Military Life

The Associated Press ran a story about a new policy seeking to punish those who become pregnant in Iraq:

A U.S. Army general in northern Iraq has added pregnancy to the list of reasons a soldier under his command could be court-martialed.

From 10 USC 2122:

(b) The Secretary of Defense may require, as part of the agreement under subsection (a)(2), that a person must agree to accept, if offered, residency training in a health profession skill which has been designated by the Secretary as a critically needed wartime skill.

Comment: The law appears to read that the military could force a physician into a residency for a "critically needed wartime skill". There is no information available that suggest such a situation had occurred or had been considered.

My friend forwarded me the following fictitious story about a struggle with laser printers in the Air Force medical clinic. I'm sure it can't be true!

I was stationed at an Air Force Base for 4 years. I had a computer and a printer in my office. The printer was non-networked and plugged directly in the back of the computer.

The first year everything went fine with that arrangement. Then the toner ran out. No money for toner I was told, you have to wait until the first of the next fiscal year. As it turns out I waited for toner for over a year, walking down the hall to collect printer documents. Great exercise, walking up and down the hallway 5-10 minutes per hour. All the time the Air Force is asking, "why aren't Air Force providers more efficient?"

Army dentist Capt. Tina Mahuika's struggle to resign from military service is featured in a recent Stripes article. Apparently Mahuika took a 3-year HPSP scholarship for dental school graduating in 2005. Her 3-year payback was fulfilled in 2008 but she has been unable to leave active duty due to a lost request for release and a stop loss order:

Stripes is running a story about mental health checks for spouses of deployed soldiers:

Spouses face day-to-day pressure while soldiers are away and very little is being done for them at home, according to Rebecca Sinclair, the wife of 172nd Infantry Brigade commander Col. Jeff Sinclair.