Posted on 12/22/2009 8:41:51 AM PST by BradtotheBone
An Army general in Iraq backed away from his threat today to court martial female soldiers who get pregnant.
"I see absolutely no circumstance where I would punish a female soldier by court martial for a violation ... none," Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo III wrote to ABC News in an exclusive statement. " I fully intend to handle these cases through lesser disciplinary action."
Cucolo triggered debate, some of it angry, when his Nov. 4 policy forbidding pregnancy among his soldiers became public recently. His policy statement said violation of the rule could be punishable by court martial, and that it would also apply to the men who get female soldiers pregnant, even if the couple is married.
While legal and military experts said the order was proper, a spokeswoman for the National Organization for Women called it "ridiculous."
"How dare any government say we're going to impose any kind of punishment on women for getting pregnant," NOW President Terry O'Neill said. "This is not the 1800s."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
One of my joys in the military took place at Ft. Knox where I was teaching. A basic trainee company commander shows up with the troops, she is pregnant and has no daddy for her future offspring. She plops down at my desk puts her feet up and talks about her future in the military. I wanted nothing more than to get out of the military at that point.
How did she get into basic training if she was pregnant?
The General seems to be confused.
If a soldier is brought before his comander for Non-Judicial Punishment, he or she can choose to bump the hearing to the next level of comand or request a Courts Martial hear the charges.
She wasn’t in basic training she was the Company Commander for the trainees. She was a Captain in the US Army and now is probably a Division EEO officer or some other high ranking waste of a position.
***An Army general in Iraq backed away from his threat today to court martial female soldiers who get pregnant. ****
Because they took something serious that was poked at them in fun!
OK, thanks for the clarification. I’ve worked with lots of females in naval shore facilities, and it’s not all that fun.
He just learned that his mistress killed the rabbit.
There are women serving proudly and professionally in our armed forces. We could not field what we have today without them. In addition to those, there are a small number using pregnancy as an easy out. Those cowards who do damage unit effectiveness and cohesion. That is the general's concern.
In the general's personal explanation, he points out that some may not understand the reasoning, though IMO he did a good job of explaining it.
Maybe the military should actively look to recruit more short men.
There’s a time and place for everything, however common sense has been lost.
My x’s niece is a combat paratrooper. She’s all of 5’ 2 and maybe 100 lbs. I’m so glad she gets to play soldier.
My daughter is commissioned officer in the regular Army. Though a nursing student, she went through the full Army ROTC curriculum and earned a DMG. She is 5-10 and shoots expert. She is a bit of an amazon, and takes to heart the warrior ethos and the Army’s core values. She is going to be a flight nurse on helos. We fully expect to see her go to into theater.
There is no perfect birth control method short of surgery or abstinence.
There is no perfect vaccine, either
But you take what is required to offer the best possible chance of protection so you can continue to do your job
Women subject to deployment should be offered norplant, iud or another long-lasting form of birth control, or counseled to abstain. Men also counseled to avoid sex or avoid pregnancy by using condoms.
There’s a shocker, the miltary can order you to control personal behaviors detrimental to your combat fitness.
Remember, it’s a VOLUNTEER army. Don’t like it- don’t (re)enlist.
given the new ROE that only women can search female insurgents, she’ll be busy. I hope its a woman who finds osama bin laden in a burqa.
...we referred to it as "damage to government property".
ouch
I had to watch the mandatory GI venereal disease movie when I deployed to SEA.
I was a married woman but I had never seen body parts that looked like that!
I agree to a point. None are perfect and most of the longer lasting ones have negative side effects, some detrimental to military service.
Its really a matter of attitude. If a woman warrior gets pregnant accidentally, despite taking reasonable precautions, it should not be held against her. Nor should she be pressured into an abortion. The concern is malingering by those trying to take advantage of the system.
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