•        Servicewomen sent home from Middle East
        •        Blanket sex ban for troops while on deployment 
        •        Aussies better behaved than British troops
FOUR female troops have been sent home from the Middle East after getting pregnant.
All female soldiers are pregnancy tested before they leave Australia and fraternisation is banned on operations, but that didn't stop the four from finding a way to conceive.
The Australian Defence Force said all troops on overseas duty were counselled about safe sex and contraception before they left Australia and they would be doubly reminded of those principles in future.
Australian troops are much better behaved than their British counterparts - last year more than 100 British female soldiers were sent home for being unable to say no to a man in uniform.
Defence did not say if any of the pregnancies had actually occurred on operations.
"It is, however, possible that they could fall pregnant in the period immediately prior to departure or while on mid-deployment leave and, if this is the case, they will be returned to Australia," a Defence spokesman said.
StHe said condoms and contraceptive pills were available free of charge from medical staff and female troops are advised to carry enough pills to last them for their entire overseas posting.
As soon as pregnancy was detected in a woman in uniform she was removed from the conflict zone.
"Upon discovery that an ADF servicewoman is pregnant whilst on operations, she is returned to Australia as soon as practicable in an attempt to protect the pregnancy," the spokesman said.
"Servicewomen are routinely provided contraceptive advice that is reinforced during the pre-deployment medical."
The women are eligible for 14 weeks paid and 12 months unpaid maternity leave, and all their medical costs are paid for by taxpayers.
There are about 220 women serving in the Middle East at present alongside 2100 men.
British top brass have been forced to place advertisements in army newspapers advising women soldiers, nurses and administrative staff to carry condoms.
As well as more than 100 female troops being sent home, another 31 have been impregnated by squaddies on operations in Afghanistan since 2003 and 10 were evacuated between April and November last year after 100 pregnancy test kits were sent to the front.
The Australian Defence Force takes the issue of pregnancy very seriously and a health directive from the Director-General of Defence Health Service states that pregnant members are not considered fit for operational or sea-going service.
"Defence takes great interest in the health and well-being of their members and therefore seeks to protect the pregnant woman and her unborn child from any operational or environmental hazards which may not be conducive to her health," it said.
"Female members are routinely advised that pregnancy inhibits their ability to deploy and are actively screened prior to deployment."


Diggers on patrol in Iraq. All servicemen and women are banned from sexual relationships while on deployment / The Australian

It isn't easy doing a tour of duty in Afghanistan. If the servicemen seek sex from Afghan women, this could even fuel more violence and make the situation more volatile. The only way to go will be women in the military and there are a lot of unreported rapes that takes place in the service. If they want to eliminate the problem, the Army should just ban all women from participating in overseas campaigns.

I am all for equality and all that crap, but seriously? This is just another example of women doing something 'because they can' without looking at the inevitable outcomes... So the Australian government (and therefore people- I pay my taxes!) have paid to train these women, transported them overseas, and now they cannot perform their duties. What a waste of cash... I wander what the odds are that they will ever return to full duties after the babies are born - not great I'd say, so all the money spent in training and equipping them is gone for good!

This is not to say that guys could not potentially mess up just as bad, but does anyone think that you can send a bunch of guys overseas, get them full-up on testosterone after shooting their guns and driving their tanks, and then expect them not to shag these woemn, just because the ADF has banned sexual relations? Sorry ladies, but their are just some things you cannot and should not be allowed to do!

Trying to enforce a blanket ban on sex is quite unrealistic. I was in the army reserve in my late teens - early 20's and every year we'd go on a 2 week deployment in the bush and I was horny as hell by the time I got back.

If the women can't go on these long deployments without sex, how are the guys supposed to cope?

Everyone from the Romans to the Japanese have provided their troops with comfort woman we should look doing something along these lines. At the very least fly them to somewhere like Bangkok once a month, same as they did during the Vietnam war.

[ Last edited by  atomic3d at 22-5-2010 11:04 ]

History shows that depressing sex is a huge flaw.  The move sex is depressed, the more it builds up and the requirement for it is even greater.  They should just accept the fact and instead provide a solution so that pregnancy is reduced as much as possible.

sex in the mind for guys equal distractions and if we don't get it were not happy, so the sooner this problem gets solve the better it will be for everyone.

And how do you intend to solve it? Your suggestions would be most enlightening. Please don't post for the sake of gaining K's.

[ Last edited by  geoduck at 24-5-2010 13:20 ]

Maybe I'm overly cynical, but it seem possible some of these girls might not have tried as hard as they could have to avoid falling pregnant. Expenses and income taken care of, get to go directly home... not the worst outcome in the world is it.

Could possible like those that enlist in the States, get money for college, finish college, and then formally declare that they're homosexual right before deployment....

In the U.S., there's the "don't ask, don't tell" policy... if you tell, you're pulled out of service....


As for the "equality" issue, I think they should stay in service....
Women want it both ways (equal when it's advantageous, unequal when it's advantageous)...
Personally, I wouldn't mind if women were in the front lines. Equal is equal to me...
While we're at it, I would also like women in the States to be forced to fill out the draft cards like men do...