[Joann37]

It's not that men won't go; she VOLUNTEERED to do so. She CHOSE to have children without benefit of marriage; she chose to have them raised by her own mother; she chose to enlist. And this writer is trying to make us feel guilty for this woman's own choices?

[Steel Wolf]

It's not that men won't go; she VOLUNTEERED to do so. She CHOSE to have children without benefit of marriage; she chose to have them raised by her own mother; she chose to enlist.

It's not about us feeling guilt for her decisions. It's criticism of our society for allowing it. Not an unfair criticism, either. Any society that has unwed mothers going to war has something wrong with it.

[Antoninus]

And this writer is trying to make us feel guilty for this woman's own choices?

I don't feel guilty at all. I feel sympathy for the poor kid whose mother made such atrocious decisions in her life. Joining or remaining in the military and basically abandoning your children is not noble in any way.

[L98Fiero]

"It's not that men won't go; she VOLUNTEERED to do so. She CHOSE to have children without benefit of marriage; she chose to have them raised by her own mother; she chose to enlist. And this writer is trying to make us feel guilty for this woman's own choices?"

Ding, ding! You win. :)

[billbears]

She CHOSE to have children without benefit of marriage

Well good. Shows you read the article...

Her ex-husband paid child support. Still, she only scraped by, with the help of public assistance.

Good to see 'conservatives' still up on their high horses. I was starting to worry..You don't know jack about this woman's situation but still you judge. I don't know why she signed up in the National Guard but I bet when she did she didn't envision going off to fight the war of the purple finger either. Course you can feel comforted..

"I tell [the children] that if God needs Mommy to go ... then Mommy's going to have to go again and they're going to have to let me."

Yep, she's swallowed the nationalism/patriotism/faith line. God told her to go...

[freedomdefender]

And this writer is trying to make us feel guilty for this woman's own choices?

How is the writer "trying to make us feel guilty"? I don't feel guilty about policies I oppose but can't change. I oppose the policy of allowing women to serve in combat, and I oppose the policy of allowing mothers of minor children serve in the military. But I can't change that policy, so I don't feel guilty about it - as much as I regret the consequences of that policy. Did you feel "guilty" about stupid Clinton policies? I didn't, even though I opposed them. An article that shows some of the consequences of the stupid policy of letting women serve in the military is welcome. If it happens to make you feel guilty for some reason, that's your problem - and maybe it's a sign that, even though you might not admit it, you're not entirely comfortable with the policy either.