Yeah... it's gotta be REAL HARD to do a data base search of records for only women who left Iraq for the word PREGNANT or the Military Medical Code# for it.
"We are not tracking it"
The number of them is there... they just NEVER ASK!
Posted on 06/25/2004 10:12:45 AM PDT by take
US Army covers up an ‘embarrassment’
WASHINGTON: Many US women soldiers in Iraq are leaving the frontline and returning home, but the Pentagon does not want to reveal their numbers as the “embarassing” statistic includes unwed mothers, media reported on Wednesday.
“US Central Command is not tracking the number of troops who must leave the Iraq war theatre due to pregnancy, prompting military advocates to charge that the Pentagon wants to keep secret what could be an embarrassing statistic,” The Washington Times said.
The paper said that there have been anecdotal reports of unmrried women soldiers becoming pregnant in Iraq. One military police unit reported losing three women for that reason. Lynndie England, the 21-year-old photographed holding a leash attached to a naked Iraqi prisoner, became pregnant during an affair with another soldier at the Abu Ghraib prison compound in Iraq, it said.
But overall numbers are hard to come by. “We are definitely not tracking it,” said a spokesman for US Central Command, which runs the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I have been attending operations briefings for two years, and I don’t think I have heard once that pregnancy has come up.”
As in the case of England, said the paper, pregnancies can be embarrassing to the military. In May 2003, the Marine Corps was forced to bring a Marine back home after she gave birth on a Navy warship in the Persian Gulf. She told superiors that she did not know she was pregnant.
Meanwhile, among the British forces in southern Iraq, 82 women were sent home last year after discovering they were pregnant, reported the London Daily Telegraph, quoting government numbers.
A presidential commission in 1992 found that pregnancy was a main reason why the non-deployability rate for female troops was three times higher than for men during the 1990-91 Persian Gulf conflict.
That's one way to come home early.
Planned Parenthoods
"In May 2003, the Marine Corps was forced to bring a Marine back home after she gave birth on a Navy warship in the Persian Gulf. She told superiors that she did not know she was pregnant."
How do you not know you are pregnant? I would think the weight gain/enlarged stomach, lack of periods, etc. would be clues to at least see a doctor.
If there are that many pregancies, when condoms and othe birth control measures are so readily available, then the amount and frequency of "hooking-up" among members of the miliotary must be staggering.. Of course, it's perfectly natural..take young men and women, in top physical shape...put them in close proximity, in a high-stress enviroment, with few other diversions, and what do you expect...ultimately, and tragically, I fear it will lead to a breakdown in what can be called "military cohesion"
[/SARCASM]
[/DOUBLE ENTANDRE]
Army Told Not to Use Israeli Bullets in Iraq
Thu Jun 24, 2004 05:56 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli-made bullets bought by the U.S. Army to plug a shortfall should be used for training only, not to fight Muslim guerrillas in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. lawmakers told Army generals on Thursday.
Since the Army has other stockpiled ammunition, "by no means, under any circumstances should a round (from Israel) be utilized," said Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, the top Democrat on a House of Representatives Armed Services subcommittee with jurisdiction over land forces.
The Army contracted with Israel Military Industries Ltd. in December for $70 million in small-caliber ammunition.
The Israeli firm was one of only two worldwide that could meet U.S. technical specifications and delivery needs, said Brig. Gen. Paul Izzo, the Army's program executive officer for ammunition. The other was East Alton, Illinois-based Winchester Ammunition, which also received a $70 million contract.
Although the Army should not have to worry about "political correctness," Abercrombie was making a valid point about the propaganda pitfalls of using Israeli rounds in the U.S.-declared war on terror, said Rep. Curt Weldon, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the subcommittee on tactical air and land forces.
"There's a sensitivity that I think all of us recognize," Weldon told the Army witnesses, including Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, who led the U.S. Third Infantry Division that captured Baghdad in April 2003.
Blount, now the Army's assistant deputy chief of staff, said the Army had sufficient small caliber ammunition -- 5.56mm, 7.62mm and .50 caliber -- to conduct current operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
But taken together with training needs, the United States had strained its production facilities, he testified.
"To fight a major combat operation in another theater will require the Army to impose restrictions on training expenditures and to focus current inventory and new production on combat operations," Blount said.
As a result, he said the Army hoped to stretch U.S. supplies to supplement the capacity of the government-owned Lake City plant in Independence, Missouri, that currently makes more than 90 percent of U.S. small caliber ammunition.
The Lake City factory, operated by Alliant Techsystems Inc., has nearly quadrupled its production in the past four years. This year, it will produce more than 1.2 billion rounds, Karen Davies, president of the ATK arm that runs it, told the panel. Lake City provided more than 2 billion rounds a year during World War II and Vietnam, she said.
