United States military to provide thousands of breastfeeding rooms

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Thursday announced a series of measures aimed at improving the quality of life for those serving in the U.S. military, including a doubling of maternity leave for most personnel to 12 weeks.

The maternity leave issue is complicated by the fact that Navy Secretary Ray Mabus already increased paid time-off for Navy and Marine Corps forces in July from six weeks to 18 weeks.

In December, Carter announced all combat units would open to women this year, and the year before he expressed his intention to rescind the Pentagon’s ban on transgender troops serving openly.

Carter also is seeking congressional authority to permit service members to extend time at their station in order to accommodate the interests of a family, such as education timing for a child or care for an ailing parent. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to speak publicly before the announcement.

Carter also announced the launch of a pilot program to cover the cost freezing eggs and sperm.

Now pregnant sailors and Marines will still be able to take advantage of the 18-week policy, which went into effect last summer, Carter said.

Paternity leave will increase from 10 to 14 days.

“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”, he said. Changes to paternity leave will require approval from Congress. Carter said that the department saw a link between satisfaction with child care and difficulties of personnel retention.

Carter said the guidelines on what additional service would be required and how it would be implemented are still being worked out, and that extensions at a home base would only be approved if local base commanders’ personnel needs were still met. It’s likely to be a disappointment to members of the Navy and Marine Corps who, under a change previous year, receive 18 weeks of paid maternity leave.

They are one more tool, he said, to make the military a family-friendly employer that honors the desires of those who want to commit fully to their careers or serve courageously in combat, while preserving their ability to have children in the future.

The expansion of family leave benefits is the second phase in a broader campaign by Carter to modernize the military and drag the often-antiquated Pentagon bureaucracy into the 21st century.