'Stealth Baby' Investigation Could Result in Constructive Changes (Marine Gives Birth)

CNSNews.com ^ | 6/16/03 | Lawrence Morahan

[kattracks]

(CNSNews.com) - An investigation into how a Marine sergeant serving in the Persian Gulf was able to keep her pregnancy secret from her superiors could eventually result in constructive changes for men and women in the armed services, a military watchdog group said Friday.

The 33-year-old Marine, who gave birth to a healthy 7-pound boy aboard the amphibious ship USS Boxer in the Persian Gulf on May 23, allegedly told her superiors she did not know she was pregnant.

How a pregnant Marine serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom managed to keep her condition secret struck some officials and observers as far-fetched and is prompting calls for an investigation.

"To say that she did not know she was pregnant really strains credulity, and I think people should have asked questions," said Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness.

Donnelly said the matter demonstrated the opportunity for abuse of the liberal pregnancy policies imposed on the Navy and Marine Corps in 1995 by then-Secretary of the Navy John Dalton.

The woman's superiors may have been afraid to ask questions that could be interpreted as negative comments under the Dalton policies, said Donnelly, who served on the 1992 Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces.

"If a pregnant sailor or Marine has to leave or is evacuated due to pregnancy, negative comments are simply not allowed. It's almost like a whole new definition of 'don't ask, don't tell,'" Donnelly said.

A full investigation, however, could pave the way for the Pentagon to take constructive steps to end policies that can encourage pregnancies, Donnelly said.

"When something like this happens, it forces change. Obviously, this can't be allowed to continue or happen again. There are certain causes that are fixable," Donnelly said.

Investigators need to examine why apparently no questions were asked about the woman's weight gain and if other women also violate body weight standards. They also should look at how many pregnancies prevented deployments of service women since 9/11 and how many evacuations were necessary during the deployments due to pregnancy, analysts said.

In 1991, analysts noticed a spike in pregnancies just before and during Desert Storm.

"A pregnancy does not result in any kind of disciplinary procedures whatsoever. In fact, there are very generous benefits that work to 'incentivize' single parenthood and pregnancies," Donnelly said. "This issue is much bigger than just one sailor or one Marine."

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, also is calling for an investigation.

"It may prove politically incorrect, but it's critically important to ask tough questions about the impact, costs and consequences of current military personnel policies and their influence on the birth of a baby in a combat zone," said Bartlett, who inserted a number of documents in the Congressional Record on June 11 related to the incident.

Military officials were unable to provide further information on the circumstances of the birth, which marked the first time a woman on active duty delivered a baby in a war zone.

The Marine, whose name has not been released, is assigned to the Headquarters Battery of 11th Marines, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., as an administrative chief.

After the baby was born, the mother and child were taken to a hospital in Kuwait, said 1st Lt. Dan Rawson, a Camp Pendleton spokesman. From there, they were transferred to Germany and are now on their way back to San Diego, he said.

Maj. Matt McLaughlin, a Marine spokesman, said officials will conduct an investigation into the matter.

"It's absolutely fair to say that her command is going to be looking into the issue of how she came to deploy, being some months pregnant at the time that she deployed apparently, and how that was overlooked.

"It is the policy of the Marine Corps to have individual Marines bring to the attention of their commands that they are in fact pregnant," McLaughlin said.

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[Skywalk]

Now that the baby is born, they should put a rifle in this "Marine's" hands and put her alone at a checkpoint in Tikrit.

That'll learn her.

[japaneseghost]

A Marine ia a Marine - and this is a perfect example of how a U.S. Woman Marine can outsmart any man.

[csvset]

What's it say on the baby's birth certificate as far as city? USS Boxer , at sea, followed by the lattiude and longitude?

[Pontiac]

"A pregnancy does not result in any kind of disciplinary procedures whatsoever. In fact, there are very generous benefits that work to 'incentivize' single parenthood and pregnancies," Donnelly said. "This issue is much bigger than just one sailor or one Marine."

I bet this is another Intelligent Clintoon policy intended to improve military readiness and moral. (sarcasm off)

[opbuzz]

...What's it say on the baby's birth certificate as far as city? USS Boxer , at sea, followed by the lattiude and longitude?

What's it say on the baby's birth certificate as far as Father, considering she "didn't know she was pregnant"?

The services offer incentives for getting pregnant; three months off, free hospitalization and delivery, liberal time off policies for checkups and "sickness", on base childcare.

It's no wonder so many female servicemembers get pregnant!

[CAPPSMADNESS]

Speaking from my own experience, how can a woman NOT know that she is pregnant????

[NerdDad]

Question 2: How does a pregnant Marine not pop up on the fat program? And what of the vaunted Marine military bearing, dress and appearance?
I've heard of women who don't have regular cycles and possibly skip multiples of months but most of them are in the morbidly obese category. I don't see a Marine being morbidly obese.
I will say one thing that comes off positive to me: That she deployed. It tells me that she was not looking to get pregnant to avoid having to go to war as so many female soldiers have been doing since 1991.