The Army's needs will grow to about 1.5 billion to 1.7 billion rounds a year in coming years, Blount said.
"In the near-term, balancing training requirements with current operational needs is a manageable risk-mitigation strategy," he said.
The Army does not want to repeat its history of building capacity during wartime "only to dismantle it in peacetime," Blount added.
Hate Crimes Sneaks Into Defense Authorization
With little notice from the mainstream media, the U.S. Senate passed by an overwhelming margin an amendment that could lead to federal prosecutions of nearly all "hate-crimes."
The amendment also adds "sexual orientation" and physical disability as protected classes under the civil rights statute of the U.S. Criminal Code for the first time.
The legislation came as an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill (S. 2400). It netted 65 votes, with only two senators--Jim Jeffords (I.-Vt.) and John Kerry (D.-Mass.)-- absent Had they been present, the bill would have gotten 67 votes, a two-thirds majority. Eighteen Republicans and all Democrats present voted in favor. ( See rollcall on page 27).
"It's been a priority of ours for years," said Winnie Stachelberg of the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual rights group that lobbied heavily for the amendment. She said that although no more than ten federal hate-crimes prosecutions have occurred in any year since passage of the original 1968 hate-crimes law, the bill would serve as "a clear statement against violence and intolerance" of homosexuality. "Laws send signals, and this is an important signal," she said.
The same amendment passed the Senate in June 2000 with 57 votes, but was removed from that year's Defense authorization bill in negotiations between the House and Senate. A spokesman for House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter (R.-Calif.) did not respond to inquiries, but most observers believe the hate-crimes language will be removed in conference next month.
Conservatives--most of whom are skeptical of the whole idea of "hate crimes"--had several problems with this bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Gordon Smith (R.-Ore.). First, under the bill's broad language, the U.S. attorney general would have almost absolute discretion to intervene in what normally would be a state criminal prosecution when there is reason to believe that "hatred" for homosexuals or disabled persons was a motivating factor.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R.-Ala.), citing a few examples of past crimes that could have been construed as "hate-crimes" but were simply prosecuted by traditional means, expressed doubts about the need for such a law. "One offense occurred in my home state of Alabama, and [the offender] was tried and given life without parole," said Sessions, formerly Alabama's attorney general. "So I am not aware of those offenses' being inadequately prosecuted."
Second, the amendment would criminalize defendants' alleged thoughts, rather than their alleged actions. Critics say they could have a chilling effect on free speech.
Because homosexuality is a controversial subject for many Americans, those who publicly express disapproval of it could find themselves in greater jeopardy than other defendants if they are later accused of a crime. This could chill freedom of speech, much like Canada's "hate speech" ban (C-250), which criminalizes criticism of homosexuality. France's center-right government will soon present a similar bill to criminalize "homophobia."
Stachelberg rejected the free speech concern as "a red herring." "It is an argument used against this piece of legislation by people who would otherwise find different arguments to level at the bill," she said. "There are top 1st Amendment speech advocates in the U.S. Senate--Sen. [Russ] Feingold [D.-Wis.] being one of them--who support this legislation." Feingold co-authored the campaign finance reform bill that forbids the use of candidates' names or images in certain ads during the final weeks of election campaigns for federal office.
Sen. John Sununu (R.-N.H.), who took considerable heat from gay rights groups for his "no" vote on this controversial bill, raised another objection in a written statement. "Legislation that singles out certain violent crimes for special prosecution or additional penalties is unfair to the families of those victims whose murders are not given such special consideration," he said.
While in Germany in the 1980's we had an MP company for physical security. They had a dog platoon with around 20 - 30 sentry and patrol dogs. One of the handlers had trained one of the dogs to roll over on her back with rear legs apart at the command "how do WACs make rank?" Probably very un politically correct in the Army of One.
Why should the Army be embarassed? Mixed-gender forces were imposed on them by politicians over military protest. Pregnancies were inevitable - they are, any time a large number of men and women are in close contact over extended periods of time. It is the politicians that should be embarassed.
Yeah... it's gotta be REAL HARD to do a data base search of records for only women who left Iraq for the word PREGNANT or the Military Medical Code# for it.
"We are not tracking it"
The number of them is there... they just NEVER ASK!
How about dishonorable discharges for all of them unless they can prove they were impregnated by their husbands before leaving for duty?
placemarker
Two words: Jimmy hat.
We won't let em kick some............................
We won't let em come home to get some................
And we're suprised that they are getting some ?......
Stay safe !
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