It is currently 03/28/24 10:28 am

All times are UTC - 6 hours




  Page 1 of 1   [ 14 posts ]
Author Message
 Offline
PostPosted: 12/21/09 5:44 am • # 1 
User avatar
Administrator

Joined: 11/07/08
Posts: 42112
I can understand that pregnancy in a war zone creates all kinds of problems ~ I also can understand that there is a heightened need and desire for physical closeness, which are natural biological and emotional responses ~ this policy is just ... WRONG ~ Sooz


By Amanda Terkel at 11:15 am

Top U.S. Commander: Women Who Become Pregnant While On Active Duty Face Jailtime

Major General Anthony Cucolo, who is responsible for operations in northern Iraq, has issued a controversial new policy - which went into effect on Nov. 4 - that allows throwing women servicemembers on active duty in jail if they become pregnant:

Quote:

Under the new policy, troops expecting a baby face court martial and a possible prison term - and so do the men who made them pregnant.

And the rule applies to married couples at war together, who are expected to make sure their love lives do not interfere with duty.

Usual US Army policy is to send pregnant soldiers home from combat zones within 14 days.

But Major General Anthony Cucolo, who runs US operations in northern Iraq, issued the new orders because he said he was losing too many women with critical skills. He needed the threat of court martial and jail time as an extra deterrent, he said.

All troops under his command are covered by the extension to the military's legal code - the first time the US Army has made pregnancy a punishable offence.

Military staff judge advocates for the Army have reviewed and approved the policy. The policy is legal under military law, but it raises "a mare's nest of legal, ethical and policy issues." For example, while the policy does say that a man who impregnates a woman will receive equal punishment, it may be difficult to identify him unless the woman reveals who he is.

Additionally, it's unclear what will happen to a woman who is raped and becomes pregnant. She would technically be eligible for jailtime, but if she is unable to identify her attacker(s), they may go free. Rape and other forms of sexual assault are severe problems in the military. In May, the Pentagon reported that it had "received 2,923 reports of sexual assault across the military in the 12 months ending Sept. 30 2008. That's about a 9 percent increase over the totals reported the year before, but only a fraction of the crimes presumably being committed."

With the military resorting to these extreme discriminatory tactics to retain soldiers with "critical skills," it's another reminder about why the Obama administration needs to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/21/wom ... -pregnant/



Top
  
PostPosted: 12/21/09 5:49 am • # 2 
Bring our troops home. let them get pregnant in the US, and throw all the rapists in jail.

2,923 is a fraction of the sexual assaults. That is really disgusting!!!!!


Top
  
 Offline
PostPosted: 12/21/09 7:49 am • # 3 
User avatar
Editorialist

Joined: 01/16/09
Posts: 14234
it really is. this is a well documented problem, and it needs to be stopped.


Top
  
PostPosted: 12/21/09 7:58 am • # 4 
This sounds like a dictate from the CIC.


Top
  
 Offline
PostPosted: 12/21/09 8:28 am • # 5 
User avatar
Administrator

Joined: 11/07/08
Posts: 42112
gopqed wrote:
This sounds like a dictate from the CIC.

Careful, gop ~ you're beginning to sound like "others", taking a cheap swipe at everything ~ I'd be willing to bet you this is NOT a "CIC dictate" ~

Sooz


Top
  
PostPosted: 12/21/09 8:56 am • # 6 
I don't think so, either. I was just poking at those who were certain that Bush had ordered the activity at Abu Ghraib.

It will be interesting to see if Obama issues any statements critical of this, or whether it is rescinded. I suspect that there may be concern among the command structure that pregnancy is being used as a means to avoid service, but there are probably other means to discourage that rather than the issuance of a blanket policy. It's also possible that the actual policy isn;t a blanket statement at all but allows for this to happen if there is evidence it was done solely to get a ticket home.


Top
  
PostPosted: 12/21/09 10:14 am • # 7 
you mean he didn't order it? You know, I bet you are right, he didn't...but cheney did Image
or was it glenn?
or was it sean?
or was it rush?
I dunno, but I know it was one of 'em

I have always thought it would be easy to get out of serving in the war. why not just say your gay? tell em you weren't before, but you are now....if you weren't to begin with.

How one earth are they going to prove that one got pregnant just to get out of the service. This whole thing reeks.


