The Military Is Pregnant

Coping with motherhood in the armed forces

When the Navy repair ship U.S.S. Vulcan set sail on a six-month Mediterranean cruise some weeks ago, it had to leave ten crew members behind in Norfolk. Reason: they were pregnant. Rejiggering assignments because of pregnancy is a fact of life these days in the armed forces. Indeed, the pregnant soldier or sailor is becoming as common as the beer-bellied sergeant. At any given time, about 12% of the 130,000 U.S. military women are with child. While some oldtimers grumble that the armed forces are turning into a giant maternity ward, officers are struggling manfully to accommodate the pregnant. Says Vice Admiral Thor Hanson, staff director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff: "It will have to become a factor, like actuarial tables."

One reason for all the military pregnancy is that women who make the service a career are determined to live as normal a life as possible. For many, that means having children. Some who intend to quit the service after a brief stint are attracted by the benefits offered to those who bear children as well as arms: free medical care and a liberal leave policy.

Standard operating procedure in all branches of the service is to keep pregnant women at their jobs as long as possible. Then they are transferred to light duty or put on sick leave. In practice, different commanders make different decisions. An Army colonel, just back from Korea, said pregnant soldiers "were making the forced marches with all their equipment." Yet some officers try to get such women out of the way early. Says Rear Admiral James R. Hogg, of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations: "The bottom line is, we'll get her transferred before she becomes a burden to her shipmates."

Any kind of overprotectiveness irritates many of the women. Says Kathleen Carpenter, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Equal Opportunity: "Your male NCOS aren't comfortable talking about female physiology. The effect is to err on the side of being extremely cautious and remove them from danger. It's the women who fight to stay on duty."

Some, like Marine Second Lieutenant Laurie Glenn Jacobson, manage to have their babies without missing much work. Jacobson, 26, completed a tough five-month course for officers at Quantico, Va., during her pregnancy. "The last couple of three-mile runs," she said, "I came in slower than everyone else." After Jacobson was transferred to Camp Pendleton, Calif., as executive officer of an ordnance and maintenance company, she worked hard until the day before she gave birth. Her labor lasted just three hours. Said she: "I credit that to the great physical conditioning of the Marine Corps." Another military mother, Captain Diane Cook, 30, of Dover Air Force Base, Del, worked twelve-hour shifts until a week before her daughter was born. "I had morning sickness," she said, "but I arranged to have it at night."

Though most women quit work earlier than Jacobson and Cook, indications are that not much time is being lost because of pregnancy. A 1977 Defense Department study showed that Army women lose an average of three working hours per month because of pregnancy. A Navy study done the same year found that women lose less time than men, partly because of the male penchant for alcohol, drugs and general roistering. Females miss an average of 4.22 days a year, compared with 7.03 for males.

Despite the figures, frustration in dealing with military mothers comes out in charges that the women are inefficient or a danger to morale. "Pregnancy isn't a problem," said one Pentagon officer. "The women work up to the last minute. But child care is a problem, trying to do two jobs at once. When it comes time to get going, they can't do it on time." Another complaint: pregnancy irritates military men while bringing out their tenderness. Says one Army commander: "The guys will take care of a pregnant soldier--and at the same time resent it."

The Pentagon has belatedly moved to meet one of the minor complaints--that pregnant women who outgrow their uniforms undermine morale by appearing at work in civvies. The Air Force and Navy have introduced maternity uniforms over the past 18 months. (The Navy sells them; the Air Force gives them away.) The Army will not get around to approving a design until next spring.

So far, the military seems to be coping well enough with the pregnancy problem. Few officers think it has much effect on efficiency, and most seem ready with a stiff-upper-lip comment. Says one American general in Germany: "It has never impacted on readiness." Rear Admiral Hogg thinks the Navy is just as shipshape with mothers on board. Says he: "The people in the Navy look on motherhood as being compatible with being a woman." Aye, aye, sir.

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