Pregnant soldiers leaving Iraq
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| Thu, 06-17-2004 - 4:14pm |
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/003200406170322.htm
Pregnant soldiers leaving Iraq, US "unaware of numbers"
Washington, June 17. (PTI): Many U.S. women soldiers in Iraq are leaving the frontline and returning home, but the Pentagon does not want to reveal their numbers as the "embarrassing" statistic includes unwed mothers, media reported on Wednesday.
"U.S. Central Command is not tracking the number of troops who must leave the Iraq war theatre due to pregnancy, prompting military advocates to charge that the Pentagon wants to keep secret what could be an embarrassing statistic," The Washington Times said in a report.
The paper said that there have been anecdotal reports of unmarried women soldiers becoming pregnant in Iraq. One military police unit reported losing three women for that reason.
Lynndie England, the 21-year-old photographed holding a leash attached to a naked Iraqi prisoner, became pregnant during an affair with another soldier at the Abu Ghraib prison compound in Iraq, it said.
But overall numbers are hard to come by. "We are definitely not tracking it," said a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which runs the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I have been attending operations briefings for two years, and I don't think I have heard once that pregnancy has come up."
As in the case of England, said the paper, pregnancies can be embarrassing to the military. In May 2003, the Marine Corps was forced to bring a Marine back home after she gave birth on a Navy warship in the Persian Gulf. She told superiors that she did not know she was pregnant.

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Haven't they heard of abstinence! ;)
Brits make their stats public. Note, not all became preg. while in Iraq some found out while there.
An approx. figure might be around 415......... given that the Brits. have 20% of the coalition forces over there.
Army sends 83 pregnant troops home from Iraq.
Almost 1,700 members of the Armed Forces were medically downgraded because of service in Iraq last year, of whom 83 were pregnant, according to Government figures.
The statistics were obtained by Paul Keetch, the defence spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, amid concern over reported recurrences of Gulf war syndrome.
But the revelation that 83 of the female troops sent to the Gulf were downgraded as a result of pregnancy raised eyebrows within the Ministry of Defence and among politicians.
An MoD spokesman said the figures did not necessarily mean that the women became pregnant while in Iraq. "The figures will include women who only discovered they were pregnant once they arrived in Iraq," she said.
They would then have been downgraded and sent home, she added. It was not possible from available statistics to distinguish between women who became pregnant before being deployed and those who fell pregnant afterwards.
More.......
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/06/14/narmy14.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/06/14/ixhome.html
You would think the military would have some method of handling this before hand to help limit the occurrence of pregnancies. I often think that it's one of these deals that if "they" wait long enough women will hang themselves *sigh*.
Doesn't the military have some type of regulation about fraternization?
In the big picture I'm proud to see them doing their duty, there has to be a better way to say that. lol God bless them.
G
Women don't get pregnant by themselves, why do they deserve all the blame--because they can be identified. This is really old thinking. Given that many troops are being held beyond their contracted tour, this may be the only out.
Welcome to the In The News board!
Stuff like this kind of makes me nuts. Women want to be treated equal then go do stuff like this. However, I assume a lot of these women are still very young and really haven’t committed themselves to certain beliefs and ideas. They are just living what life deals them and are still learning from the consequences of their actions.
Oh...I see...the women should abstain in order to be 'equal'...but the men can go around and do as they please?
>"Women want to be treated equal then go do stuff like this."<
I agree. At least take responsibility & use BC.
The men
Pentagon does not want to reveal their numbers as the "embarrassing" statistic includes unwed mothers, media reported on Wednesday.
I would think that the 'embarrassment' would be because they obviously don't provide their enlisted with access to birth control...
No, of course not. I think both men and women should be held responsible. If these women want to have these children great. If the men want them great. If it is an issue and a problem then each indvidual has to take responsibility and deal with consequences. Please forgive me for not including the men in that statement.
That's an option and I'm sure there are many.
Thanks for the welcome!
Agree that men should be held accountable as well.
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