The maternity military: How nearly 100 female soldiers have been sent home from the Afghan front line after getting pregnant

Nearly 100 female British soldiers have been sent home from Afghanistan after finding out they were pregnant.

Between January 2006 and December last year, 99 servicewomen on operations have been flown back to the UK under strict military rules that ban mothers-to-be from serving in a war zone.
According to figures released by the Ministry Of Defence, 16 women were removed from Afghanistan in 2013 due to pregnancy, while 18 were sent home in 2011. The part I found hilarious was the women were flown back on flights usually reserved for injured troops, meaning the true figure could be higher if other female soldiers came home via routine flights, according to The Sun.

Troops are repeatedly reminded by senior officers to check they are not pregnant before they fly to the front line, however, servicewomen are not forced to take a urine test before deploying because top brass consider it would be an ‘invasion of privacy’