Army Expands Policies Concerning Pregnancy, Familial Care
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth signed a directive last week to improve opportunities for soldiers to advance their careers and provide the flexibility to care for growing families. The directive consolidates 20 regulations concerning soldier parenthood, pregnancy, and postpartum into one document comprising 12 policy components to assist military families.
By implementing the sweeping changes, the Army expects to retain and improve its personnel's quality of life and welfare.
Half of the provisions stem from grassroots efforts by soldiers across the nation to update Army regulations pertaining to support before, during, and after pregnancy. Among the policy changes are expanding for postpartum operational and training deferments; allowing physical fitness testing exemptions under the Army Body Composition Program; standardizing convalescent leave in cases of miscarriage; permitting select professional military education attendance during pregnancy, providing stability during fertility treatment; and improving family care plans.
“Winning the war for talent means making sure our best and brightest people don’t have to choose between service and Family,” stated Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville in support of the consolidation, “We recruit soldiers, but we retain families.”
The changes impact over 180,000 women in uniform and the 400,000 parents in the Army, including 29,000 single fathers who outnumber single mothers by a three-to-one margin. Although Army Under Secretary Special Assistant Amy Kramer stated the proposed changes would have a minimal impact on the readiness given less than half a percent of Army staff and personnel are pregnant at any given time.
“We recognize that traditional male/father, female/mother – that’s not so traditional anymore. You have single parents, you have single mothers, single dads,” said Army Nurse Lt. Col. Kelly Bell, “But you also have same gender couples who use fertility treatment if they’re female, or on the male side adopting, you have transgender soldiers. This directive really is all inclusive of all parents and that is super exciting.”
According to Lt. Col. Bell, more than 21,000 soldiers have left the service due to pregnancy or parenthood issues in the past ten years. She expects will benefit from these policies as they ease back to duty post-pregnancy and bolster parents who wish to expand their families and advance their careers.