Military brat (U.S. subculture)

Military brat is an informal term for a child who has one or more parents who serves or served full-time in the military. It implies that such an upbringing is essentially different from that experienced by those in the community at large. It can be an insult or a compliment, depending on the context.

In the US, being a military brat particularly implies:

• that you moved frequently as a child because your family was stationed at new locations every year or two
• attended many different schools and never established strong roots in a community.
• exposure to military discipline and authority from early childhood, which usually leads to comfort in dealing with institutional authority (but occasionally leads to rebellion against it).

Third Culture Kid is a more general term for this phenomenon. It carries connotations of having a stricter upbringing than many people.