Senators prove they don’t understand the military

I thought that discussion about Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo’s policy against pregnancy in his combat zone had pretty much petered out. No one wanted to look more stupid than they do already. But I was wrong. Four not-unknown Senators criticized the general for even thinking of a mild punishment for fornicators in a combat zone;

The request from Democrats Barbara Boxer, Barbara Mikulski, Jeanne Shaheen and Kirsten Gillibrand came Tuesday after the general who issued the policy began backing away from it, explaining that he never intended to court-martial or jail women who become pregnant under his command.

Their stupid argument goes like this;

“This policy could encourage female soldiers to delay seeking critical medical care with potentially serious consequences for mother and child,” the senators wrote in a letter to McHugh. “We can think of no greater deterrent to women contemplating a military career than the image of a pregnant woman being severely punished simply for conceiving a child. This defies comprehension.”

See, if we were talking about women who get themselves pregnant in CONUS or Germany or Japan, or, heck, even Korea, I’d agree. but we’re talking about IRAQ – the war those ditzes said was lost a few short months ago. The place that the media is always reminding us is still suffering massive terrorist attacks.

Actually, I’m stunned that everyone still has their panties wadded up over this General’s attempt to curb a drain on his manpower and his combat readiness – IN COMBAT!

But the senators said in their letter to McHugh that while they understand Cucolo’s pledge not to imprison offenders, the policy creates a “threat of criminal sanctions” which goes “far beyond what is needed to maintain good order and discipline.”

Oh, really? This from the chick who chastised another general for calling her “ma’am”. She understands “good order and discipline”? It seems to me that if people are getting each other pregnant at a rate that a general decides he needs to nip it with a policy change, there’s already something wrong with good order and discipline.

The last thing the general needs is a pack of rabid, post-menopausal hippies looking over his shoulder while he fights a war – a war the aforementioned rabid, post-menopausal hippies had declared lost.

I defy anyone to prove to me that pregnancy in combat is inevitable. Even Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) from Casablanca recognized that war trumps love when he told Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) “I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.”

Category: Military issues