On Nov. 4, Major General Anthony Cuculo issued a general order making pregnancy or fathering a child a court martial offense in his command in northern Iraq. The general’s order has triggered controversy, despite its seeming even application to men and women.
For insight, FrumForum interviewed retired Major Merideth A. Bucher, author of the much cited paper, The Impact of Pregnancy on U.S. Army Readiness.
Bucher explains that a woman who becomes pregnant ceases to be available for combat service. She will be returned home; her unit is left missing a body, a soldier.
She passionately told of her own experience: Two days before Desert Storm was to begin the female intelligence officer in the Major’s battalion became aware she was pregnant. Because she could not deploy and was sent home the battalion was left vulnerable by having to fight without an intelligence officer present. By losing one person everyone else has to work that much harder to get the mission accomplished. And when a woman soldier in particular gets pregnant, Bucher argues, “it weakens every female soldier standing as a member of that unit. If one woman does that it taints the water for everybody.”
18 responses so far
1 teabag // Dec 25, 2009 at 8:57 am
Anybody? What’s the point of this article. Elise Cooper Frum forums ‘Bag lady” roots around and finds another non story.
2 sinz54 // Dec 25, 2009 at 10:08 am
General Odierno has now overturned Maj. Gen. Cuculo’s order.
But it is a real problem.
Female soldiers cannot get pregnant during the course of their mission. That would leave them indisposed for up to nine months.
I wonder if these soldiers were using birth control. I sure hope they weren’t counting on abstinence when they joined the service.
3 adam1 // Dec 25, 2009 at 11:16 am
“And when a woman soldier in particular gets pregnant, Bucher argues, “it weakens every female soldier standing as a member of that unit. If one woman does that it taints the water for everybody.”
This may in fact be the single dumbest statement ever. If a man soldier gets pregnant, it will cause much more of a problem for the unit.
4 jreb // Dec 25, 2009 at 11:17 am
Teabag, HOW RUDE!! Obviously you were the problem child who always craved attention no matter it was negative attention. Why don’t you and the other trolls go back to the Huffington Post and the Daily Beast where your opinions really matter to someone?
Obviously a pregnant soldier is a detriment to the team concept in a military unit in that each member of the team has a major impact on the success or failure of that team.
The Navy has a six hour for pregnant service women (must be deployed within six hours of emergency medical care). I am sure the other branches of the service have similar rules. In addition the pregnant service woman is unavailable for service in their specific role for up to a year.
Evidently “unplanned” pregnancies have become enough of a problem to unit effectiveness especially in deployed units in either combat or combat support roles that the military leadership has decided to emphasize to their units how detrimental this conduct can be to military units.
The only solution that I can see at this time is to ban women from deployment in combat or combat support roles.
5 balconesfault // Dec 25, 2009 at 1:16 pm
The only solution that I can see at this time is to ban women from deployment in combat or combat support roles.
Or immediate mandatory abortions for any woman who gets pregnant while in a combat zone.
6 ltwpolitics // Dec 25, 2009 at 5:56 pm
If this is such an issue, then why doesn’t the military do more to stamp out the rape and sexual harassment of its women personnel?
Military men often their female comrades, and now the male commanders have decided to imprison the rape victims. Way to stay classy, US military!
7 ltwpolitics // Dec 25, 2009 at 6:00 pm
sorry *Military men often rape their female*
This site needs an edit function.
8 teabag // Dec 25, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Whatever happened to contraception and loyalty to ones wife/partner?
9 Reality Chick // Dec 25, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Teabag, interesting that someone so concerned about loyalty and responsibility can be so gratuitously mean towards Elise Cooper who is simply recording her thoughts and inquiries. If you consider her musings to be less than informative then go read something else!
Being a woman in combat/ service is a huge challenge. Rewarding no doubt, but challenging, especially in war time. To serve one’s country OR to serve one’s desire to procreate and parent can be an impossible choice. Both are worthy endeavors, both are life sustaining and both are commendable on an instinctual level; the issue is timing. Realistically one cannot do both well, simultaneously.
10 ShawninPHX // Dec 25, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Condoms and birth control, even used correctly, can fail at times (my sister came along that way). If the military wants to enforce this rule than it should be against both sexes – no sex while deployed on combat (even when you go home for break).
If you’re going to tell one sex that they shall not do something then it’s only fair to tell the other sex to do the same.
I have a feeling this would not go well in the military and would be immediately overruled. Rightly in my opinion.
11 A Court-Martial For Diaper Duty « Around The Sphere // Dec 26, 2009 at 12:04 pm
[...] Elise Cooper at FrumForum: On Nov. 4, Major General Anthony Cuculo issued a general order making pregnancy or fathering a child a court martial offense in his command in northern Iraq. The general’s order has triggered controversy, despite its seeming even application to men and women. [...]
12 PracticalGirl // Dec 26, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Very weird discussion to be having on Christmas day…
I found it significant that everybody on this thread concentrated on the women soldiers and completely ignored “or fathering a child” as a court martial offense. Cuculo at least attempted some parity and some recognition that women don’t get pregnant alone. Very stupid, knee jerk ruling on the whole though: What would have happened if a married soldier whose wife was nonmilitary had fathered a child? Presumably, he would have been court martialed. Better heads seemed to have prevailed.
13 WWM // Dec 27, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Significant level of ignorance and prejudice here. The rule DID apply to males as well as females.
14 DFL // Dec 28, 2009 at 9:09 am
I think the author is indicating one of the reasons why women don’t belong in the military. In our egalitarian times, women will never be outright banned from the military. However, stronger physical standards for service- benchpressing 175 pounds, running a seven minute mile etc.- could eliminate much of the problem.
15 Carney // Dec 28, 2009 at 1:57 pm
http://cmrlink.org/WomenInCombat.asp
See also:
“Women in the Military: Flirting With Disaster” by Brian P. Mitchell (Regnery, 1998);
“The Kinder, Gentler Military: How Political Correctness Affects Our Ability to Win Wars” by Stephanie Gutman (Encounter Books, 2001);
and
“Co-ed Combat: The New Evidence That Women Shouldn’t Fight the Nation’s Wars” by Kinsgley Browne (Sentinel HC, 2007).
16 DFL // Dec 29, 2009 at 11:50 am
Both the Gutman book and the Mitchell book are excellent exposes yet both are, in the words of Donovan, like trying to catch the wind.
17 jjv // Dec 29, 2009 at 8:35 pm
I seem to recall the army made getting sunburn court martial offenses in the tropics because it injured soldiers performance and was completely preventable. The real problem here is, of course, women are not cut out to be warriors. We rely to much on female soldiers. It is a problem for the Army when a woman is pregnant but it is also a problem when they are mothers away from their children. It is not an accident that even countries committed to outcome egalitarianism like the Soviet Union and Israel turned to front line female troops only in extremis. Let us not forget also that pregnancy without this rule is a way to evade very rough duty, much like Corporal Klinger attempted in MASH by dressing in drag some young women may regret their decision and see this as a natural and easy way out.
18 ESK // Jan 15, 2010 at 9:43 pm
I find it sickening that there are people here saying women don’t belong in the military. How about all the “MEN” who have no business being in the military? I for one have come across many females who are often more apt and willing to go to a combat situation then their male counterparts. Of course there are females who say “oops this is not for me, I don’t want to be in combat.” Please do not pretend that same shit isn’t being said by the males.
The solution is not to take all women out of combat or combat support roles, the solution is to hold them and the men that get them pregnant personally responsible. I didn’t say send them to jail, but put them on restriction, take away some pay, knock them down a paygrade.
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