[libertylover]

Military officials were unable to provide further information on the circumstances of the birth

unwilling is more likely - don't want to be politically incorrect.

"It is the policy of the Marine Corps to have individual Marines bring to the attention of their commands that they are in fact pregnant,"

i.e., we have a case of dereliction of duty

One side note: A waitress at a restaurant that my wife and I frequent gave birth recently. Neither my wife nor I knew she was pregnant - we thought she had just gained a few pounds because she never got all that big. We certainly were not going to tell her she's getting fat. BUT, in the military it is your DUTY to maintain a certain level of physical fitness, so I don't think it would have been out of line for her superiors to ask about the weight gain.

[libertylover]

I will say one thing that comes off positive to me: That she deployed. It tells me that she was not looking to get pregnant to avoid having to go to war as so many female soldiers have been doing since 1991.

You're quite right about this and I hereby declare I'll rethink my dereliction of duty accusation.

[LPStar]

Why isn't everyone happy she didn't have an abortion? Lots of servicewomen have abortions and no one thinks anything of it. I think the truth is people are much more offended by a servicewoman giving birth than they are by an abortion, judging by threads like these.

[mystery-ak]

I once asked my OB-GYN doctor that question,(we had a local story here at that time)...she said, it was real common with obese women...but, this can't be the case here.

[not_apathetic_anymore]

I've heard of women who don't have regular cycles and possibly skip multiples of months but most of them are in the morbidly obese category.

Unless they're having menstrual irregularities because they're in the finely-honed-athlete-no-body-fat-at-all anorexic category. Were that the case you'd think she certainly would have shown her pregnancy. On the other hand, she might still have not triggered any weight red flags if her weight started very low.

[CAPPSMADNESS]

I don't understand how being obese can stop you from feeling a nearly term baby stomp on your bladder.....

but that's just me, maybe this lady in question had a "Biggie Sized" uterus and Jr. could swim laps in it.

[MudPuppy]

I had 2 kids while an active duty Marine. With my first - no one knew I was pregnant until the 8th month when I started wearing maternity uniforms (ugly)- mostly I wore a slightly larger size in cammies.
I gained a total of 12 pounds and delivered a 7 lbs 4 oz healthy baby girl. I left the hospital in regular clothes.
I gained 13 lbs with my son and he weighed 8 lbs 3 oz.

Both times I returned to work after 4 weeks maternity leave back in my Charlie uniform.
Not everyone gets fat when they're pregnant.
BUT regardless of how I looked - I still KNEW I was pregnant.
Maybe she didn't want to let the unit down and was in denial about the whole thing. That I would believe.

[grania]

Pregnancies have been hidden since the beginning of time. Stress could explain some gal things that might have been different when a woman is pregnant.

If the nation wasn't disgusted that a single mom was in harms way and ended being a captured POW, I somehow don't think this will do it.

I'm pro-life. Staying in a war when pregnant wasn't a good thing. But, I praise her for not getting an abortion. (Anyway, maybe she didn't know. Denial and all of that.)

[Gunrunner2]

>>I will say one thing that comes off positive to me: That she deployed. It tells me that she was not looking to get pregnant to avoid having to go to war as so many female soldiers have been doing since 1991.<<

Perhaps, but I disagree. To me this situation says that she was more interested in herself than her baby. It clear she didn't give a darn about the innocent child, because if she DID care about the baby, then she would not have hid her pregnancy just to stay in a combat environment. All she cared about was herself. That is selfish to the extreme.

Reminds me of something I personally observed during the spin up to Gulf War I.

Waiting outside the Brigade Commander's office I overhead a female soldier crying in an adjacent office, the Command Sgt Major's office. This female soldier was VERY pregnant. She was crying and saying (I'll always remember this); "Don't leave me here, I want to deploy. I'll go to the hospital and induce. I'll have a c-section!"

Appalling.

Here was a soon-to-be mother wanting to slice open her belly to drop her new born baby just so she could run off to war. There is something wrong here.

Observation:
We may debate the subject of women in combat, but there should be no debate about how wrong it is to place a baby in combat.

This is not Star Trek, with non-combatants and babies alongside weapons and warriors. This is the real world, and in the real world real men fight wars and real mothers stay at home with the children.

Cheers

[Bigg Red]

Why isn't everyone happy she didn't have an abortion?
^^^

I'd be a lot happier to learn that single women are not being impregnated at all and are waiting for marriage to have sexual relations. This woman sounds very irresponsible, but you are right that it is better not to have an abortion.

[Bigg Red]

This is the real world, and in the real world real men fight wars and real mothers stay at home with the children.

****

Well said!