Hello Supermoms,
Have I got good news for you! The Secretary of the Air Force recently announced plans to increase maternity leave to a whopping 18 weeks! That’s triple the current allowance of 6 weeks paid maternity leave, giving new mothers an additional 12 weeks to bond with their newborn. This news comes after the Navy increased their maternity leave to 18 weeks in August 2015 which hopefully will soon be followed by the Army. The AF secretary stated that she expected this to be included in the Pentagon’s ‘Force of the Future Initiatives’ but was prepared to use her own authority to initiate it if by some reason it was not included.
This change would have new active duty moms everywhere shouting thanks as we would no longer have to return to work just 6 short weeks after delivery only to look and feel like a walking zombie while trying to complete the mission of our organization. Personally, I didn’t stop falling asleep at meetings until my daughter was 6 months old and reliably sleeping through the night!
Ultimately this is yet another step in the right direction of assuring women in the uniformed services that our roles as mothers are valued and respected. Kudos to the Navy and hopefully the Air Force and Army will be following suit soon! I’ll be sure to keep you posted!
Read more here: http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/12/09/james-pledges-to-triple-maternity-leave-for-airmen/77045926/
Read here to learn of the Army’s plans regarding maternity leave: http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/2015/08/07/army-reviewing-rules-maternity-paternity-leave/31285283/
I’ll keep in touch and I hope you’ll do the same,
K. Renee