Wouldnt want to be in this SOLDIER/PARENTS shoes?

Well Now she will go to jail for being AWOL. Not sure how really the Service will handle this one when a person has no one to take care of the baby and I wouldnt want mine going into a care place but then now if she goes to jail the kid will go to one anyway unless the grand parents step up or get well what ever then they woud take care of the kids Sad story!

But do we know the details of her pregnancy? How do we know that she was not raped? How do we know that her method of birth control failed? How do we know that she was not EXPECTING to get pregnant, but when she did, she decided to be a MOTHER first? No baby should have to go into foster care for this reason.

When you say that she’s ‘using’ her single parent status as an excuse, I just stop and mull over it and it seems that yes…women are prone to taking advantage of their gender to attain things which would otherwise be difficult and if we see this from the context of a soldier, then definitely its not being fair to the men out there who are going to Afghanistan and Iraq and who don’t have any excuses to think of…YET…haven’t women always been at a disadvantage and discriminated against throughout the ages! Now when women have struggled and fought and sacrificed so much to get their place under the sun and reclaim their rights and assert themselves…don’t you think that some provisions have to be made to take care of something which nature has thrust upon women to bear? Also keep in mind that these are times when women are loathe to babysit at home and financially too, any job is welcome than just sitting on the largesse of the state! Just today I read in the papers that our Indian Army is thinking of taking women on combats with the provision that they cant become pregnant till a certain age…I think that is fair in the sense that women who want to join the army would know what they are getting into. However, I still feel its not fair on women, the way these organizations overlook the natural compulsions…why don’t they just go ahead and stop recruiting women to combat positions? But then they are sure to ruffle the feathers of human rights and women rights groups on charges of gender discrimination LOL Yet, some compromise has to be made on the broader picture and for that a lot of people need to sit together and think it out…till then, it’s a no win situation for us women.

When you join the military, there are rules to follow. One of the unspoken rule is not to get pregnant unless you are married as well as not have an affair with someone of a different rank. If she had been married and the father who was in the military had been killed, it would be assumed that she could not be deployed, that she had a child to care for. But her commanding officers assumed that because she was a single woman, she had no responsibilities. And had she applied for special circumstances, the question they would ask is "Why?" When America sends their troops overseas, they expect them to be a representative of American standards. She also should have had a back up plan.

I don't know about now, but I know in the 80's, a single parent that wanted to join the military had to sign temporary custody/guardianship to someone else, in the case that they might be deployed. If the parents were ill, she should have done something before, (gotten a hold of her C.O.) and let them know what was going on, not after the date of the deployment had already passed. If she got pregnant after she was in the military, she had the option of getting out or staying in, at that point, she still needs to find someone to take care of the little one that would take custody of the little one if the need to deploy arises. If they let her slide on this one, every single parent in the military will try to use this as an excuse to get out of going to an undesired duty station and then where will we be if we don't have dependable military personnel?

I think the solution is simple deploy along with the baby. No just kidding! i am dumb founded by her circumstances. i dont think its fair for the military to have recruited pregnant women at all, are they that desperate for recruits that they will instantly sign up preggies so that they can meet their quota? they should not have qualified her during her intitial stages or did the medical check up miss the obvious that they were dealing with a preggy.

I can totally understand her point. She sent the baby to her mother, whom delivered the baby back to her and told her she could not handle it 2 weeks before she was to leave. She asked for a little more time, and I think the government should have allowed it. I don't think they should have told her that the baby had to go to foster care.

Single parents with primary custody (men or women) should NOT be allowed to enlist. You already have a VERY big responsibility. And yes, I am a single parent.

it goes without saying if both your parents are ill,you shouldn't enlist.. i'm not sure a enlisted rank can pay for care for both while on deployment.. but when she found she was pregnant too,she really should have filed for hardship discharge instead of trying to duck it.i'm surprised they didn't boot her automatically as single parent..

It sounds like a case of two wrongs. Wrong for her to enlist without having a caretaker for her son, but wrong the the armed forces to put the child in foster care. In this case, I think putting the child in foster care is more wrong and that they should have found a way to make an exception.

The report I heard said the Grandmother was taking care of the child and then could no longer do this. I would guess that the original arrangement was for Grandma to take care of the kid while Mon went into the army to support them. I don't think even the army will take a single Mom unless there is a child care giver available. But as we all know situations change and I think the army has ever right to remove her if she cannot get child care, after all we are not just talking about day care but if she is overseas it becomes total care.

If she is looking at jail time, then that is one screwed up system! It makes me mad to think of all of the money and lives that get wasted by the greedy American government over their lust for oil. There is no need to be fighting wars, it is just ridiculous. She needs to be with her family, that is my opinion. She made a mistake by enlisting in the armed forces and unfortunately she is under the control of them now.

She should have never enlisted in the first place if she had 2 ill parents and a child. It was a stupid decision and now she is suffering the consiquences of her actions. I feel for her b/c I it's tough to choose between your family and your country but she really should have thought about all the pros and cons and had a better plan as to who was going to take care of her family before she enlisted.

Honestly? I would have found another way to get out of going to war. Filing for some sort of discharge would have helped. Because now, if she goes to jail, then her child still will be put into foster care! I don't understand why she joined if she had those conditions in her life. But I do agree that your child should always come first. It makes me happy I have medical conditions that make me unable to serve.

I think she is using this excuse as a cop-out. She had to have know when she enlisted that a member of the military cannot pick and choose which assignments they will accept or will not accept!

I too saw that report and it's a very sad and difficult situation. I can certainly relate to being a single parent but also relate to being an active armed service member (served in USN). I certainly feel for her family members being ill and not able to care for her son and her being in this situation but facts are facts. She knew before joining there was more than likely going to be this exact situation - having to leave her child. I didn't read the whole story but wonder if she had the child when she joined or if the baby came after she was in the service. If she had it after she would have been given the choice to leave the service or stay in knowing the obligations she would have to serve.

hi dloveli yes I do so agree with you. I myself if I had been her would not have signed up for service unless I had fail proof birth control. she should have sat down and decided whether or not she wanted to go into the service or stay home and raise a family. from all I can gather there is no way a woman in the service can be in the service and still raise a little baby, something has to give one way or the other. she must have known she could be called up at any time and I sure would not have wanted my baby in foster care if I had been her. But again maybe the armed forces could look at this and be more compassionate too. At least let her have time to find a relative she would feel comfortable leaving her baby with.