The Marine Corps has changed policy and will no longer automatically deactivate a reserve Marine who becomes pregnant on active duty. The switch would have only affected 16 Marines in 2006. But it is another sign of how the military services are scouring for every last trooper to fight and support the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Reserve Marines on active duty orders will no longer be separated from active duty due to pregnancy,” states a message, titled “pregnancy and parenthood,” sent to units last month.
It followed a new directive from Gen. James Conway, the Marine commandant. He ordered commanders to search for any Marine who has not yet deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and get him or her ready to go. “Review internal command assignments to identify Marines who have not yet deployed to a combat zone,” Conway said.
The Marines this month began offering $500 extra pay per month to any Marine in a combat zone who is extended and opts to stay rather than leave at the end of his or her enlistment contract.
1st Lt. Thomas Dolan, a Marine spokesman, said there is no evidence Marine reservists were becoming pregnant as a ticket off of activeduty. Instead, he said, “There has been a desire of pregnant reservists to continue on active duty to support the Marine Corps.” He said many Marine reservists actually ask for active–duty extensions of two to three years.
Elaine Donnelley, who heads the Center for Military Readiness, said the Marines’ policy change “is part of a larger issue of whether the Corps is large enough for the missions it is asked to perform. They are really stretched really thin. There have been many Marines who have been deployed more than once.”
Pregnant Marines are not deployed to combat zones. There are 40,000 Marine reservists, of which 1,900 are women.
The new Marine Corps policy seems to be in line with the other military branches. The Navy keeps the women on active duty, for example. If a pregnant sailor wants to go inactive, she must show that staying on active duty is a hardship for her or her family.
Every Marine and Army soldier has become more valuable as those services do the bulk of the fighting in the war on terrorism. Last year, Conway and Gen. Peter Schoomaker, Army chief of staff, pressed Congress and civilian leaders for more troops, an increase in what the military calls “active duty end strength.”
New Defense Secretary Robert Gates agreed. The Army is being increased by 65,000 to 547,000; the Marine Corps by 27,000 to 202,000.
