Sea to Shining Sea

A recent Military.com story — mostly on retaining pregnant moms — noted the doubling of the percentage of single Navy dads from 2003 to 2005 (to six from three percent), also making the point that given the sizable male majority, singles dads outnumber single moms among the seafaring fighters.

15,600 single navy dads?

Surprising, but military single dads is not a new issue. A Stars and Stripes reader (sixth letter) asked lat year for equal treatment for the military's single dads and moms.

And it shouldn't be surprising at all. Just life today. No more unlikely but not unusual than a refugee single father of six, taking care of his family in Buffalo. 2000 census data points included

• fathers raise children in 2.2 million motherless households (about one in 45) ... up 62 percent since the 1990 census
  
• close to one in six single parents is a father (only 5 percents are widowers) compared with one in 10 in 1970
• a majority of those are divorced (42 percent) or have never been married (38 percent).
• in 2.2 million households, fathers raise their children without a mother. That's about one household in 45.
  

Here, freer (yeah, it's not the best rhyme ever) ... get used to it!

** Nice that single dads are no longer adrift. **