Dorothy and Carl J. Schneider

About the Authors: Dorothy and Carl J. Schneider both spent two years teaching college courses at military bases for the University of Maryland’s Far Eastern Division. During this time the Schneiders interviewed more than three hundred military servicewomen for their book, Sound Off! American Military Women Speak Out. The following viewpoint, excerpted from their book, includes quotes from some of the women interviewed.

For long years after World War II, a woman could not remain in the service if she married, became pregnant, or accepted responsibility for minor child, even as a stepmother. In the 1970s servicewomen fought for and won the right to have families and to receive the same military benefits for them as servicemen for their families. Pregnant soldier is no longer an oxymoron...