Sexes: The Military Is Pregnant

Coping with motherhood in the armed forces

When the Navy repair ship U.S.S. Vulcan set sail on a six-month Mediterranean cruise some weeks ago, it had to leave ten crew members behind in Norfolk. Reason: they were pregnant. Rejiggering assignments because of pregnancy is a fact of life these days in the armed forces. Indeed, the pregnant soldier or sailor is becoming as common as the beer-bellied sergeant. At any given time, about 12% of the 130,000 U.S. military women are with child. While some oldtimers grumble that the armed forces are turning into...

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