Perhaps you heard about the NC mom, Lisa Pagan, who was recalled by the army and made the case that there was no one to care for her children. Her husband travels extensively for his job, and both sets of grandparents live out of state. Having exhausted the appeals process, she showed up for duty with her two kids in tow.
Perhaps sensing a PR nightmare, the army has promised that she will be discharged. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090302/ap_on_re_us/military_mom
Now I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this story. In one way I totally sympathized with this woman, having pulled a slightly similar stunt once myself. I was still nursing my oldest when I was called for jury duty. I phoned to explain the situation and was told to get a sitter. My child had never taken a bottle and there was no way I was going to make her start just for this... So I showed up that day with her in my arms and they sent me away telling me that they would recall me soon and that I would need to find someone to care for her.
In the end, it turned out not to be an issue for me the second time I was called, but that experience 20 years ago left me thinking that the judicial system had some catching up to do with the needs of modern-day moms, and it was about time the system changed to be more sensitive to those needs.
To rip off another anthemic chant: We're ladies, we have babies, get used to it.
I think the same applies to the military today. In this case, my mixed feelings stemmed from the fact that Pagan knew what she had signed up for, that her husband could have made a choice to change jobs (even in these tough times -- he had over a year, with the appeals process), and that it seems questionable that all the grandparents (or any other extended family) were really unable to help out.
Whatever the full case may be on each of those counts, it seems that the military still has that catching up to do. In an effort to treat servicemen and women as equally as possible, something gets lost in the implementation. It's a minefield that's tough to navigate -- there are so many variables -- but ultimately I think the trump factor is that the well-being of children is at stake.
Sure there may be those who take advantage of the system -- purposely getting pregnant or overstating hardship in an effort to avoid obligations. But all things considered, keeping in mind the importance of motherhood and the needs of the young should compel tptb in the armed forces to err on the side of keeping families intact.
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