Bravo, Gen. Cucolo

U.S. Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo III in Iraq announced back in November that if any female soldier under his command become pregnant, that soldier would face possible court martial. Ditto any male soldier who gets a female solider pregnant.

Cucolo’s explanation: “Anyone who leaves this fight early because they made a personal choice that changed their medical status — or contributes to doing that to another — is not in keeping with a key element of our ethos, ‘I will always place the mission first.’ ”

The announcement recently became public and has created quite a flap; the loudest protest has been “Unfair to women!” from the National Organization for Women (NOW), of course, here in the states, where things are all warm and cozy and life is normal, relatively speaking.

’Scuse me, but if you choose to become a soldier, you are expected to keep yourself in fighting condition. Especially in a theater of war. A pregnant woman is not in fighting condition. It’s as simple as that. Think “the greater good.”

Discriminatory? Maybe. But these women chose to join the service and knew the responsibility they were taking on. It’s no one’s fault that only women can get pregnant, but as always, that makes pregnancy prevention the woman’s responsibility. And yes, it’s probably discriminatory because in many cases the male partner will remain unidentified and unpunished. Again, not “fair,” but certainly nothing new.

People, this is not everyday life in the states. This is war and these are soldiers fighting a war. If you don’t like the rules, don’t sign up. Period.