Top
  
 Offline
PostPosted: 12/21/09 6:40 pm • # 8 
Editorialist

Joined: 08/04/09
Posts: 660
They can always solve the problem by having military medical personnel perform abortions on the women and keep the women's skills available. If military doctors in a combat zone perform the abortions, then it wouldn't involve the taxpayer paying them to do it, and it would be okay-dokey, wouldn't it?

(I realize that is insane, but I am sure it would fit right in with the General's need to dehumanize his "troops.")

more thoughts, but, really, it's too late now.

jd


Top
  
 Offline
PostPosted: 12/22/09 3:05 pm • # 9 
Editorialist

Joined: 08/04/09
Posts: 660
I saw this officer on the news this evening.

It comes to mind some stir in the news media about the VA, or the military, was permitted to supply Viagra for the males, but was prohibited from providing birth control pills for the females. Something about the holier than thous who consider zygotes human beings. Their anti-abortion agenda doesn't seem to comprehend that a preponderance of males in a war zone just might be better off without Viagra?.

I suppose it would be better left unsaid any comment concerning male members of the military (no pun intended) being able to find physical satisfication among females native to the area they are assigned, while it is a bit more difficult for military females to find satisfaction among the males native to the area. It is also far more likely that males might be far more capable of finding sexual satisfaction in forceful ways unavailable to females. (Kindly don't get bent out of shape. It HAS been known to happen.)

This then brings to mind the concept that the General claims he would jail not only the military woman who got pregnant, but the man who impregnated her. If the man impregnates a non-military woman, he suffers no consequence, right?

Considering human nature, the observations of sexual activities in war zones, suggests that men may have all the sex they want, as long as they don't impregnate an American female soldier. Whereas the American female soldier, would be much more at risk of being jailed, as she would be the one with the obvious pregnancy. Hmmmmmm.

Something tells me this General is not thinking in context with the Constitution he has sworn to protect and defend. But, what do I know. We shall see.

jd


Top
  
 Offline
PostPosted: 12/22/09 3:46 pm • # 10 
User avatar
Administrator

Joined: 11/07/08
Posts: 42112
Jeanne, I just found this update ~ I still disagree with this "lawful order", but this update explains the general's rationale and the problems he's trying to avoid ~ he also seems to have backed off the "jail/court-martial" threat ~ Sooz


General: No court-martial for pregnant soldiers
He backs off pregnancy ban, but urges troops to 'think before they act'

msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 3:38 p.m. CT, Tues., Dec . 22, 2009

BAGHDAD - A U.S. general in Iraq who listed pregnancy as a reason for court-martialing soldiers said Tuesday that he would never actually seek to jail someone over the offense, but wanted to underline the seriousness of the issue.

Last month, Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo issued a policy that would allow soldiers who become pregnant and their sexual partners to be court-martialed. But he appeared to back away from the policy in a conference call with reporters, saying the policy was intended to emphasize the problems created when pregnant soldiers go home and leave behind a weaker unit.

"I have never considered court-martial for this, I do not ever see myself putting a soldier in jail for this," said Cucolo, who oversees U.S. forces in northern Iraq. But since pregnant women automatically go home, their units are left short-staffed, he said.

"I need every soldier I've got," Cucolo said. "I need them for the entire duration of this deployment."

Cucolo commands a task force of 22,000 soldiers, which oversees northern Iraq, including cities such as Tikrit, Kirkuk and Mosul. He said he has 1,682 female soldiers.

As soon as the military knows a soldier is pregnant, she is immediately sent home.

Redeployed if pregnant
"If you are a pregnant female in a combat zone, you are redeployed, period. That is actually not my call, that is just what we do," he said.

Cucolo is believed to be the first to make the pregnancy an offense that could be dealt with by court-martial - for both the man and the woman. The ruling only applies to troops under his command. He said women who are raped would not be subject to this order.

"I have to accomplish a very complex mission," he said. "I'm going to do what it takes to maintain our strength."

Cucolo's order outlines some 20 barred activities. Most of them are aimed at keeping order and preventing criminal activity, such as selling a weapon or taking drugs.

Troops also are prohibited from "sexual contact of any kind" with Iraqi nationals. And, they cannot spend the night with a member of the opposite sex, unless married or expressly permitted to do so.

The general said he consulted with a number of women in his unit before coming up with the policy and all supported it. He also consulted with his unit's lawyer.

