Hello All,

My .02 here.  Adding to what Robyn Roche-Paull said in her post.   
Unfortunately, we are lagging when it comes to maternity leave in the  
U.S.  The civilian sector is no better, with the typical 6 weeks of  
maternity leave.  I believe this issue and the passions that it  
invokes is much the same as what is going on right now in our country  
when it comes to health care insurance--which I know this is not the  
forum for discussing this. This said, women in the military here had  
to fight hard to even be able to be a part of the military--and they  
are still fighting to be accepted.  It is still a "man's army."  The  
feeling is if you cannot do your job, than you should not be here.   
Men and women are constantly deploying, and if you cannot deploy,  
then another needs to take your place, which may not be fair,  
especially if that person just returned from a deployment.  At this  
point, a year's maternity leave for a woman, even a man would not go  
over well.  The healthcare system of the military is still set up for  
the active duty male, forget the active duty female, let alone family  
members!

Do I agree with this, no, absolutely not, but after 20 years and  
counting, I know now that change will be slow, and you can go through  
the backdoor more easily to help moms when possible.  What I mean by  
this is:  I encourage moms to add whatever leave (vacation) time they  
have onto their maternity leave.  Of course, this is not always  
approved depending on their job and the mission, which comes first. I  
believe enlisted moms are still given the choice to leave the  
military at about 20 weeks into the pregnancy. The problem here is  
that many moms still do not know how they are going to feel until  
that moment they give birth--and realize that they want to stay home  
with their baby. Officers, have to wait till the end of their  
commitment.  Yes, they do have to choose one or the other in this  
instance.  I have seen some heartbreaks here with moms counting the  
days till they can separate from the military.

I have also seen the moms who made it work.  One husband and wife  
were dual military.  After the husband retired, she had her first  
child at age 40. He stayed home.  Whenever she had to make trips, her  
mom came with her and brought the baby.  At this time---about 12  
years ago-- she did not have to worry about deployments. Another mom  
was fortunate that the military hospital she worked at, had onsite  
daycare.

I do not like the current situation and do the best I can to support  
these mothers and try to bring about some change in policy.   
Unfortunately, things will not change anytime soon--and definitely  
not before things change in the civilian sector in the U.S.

Regards,
Gloria Thai, Va, USA--whose husband is 20 years in the Air Force.



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