desertvixen: (SFC)
[personal profile] desertvixen

 They did print my response to Single Female Soldiers Getting Pregnant Destroys Government Property.

 Part of it, anyway.  (I know, I know, they reserve the right to edit, but ... they sort of pulled my letter's teeth.)

 My letter is under the cut, with the parts printed in the Times in bold.


 

In response to the letter by SSG Lambert (‘Discriminating Against Dads’), I have to say how disappointing it is to see an NCO expressing not only a sexist attitude, but wrong information as well.  Female Soldiers do not get pregnant for “extra uniforms” or “tennis shoes”, and we do not get “months of convalescent leave”.  Female Soldiers get pregnant for the same reason as other women – because they want to have a child, because they have a birth control failure, because they want to. 

As for the “outright ridiculous” claims you make in your letter, perhaps you should check your facts first.  Female Soldiers are issued extra uniforms, but these uniforms are not ours to keep – and they cannot be worn except during pregnancy.  We don’t get issued tennis shoes either, but some women are given a tennis shoe profile to prevent complications from swelling.  The Army does not give female Soldiers “months of convalescent leave” – it is six weeks.  Soldiers may opt to take more leave if approved by their command, but the extra leave is ordinary leave.  Female Soldiers are exempt from the APFT standards for six months after giving birth, but this is to give them time to get back into shape after pregnancy and childbirth.  It is a recovery period, just the same as an injured Soldier would receive.  It is necessary, and I assure you – it is not relaxing.  It is hard work, and it does take time.

The worst part of your letter, however, was the part where you want to discriminate against female Soldiers based on your moral grounds.  The Army does not distinguish between a single female Soldier and a female Soldier who is part of a dual-military marriage – both must receive counseling,  both must have a family care plan, and both must be prepared to deploy.  Your suggestion that single female Soldiers who become pregnant “out of wedlock” should be subject to UCMJ action is discriminatory.  I also wonder whether you would support the same UCMJ action for male Soldiers who impregnate single female Soldiers – after all, it does take two.  Instead, you blame the female Soldier. 

You also mention overhearing female Soldiers say they won’t deploy because they are pregnant.  They will not be deployed while they are pregnant, and for six months afterwards.  This is Army policy.  However, being a mother does not exempt you from deployment.  If these female Soldiers truly believed what they said, the joke will be on them. 

I am a senior NCO and a single mother (through divorce), and I am tired of all female Soldiers having to deal with the negative acts of a few female Soldiers being used against all of us.  “Everyone knows” that one female Soldier who got pregnant to get out of being deployed, but that one Soldier does not represent all of us.  I agree that SPC Hutchinson should either get her family care plan together, or be chaptered from the Army.  I don’t agree that her situation should be used against the rest of us.

Respectfully, SFC Danielle Hart

Fort Huachuca, AZ

DV

 

Date: 2010-01-07 09:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cynthia1960.livejournal.com
Grrr, argh, they did pull your teeth, damn it.

Date: 2010-01-07 09:55 pm (UTC)
ext_88369: (Default)
From: [identity profile] raeyn.livejournal.com

Hooray for getting published, but ack, they really did take out the good bits.

Date: 2010-01-07 10:28 pm (UTC)
shadowcat: (Default)
From: [personal profile] shadowcat
My goddess! What they did print made it sound like a completely different letter than what you had written. It made it miss the point completely.

Date: 2010-01-07 10:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gi-janearng.livejournal.com
Did you email them and ask why they edited it? I sure would grill them about day and night and I wouldn't be one damn bit surprised if it was a bunch of men that were doing the editing too. :/

Date: 2010-01-07 11:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] katyblue.livejournal.com
Yeah, they def pulled the meat out of it. I like your argument about the OP's "moral grounds" and the part about not using a couple of sheisty soldiers t represent the entire female Army population at large. I'm freaking sick of it too. I'm not even a mom. However, in my opinion, it is way more acceptable to see single NCOs and officers pregnant than jr enlisted. You may not agree with that, but everytime I see a single jr enlisted soldier pregnant I inwardly cringe at her representation of female army soldiers.

Date: 2010-01-07 11:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] garpu.livejournal.com
Argh. :( It's a good letter, though.

Date: 2010-01-07 11:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kishiriadgr.livejournal.com
Why'd they remove the last paragraph from the end, I wonder?

Date: 2010-01-08 12:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] melody1228.livejournal.com
Why did they edit it at all? I could see them being allowed to edit it if it violated OPSEC, but it doesn't. If it was an issue with the number of words, they should have contacted you and asked you to do your own editing and resubmit. That's been the policy at the newpapers I've worked at...

Date: 2010-01-08 03:30 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rockahulababy.livejournal.com
That is seriously frustrating. On the one hand, it's nice that they printed your letter, but the completely changed the tone and direction of it by editing most of it out. I get that they sort of have to, but there could have been some way for them to include portions of the last two paragraphs, as well, because there was really good stuff in them. (I particularly like where you ponder what he thinks should happen to male Soldiers who impregnate female Soldiers under the UCMJland he lives in.)

Date: 2010-01-08 03:53 am (UTC)
ext_76: Picture of Britney Spears in leather pants, on top of a large ball (Default)
From: [identity profile] norabombay.livejournal.com
Argh about the editing, but I'm glad that you wrote them.

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