"It's a very difficult issue because pregnancy does impede readiness," said Genevieve Chase, the founder of American Women Veterans, an organization designed to help female veterans. "Enforcing the rule of this is what's going to be difficult."

Chase said she was especially concerned about holding both males and females responsible.

Chase also said there is already a heavy stigma on women who get pregnant in the battlefield.

"Every time a female does get pregnant there's that automatic assumption, that you're trying to get out of the deployment," she said.

7 soldiers reprimanded
The general said that since his Nov. 4 policy went into effect, four women and three men have been found in violation of it.

The women and two of the men received letters of reprimand that will not become part of their permanent record, the general said. The third man would receive a letter of reprimand in his file - a more serious punishment - because he was also found guilty of offenses including adultery.

All the women were sent home.

One of the female soldiers declined to say who impregnated her and the unit "let it drop," Cucolo told Stars and Stripes, adding that he had no plans to further investigate paternity.

"I'm in a war zone," he said. "I don't have time for that."

"I can't tell you how valuable my female soldiers are," Cucolo said. "They fly helicopters. They run satellites. They're mechanics. They're medics. Some of the best intelligence analysts I have happen to be female."

"Please think before you act," he added in a plea to his troops.

No other units in Iraq have similar rules, Stars and Stripes said, citing military officials. A spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan said no pregnancy ban is in place there.

Military officials say the order was issued because Army policy requires the force to remove a pregnant soldier from a war zone within 14 days of learning of the pregnancy, creating a hole in a unit that makes it more difficult to complete its mission.

Col. David S. Thompson, the inspector general for all soldiers in Iraq, has called the ban "a lawful order."

Thompson, who has served 29 of the past 39 months in Iraq as an inspector general, told Stars and Stripes that it's the first time he can recall pregnancy being prohibited.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34524436/ns ... s-military



Top
  
 Offline
PostPosted: 12/23/09 1:52 am • # 11 
Administrator

Joined: 01/16/16
Posts: 30003
Is it an USian custom to promote boneheads to levels of authority?


Top
  
PostPosted: 12/23/09 2:45 am • # 12 
The armed forces are volunteers so, married or not, you know when you sign up that you may be deployed to a war zone and getting pregnant during your tour-of-duty is not a good idea. Unfortunately, because there is a double standard, it is the woman's responsibility to either use an effective means of birth control such as the pill or to abstain for the duration of her tour. And until they come up with an effective long-term contraceptive for men, like women have now, it will continue to be solely the woman's responsibility. Either that or make both men and women wear chastity belts that won't get unlocked until they return stateside.


Top
  
 Offline
PostPosted: 12/24/09 10:12 am • # 13 
User avatar
Administrator

Joined: 11/07/08
Posts: 42112
VERY good idea ~ Sooz


By Amanda Terkel at 2:10 pm

Military to ditch policy punishing pregnant soldiers.

As of Nov. 4, active-duty soldiers under the command of Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo - who is responsible for operations in northern Iraq - have faced possible punishment if they either become pregnant or impregnate a fellow servicemember. The policy said that they could even receive jailtime, although Cucolo has said that he never intended to put pregnant women in prison. The policy was harshly criticized by women's rights advocates, including U.S. senators. Reuters reports that Gen. Ray Odierno, Commanding General Multi-National Force in Iraq, said today that he would be lifting Cucolo's rules:

Quote:

General Ray Odierno said the new, Iraq-wide guidelines would take effect beginning January 1, lifting rules enacted by the U.S. commander in northern Iraq, who reports to Odierno, that laid out possible punishments for pregnancy among his soldiers. [...]

"That will not be in my orders from January 1," Odierno told Reuters on the sidelines of a seminar in Baghdad, responding to a question about whether possible punishment for soldiers who become pregnant or impregnate other soldiers would be part of new, Iraq-wide guidelines Odierno plans to issue shortly.

According to U.S. policy now, individual commanders can issue rules on behavior for troops under their command that are more strict than those issued by their military superiors.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/24/mil ... gnant-end/


Top
  
 Offline
PostPosted: 12/25/09 6:50 am • # 14 
Administrator

Joined: 01/16/16
Posts: 30003
Reckon Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo got the right time of day... finally.


Top
  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  

  Page 1 of 1   [ 14 posts ] New Topic Add Reply

All times are UTC - 6 hours



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
© Voices or Choices.
All rights reserved.