Less than three months after my first child was born, I kissed him and my husband goodbye, boarded a plane in Tokyo bound for Guam. There, I spent four days for a “weekend” of drill indoctrination. Despite my son’s dramatic birth and month-long stay in an international neonatal intensive care unit—and despite the fact that I was not new to the Navy Reserve—I was strongly encouraged to attend. As a first-time mom navigating sleepless nights, breastfeeding, and preparations for my husband’s return to sea duty, I could not see a way out of this predicament, and so I went, hoping no one thought less of me as a naval officer, despite having just had a baby.
Countless other Navy Reserve mothers and fathers have made similar choices and sacrifices because there are no policies protecting or advocating for parents who serve in the Reserve component. Aside from a mobilization deferment within the first 12 months after giving birth, no official guidelines currently permit a new mother or father to take structured parental leave while serving as a member of the Reserve component or National Guard. Many reservists run a net financial loss on their service, making up for that only if they qualify for retirement, which is deferred until age 60 (unlike active-duty personnel, who in most cases qualify immediately on the end of their active service). But this lack of protection can place a drilling Reservist at risk of not satisfying requirements for a “good year”—at least 50 points accrued toward retirement. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), however, is trying to change that. Moran and co-sponsor Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) recently submitted bipartisan legislation that “guarantees 12 weeks of paid maternity leave for guardswomen and reservists.”
“Maternity” leave is a good but insufficient start. It is a polarizing topic across all industries, but especially in the military. Many think a nation with an all-volunteer force at war does not have the people or resources to support soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines taking time to have children and raise families. Yet, the future of the joint force depends on the active duty, Reserve, and National Guard component members who choose to serve and balance the role of parenthood. So, we continually ask: Can we afford to create space for members to take parental leave? Absolutely. A better question might be, Can we afford not to?
According to the 2017 MilitaryOneSource demographic report, the number of dual-military and dual-working families is on the rise each year. The Navy’s mantra is: Mission first; sailors always. Taking care of Navy Reserve sailors unequivocally must mean taking care of Navy Reserve families. This makes it even more important to ensure that the topic of “maternity” leave evolves into parental leave.
Eric B., a Navy lieutenant with a young family recounts his experience after the birth of his first child:
My son's birth had a significant impact on my reserve life. My first drill weekend was actually the weekend he was due, and leadership was very flexible with me, allowing me to skip that drill weekend (the first I ever missed since joining the Navy Reserve) and giving me remote work I could complete to keep up on drill points.
I know that for female reservists who have given birth while I served with them, a big challenge was making sure they were still tracking for a good year with drill points, AT [annual training], and professional development. While each unit makes their own accommodations, a policy that accounts for that lost time like issuing a certain number of paid points to a parent if they had a birth of a child during that year (a policy that could also apply to caring for a loved one) would be beneficial.
The proposed legislation sparked an active discussion in the Female Navy Reserve Officer Facebook group. While there was broad agreement that the Reserve Component needs a parental leave policy, the paid leave idea was not as highly praised as you might expect. Consider some of the comments in the group that follow; they are quoted with permission, and lightly edited for clarity:
We absolutely need policies that make clear that new parents are entitled to time away from reserve duties, and those probably should mirror the active component’s timelines, but . . . I think paid maternity leave for reservists goes too far, unless they’re also going to address other leave policies. . . . Singling out one situation—and one that only benefits women—seems likely to generate resentment toward moms trying to make this work. That’s not going to help with the real challenges. —Christine P.
My baby is six-weeks old. I'm really struggling to figure out how not to lose this year toward retirement. I was pregnant at the start of my anniversary year, and my command doesn't have AT opportunities during that time. I’m a tax accountant as a civilian, so I can't do AT during tax season. Then baby came. Now I'm on maternity leave for my civilian job. When I return to work, there will only be about six weeks before the end of my anniversary year. Will my civilian job allow me to take two weeks of military leave right after returning from 12 weeks maternity leave? The alternative is to forgo two weeks of civilian maternity leave to do AT at three months postpartum. I know I can get an AT waiver, but rather than the money, I’d prefer to have a policy allowing new moms more flexibility to maintain a good year. —Allison J.
I’m not sure how the other branches have delineated primary and secondary caregiver leave, but for the Navy Reserve, I think it would be appropriate for the language and time periods to be the same as for active duty. Other AT options should be optional if travel would be required. —Clarissa B.
I have been fortunate enough to have had supportive leaders and commands through all my pregnancies and postpartum periods (at least since that darn trip to Guam). However, not all units and sailors throughout the fleet receive the same support. And in many cases, a junior sailor or officer may be too afraid to ask for the support needed in the wake of a new baby joining the family. But to support today’s Reserve forces as well as the National Guard—the Department of Defense should codify a unified policy that protects new mothers and fathers from losing retirement points while still meeting the joint force’s needs. It might be the most advantageous policy the Department of Defense could offer the citizen-soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who serve part time. The joint force absolutely depends on reservists and guardsmen and guardswomen to fulfill its mission, and retention has become an issue in a number of vital career fields. But even more so, it sends the message that the force supports the men and women—and their families—who serve.