By the Numbers - Feb. 1, 2016
12
The number of weeks of "fully paid maternity leave" now available to new mothers in all of the armed services, as announced by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter last week.
The maternity leave decision applies to all service members in the active duty component and to reserve-component members serving in a full-time status or on definite active duty recall or mobilization orders in excess of 12 months.
This effectively doubles the amount of paid maternity leave previously available to Army and Air Force women, although it's less than the 18 weeks currently granted by the Navy to sailors and Marines. Carter said that sailors and Marines "who are currently pregnant or who become pregnant within 30 days of the enactment of the policy" are still eligible for the full 18 weeks.
Additionally, DoD is pursing legislation to expand paternity leave for new military dads "from the current 10-day leave benefit to a 14-day noncontinuous leave benefit."
The new policy also expands the hours of DoD-subsidized child care from 12 to 14 per day. "By providing our troops with child care they can rely on from before reveille until after taps, we provide one more reason for them to stay on board," Carter said.
In a new pilot program, DoD will cover the cost of freezing sperm or eggs, for more family planning flexibility, and will be looking into ways to expand "reproductive technologies like IVF to a wider population."
Also new: In exchange for "an additional service obligation" and at the discretion of the base commander, military members can now request a prolonged stay at their current location "for a variety of family-related reasons, such as wanting to remain near relatives, be close to a medical facility that specializes in care needed for a child with a medical condition, or have a child finish out the same high school."
According to the 2014 Demographics - Profile of the Military Community report, issued by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Military Community and Family Policy), 42.1% of Service members have children, up from 39.9 % in 2000.
Of the 1,819,659 total military children in 2014, the largest percentage are between birth and 5 years of age (37.4%), followed by 6 to 11 years of age (31.1%), and 12 to 18 years of age (24.4%).
12
The number of weeks of "fully paid maternity leave" now available to new mothers in all of the armed services, as announced by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter last week.
The maternity leave decision applies to all service members in the active duty component and to reserve-component members serving in a full-time status or on definite active duty recall or mobilization orders in excess of 12 months.
This effectively doubles the amount of paid maternity leave previously available to Army and Air Force women, although it's less than the 18 weeks currently granted by the Navy to sailors and Marines. Carter said that sailors and Marines "who are currently pregnant or who become pregnant within 30 days of the enactment of the policy" are still eligible for the full 18 weeks.
Additionally, DoD is pursing legislation to expand paternity leave for new military dads "from the current 10-day leave benefit to a 14-day noncontinuous leave benefit."
The new policy also expands the hours of DoD-subsidized child care from 12 to 14 per day. "By providing our troops with child care they can rely on from before reveille until after taps, we provide one more reason for them to stay on board," Carter said.
In a new pilot program, DoD will cover the cost of freezing sperm or eggs, for more family planning flexibility, and will be looking into ways to expand "reproductive technologies like IVF to a wider population."
Also new: In exchange for "an additional service obligation" and at the discretion of the base commander, military members can now request a prolonged stay at their current location "for a variety of family-related reasons, such as wanting to remain near relatives, be close to a medical facility that specializes in care needed for a child with a medical condition, or have a child finish out the same high school."
According to the 2014 Demographics - Profile of the Military Community report, issued by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Military Community and Family Policy), 42.1% of Service members have children, up from 39.9 % in 2000.
Of the 1,819,659 total military children in 2014, the largest percentage are between birth and 5 years of age (37.4%), followed by 6 to 11 years of age (31.1%), and 12 to 18 years of age (24.4%).