On this Veteran's Day, I thought I'd share this news item on a new policy for some Army mothers in Germany:
With the Army recently extending its deployment deferral from four to six months for Army mothers of newborns and those adopting, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center has done one better.
Landstuhl commander Col. Brian Lein signed a policy this summer that encourages a deployment deferment of 12 months for active-duty soldier mothers who are assigned to Landstuhl and its affiliated Army health clinics and breast-feed.
The policy includes other measures to support and empower women who choose to breast-feed, according to the Landstuhl memo.
"From a mom perspective, that policy empowers a woman to say, ‘Hey look, this is important. This is from the top down. This is a priority. When I ask for time and space to pump, this is not going above and beyond. This is something that’s reasonable and expected,’ " said Army Maj. (Dr.) Renee Pazdan, a Landstuhl neurologist and mother of two who spearheaded the effort to change the policy.
...The Landstuhl breast-feeding policy puts the hospital on par with the other military branches. Currently, the Navy has a 12-month, non-deployment policy for all post-partum women with support for lactation in the work environment. The Air Force has a policy that encourages commanders to modify activities such as field training, mobility exercises and deployment for airmen who are breast-feeding.
Described as an information tool for commanders of women who breast-feed, the Landstuhl policy on breast-feeding and deployment deferment is the most generous in the Army.
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