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A growing body of research indicates that children of formerly deployed soldiers are at risk of experiencing negative outcomes, but studies are lacking in terms of the exploration of children’s emotions from their own perspective. This article is based on qualitative interviews with 26 children (age 7–20) from 19 Danish families with formerly deployed fathers. The children’s emotions are complex and ambiguous. While deployment leads to a distanced relationship between children and their fathers, following it, some form a close relationship following deployment. However, other children become responsible for maintaining their relationship with their father, altering the generational order.

This article explores the complicated process of post-deployment homecoming in military families in Denmark. Based on qualitative interviews with spouses and children of formerly deployed soldiers, the article analyses some of the main challenges related to homecoming and military-to-family transitions in military families. It illuminates how deployment affects family practices and social relations by especially focusing on gender equality, fatherhood, and masculinity. Based on interviews with spouses and children, the article outlines three masculinity positions available to Danish homecoming veterans: gender equality masculinities, militarized masculinities, and troubled masculinities.