U.S. soldiers in Iraq could face courts-martial for getting pregnant

[Khadra]

Washington (CNN) -- A new order from the general in charge of northern Iraq makes getting pregnant or impregnating a fellow soldier an offense punishable by court-martial.
The directive, part of a larger order restricting the behavior of the 22,000 soldiers under Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo's command, is meant to prevent losing soldiers at a time when troop strength is stretched thin, Cucolo explained in a statement sent to the troops under his command and provided to CNN.
"I need every soldier I've got, especially since we are facing a drawdown of forces during our mission," Cucolo wrote. "Anyone who leaves this fight earlier than the expected 12-month deployment creates a burden on their teammates. Anyone who leaves this fight early because they made a personal choice that changed their medical status -- or contributes to doing that to another -- is not in keeping with a key element of our ethos."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/21/ira...ncy/index.html

What are your thoughts? Is this fair or not?

[Xujhan]

If it were WWII and the choices were win or die, maybe I could see some validity in this. As is, no. But I'm rather biased, so take that with however much salt you want.

[CasiLG]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/22/ira...ncy/index.html. Here is an update. It doesn't look like he will court marshal anyone after all. Instead he will just redeploy them.

[BigBL87]

Honestly, I think that soldiers that choose to violate this order are either selfish, careless, or cowardly. I'm sure I will take some flack for that statement, and I am quite okay with that. The simple fact is that when you join the military, you are protecting not only the American people but the soldiers you fight along side of as well. If a soldier gets pregnant (or gets a soldier pregnant) simply to get redeployed to a non-combat area, it is a big slap in the face to their fellow soldiers in my opinion. Court-marshal material, no, but they should certainly be ashamed of themselves.

If the pregnancy is the result of carelessness, it is just as deplorable in my opinion. I'm not saying that soldiers should be denied pleasure by any means. They deserve it just as much as the rest of us. However, putting one's pleasure ahead of the good/cohesiveness of the unit is completely and utterly selfish, in my opinion.

Ok, my rant is over... Feel free to have open season on me as I'm sure my views will offend a great many on here.

[*Rainbow*Rider*]

Part of me is really let down by these women who got pregnant. Women waited for ages to be allowed to join the forces, and I feel like these women have backed up the cause against women joining the forces.

However, I can't say I'm against sex. I assume they are not allowed condoms out there, as it would be seen as encouraging 'relations'.

I don't know.
In one way, its good to make an example out of people who are breaking the rules, so that others won't go and break the rules again.

On the other hand though, you can't blame people for being human.

[l0stCause]

you would be surprised how easy condoms r to get in the military.

[Hdjdjdjduvieg]

They should not be getting pregnant, period. That's not what the male nor the female are there for.

[Wishbone]

a condom on the end of a heavy automatic sub machine gun increases accuracy so i'm told

[Kayla200]

In my opinion I don't think that they should court marshal people for this as I think that its redicilous but I also think that we shouldnt be sending more troops over 4 extremely long times and I don't think they should be allowed to keep troops over after there already suposed to be sent home and done with their inlistment so I supose that Im bias but the thing is that the war is basically dwindeling down and I don't think that we need as many troops over there eather so I supose that I am bias but idk

[Casey.]

If you are in the armed forces you should put getting pregnant on hold for when you get back home. But I guess I'm biased, as I'm not fond of soldiers sleeping with each other, since many of the men take that to mean that they can rape female soldiers and get away with it.

Anyway, getting a woman pregnant, or getting pregnant yourself, to get out of duty, or to get sent somewhere else is deplorable, in my opinion. If you don't want to be over there, don't enlist.

[Wishbone]

what a terrible misfortune if a female soldier were raped and impregnated, regrettably silent on the matter, to then be punished for having a child. It would be an even greater incentive to see justice to her attacker immediately would it not. This subject is unfair to women i feel, because it is only to women a child can be carried. A man does not have the same foreseeable conclusion. In my mind, going with the tradition of old stating no woman shall be present on the battlefield, we should compromise in recent years to allow women the luxury of leaving the army to have a child without worry of criticism. After all, the child may one day take her place, or perhaps even grow up to end the war through diplomacy.



To throw in a bit of humor.. i panicked greatly after i highlighted the entire message, turned it into a smiley by mistake, and hit the back button on my browser instead of undo.. luckily my message was in preview still

[*Rainbow*Rider*]

Im pretty sure none of them did it on purpose. I can imagine how lonely it gets out there, and how close you could get to people working in such an environment. And everybodies human, at the end of the day.

[MermaidMassacre]

Personaly I don't like it.
If they get pregnant, they should not be punished.
It just does not seem right.