breastfeeding protection

[Can Dance]

It occurred to me today that if in fact breastfeeding legislation was passed, that mothers had the right to pump at the work place, not be harassed, etc, etc. that that would have rather large repercussions for women in the military. I am still completely astounded that they send women to war who have just. had. a. baby, talk about "male as normal", I just don't get why they can't put her on some paper pushing duty for a year so she can stay with her baby.
but anyway, anyone else thought of this before? you'd think they'd find a way out of it if a woman is in Iraq and can't find a place to pump and send her milk overseas :

[ColeysMama]

I had my son while I was in the Marines, and mothers have the option to not deploy for one year after giving birth. I don't know how it is in the other branches, and if you wanted to deploy for whatever crazy reason, you could. But for the first year, I was nondeployable.

[Can Dance]

I heard that it wasn't that way. I am relieved to hear other wise. Is it different for other parts of the military?

[ColeysMama]

It really comes down to women being aware of their rights. I don't know the policies for the other branches of service, but I know that when I was pregnant, I downloaded a copy of the Marine Corps Order on Family and Parenting, and read it over numerous times, so that I knew what my rights were as far as maternity leave, pumping at work, and so on. I wasn't worried about being deployed, since I was attached to a nondeployable unit anyway, but I did take note of that.

I wouldn't be surprised, however, if many women deploy in the first year simply because they don't know they have the option. Also, a lot of military women don't bother pumping; they either don't nurse to begin with, or they wean when they come back to work.

[llamalluv]

As crazy as this sounds - some women WANT to be deployed. And they want to leave their babies at home.

I've seen that a lot just at office jobs - a woman comes back from a 6 week maternity leave, and I'll say, "Oh, it must be so hard to leave your little munchkin!"

And get the response, "Ugh. I was getting so sick of his crying, and dirty diapers. I dropped him off at day care early and went back home to take a shower." (Yeah, that's a pretty much verbatim conversation)

[Can Dance]