thedrifter
01-30-07, 08:41 AM
Pregnant active-duty reservists allowed to stay at work stations
By John Hoellwarth - Staff writer
Posted : February 05, 2007
Activated reservists will no longer be separated from active duty if they become pregnant, according to a Jan. 19 Corps-wide message.
Instead, they will fall under the same policy on pregnancy for active-duty Marines that keeps them in their work sections but prohibits them from deploying, according to MarAdmin message 27/07.
The new change to the Corps’ policy on pregnant reservists, last updated in 2004, is the result of “input that many wanted to continue staying on,” said manpower policy analyst Capt. Stephen Foster. “We felt that was appropriate.”
Sixteen pregnant Marines were released from active duty last year, according to numbers released by the Marine Corps’ Reserve Affairs Division. But the number of Marines affected by the policy change is unknown because the new rules affect inactivated reservists as well by limiting their mobilization eligibility in the first place. As of press time, the Marine Corps did not have data on how many Marines could not be mobilized because of pregnancy last year, said manpower spokesman 1st Lt. Rob Dolan.
Before the Corps changed its policy to allow this to happen, “The initial logic was that it allowed the reservist to get back to where that support unit, their family, was,” Foster said.
But, Foster said, “nowadays, many active-duty orders are [permanent change-of-station] orders,” meaning that the Marines who receive them can relocate their families to be near them at the government’s expense.
If a Marine affiliated with a mobilized Selected Marine Corps Reserve unit becomes pregnant during pre-deployment training, she will have to stay in the rear.
“There are plenty of jobs that the Corps needs that that individual can fulfill,” Foster said. “Most likely her unit is maintaining people back stateside, and she might stay with her unit and support the war from there.”
Although the new policy keeps already activated pregnant reservists on duty, it places restrictions on when a pregnant Reserve Marine can be activated in the first place.
Pregnant reservists cannot be assigned “inactive duty for training,” such as Individual Ready Reserve musters, within 30 days of their expected delivery date. Also, after 28 weeks of pregnancy, they are ineligible for activation orders and exempt from participating in their unit’s annual training drills, according to the message.
Ellie
By John Hoellwarth - Staff writer
Posted : February 05, 2007
Activated reservists will no longer be separated from active duty if they become pregnant, according to a Jan. 19 Corps-wide message.
Instead, they will fall under the same policy on pregnancy for active-duty Marines that keeps them in their work sections but prohibits them from deploying, according to MarAdmin message 27/07.
The new change to the Corps’ policy on pregnant reservists, last updated in 2004, is the result of “input that many wanted to continue staying on,” said manpower policy analyst Capt. Stephen Foster. “We felt that was appropriate.”
Sixteen pregnant Marines were released from active duty last year, according to numbers released by the Marine Corps’ Reserve Affairs Division. But the number of Marines affected by the policy change is unknown because the new rules affect inactivated reservists as well by limiting their mobilization eligibility in the first place. As of press time, the Marine Corps did not have data on how many Marines could not be mobilized because of pregnancy last year, said manpower spokesman 1st Lt. Rob Dolan.
Before the Corps changed its policy to allow this to happen, “The initial logic was that it allowed the reservist to get back to where that support unit, their family, was,” Foster said.
But, Foster said, “nowadays, many active-duty orders are [permanent change-of-station] orders,” meaning that the Marines who receive them can relocate their families to be near them at the government’s expense.
If a Marine affiliated with a mobilized Selected Marine Corps Reserve unit becomes pregnant during pre-deployment training, she will have to stay in the rear.
“There are plenty of jobs that the Corps needs that that individual can fulfill,” Foster said. “Most likely her unit is maintaining people back stateside, and she might stay with her unit and support the war from there.”
Although the new policy keeps already activated pregnant reservists on duty, it places restrictions on when a pregnant Reserve Marine can be activated in the first place.
Pregnant reservists cannot be assigned “inactive duty for training,” such as Individual Ready Reserve musters, within 30 days of their expected delivery date. Also, after 28 weeks of pregnancy, they are ineligible for activation orders and exempt from participating in their unit’s annual training drills, according to the message.
Ellie