Catherine Watson Genna wrote:
<<> Poor mom, I can't believe that our gov't would send a nursing mom so far
> from her infant!  >>

and Rachel Myr wrote:
<<Maybe this would be something she could take up - equal maternity rights
for all female military personnel in the entire alliance.>>

As the wife of a retired US military man, I feel the need to speak up.  I
have definite opinions regarding mother-infant separation.  I also had to spend
too many months & years as a single-not-by-choice parent who's spouse was sent
overseas to provide medical care for US troops involved in wars/battles with
no idea of when (or if) he'd be back.  The US military has come a long way in
providing more equal rights to female military members...I remember when a
female would be kicked out of the military when she became pregnant.  But equal
rights have had a downside, in that when any person signs on that dotted line,
their body becomes the property of the US military branch in which they have
enlisted, and their rights are no more.  Examples: mandatory urine and blood
testing on a regular basis, the loss of rights to sue the military for any reason
including incompetent health care, low pay and lower-than-cost-of-living
raises every year (the vast majority of the military families have incomes low
enough to qualify for WIC), mandatory vaccinations with unproven serums, and loss
of the right to have a say in living locations around the world. This
provides quite the quandry...provide equal rights (in the military sense) to all
military members (all are eligible for deployment at the drop of a hat) or
discriminate against women (or men, depending how you view it) and keep  postpartum
women at home with their babies under (pick an age).  My personal feelings
match what Rachel Myr has shared, with a twist...give all new parents, both male
and female, an opportunity to be with their new family.  The number of active
duty military members in the US is less than 1% of the US population.  In order
to give these types of "benefits" keeping new families together, I suspect
we'd need to reinstitute the draft or dramatically increase military pay to
provide the increase in numbers of military members to provide protection for the
US population.

Kathy Parkes

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