strategy

There exists an established literature within critical military studies detailing how military welfare policies attempt to manoeuvre non-serving military spouses’ behaviours in ways which are productive for military interests. This article contributes to these discussions by exploring these issues within a contemporary socio-political landscape as the British Armed Forces seeks to position itself as an inclusive, modern employer that is proactive and attentive towards supporting military families. Focusing on the UK Armed Forces Families’ Strategy 2022–2032, this article explores how military families are discursively constructed as recognizable subjects, and how these constructs contribute to the mobilization of normative, idealized expectations of their practice and behaviours. Overall, it highlights the ways in which deservedness and need are constructed by the Ministry of Defence, bringing into critical discussion the imagined relationship between military families, the military, and the nation.