Deployment - COMMENTARY: Media’s Portrayal of an Army Mom Reporting for Duty

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female soldier COMMENTARY: Media’s Portrayal of an Army Mom Reporting for Duty

By Sarah Smiley

Army mom Lisa Pagan has been called back into active-duty service four years after being honorably discharged. (Full Story-via AP) Pagan has two small children, ages 4 and 3. They will accompany her as she reports to Fort Benning this month.

If you listen only to the media, what you'd walk away from this story with is a very bad taste in your mouth for the military. In Ms. Pagan's story, the military is the Big Bad Wolf. So although I sympathize with Pagan and her family, the media's structuring of her story angers me more than anything else.

The AP story about Pagan opens with her and the children battling a winter storm on their way to Fort Benning, as if the military has placed the storm there to make things more difficult or should have excused her from her duty because of the weather. The press release never mentions Pagan's specialty in the Army, which likely is specific and in high demand in order for her to be called back into service. The news reports also fail to mention that Pagan has to be either in the Reserves or the Ready Reserves to be in this situation at all. People unfamiliar with the military will read this story and have the impression that the military is like a Fun House: you can get in, but you may never get out.

Without thorough reporting from the traditional media, who seems to have an overriding motive, I'm left only to guess at Pagan's circumstances based on what I know about the military. When Pagan enlisted, she probably signed a contract stating that she would serve in the active-duty military for a specified period of time and then be released to Ready Reserves for an additional amount of years. Many people in Pagan's position are so lured by money for college and a chance at a career that they minimize the contractual obligations they are about to sign. Enlisting in the military, in this way, is a bit of a you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours proposition. Years later, after the military has fulfilled their end of the bargain (giving the service member an education and training) and asks the service member to complete part of theirs (being called back into active-duty is one of them), people act as if they are shocked. And the media uses this chance to once again attack the military.

I sympathize with Ms. Pagan. I really do. But I wish the media would give the general public more information and a better education as to how the military really works so that they too could see this for what it is: probably no one-sided.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of Sarah Smiley.

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User comments:

triciasrv	3/4/2009 7:43:59 AM
My take on this story is that many people feel she needs to fulfill her commitment. They are calling her lazy and irresponsible for having children while in the military. Her situation is not unique. Many soldiers go into IRR not expecting to be recalled. She has reclaimed her civilian life. Due to lack of childcare, she feels she is unable to return to service. She is in a tough position, but that is not the military's fault. The military was not aware of her situation and did not specifically recall her just to cause issues in her homelife. I easily see two sides to this story. Her husband travels a lot for work, so she does not have back-up childcare for the children (Family Care Plan). She has a commitment, yes. She has a family, yes. Many single female soldiers find ways to make this work. For whatever reason, she cannot. There really is no bad guy here. The situation is what it is. This is making the news because she is a mom. She knew the chances were that she could be recalled, but there are so many soldiers who are never recalled. If she had the care of her children taken care of (we are not aware if she does not have family that can help with the children), then this story would not be important.
Jim Mailhot	3/4/2009 8:15:09 AM
I have to agree that the media only prints what it wants to do nowadays. Honest journalism seems to have disappeared. It is okay to have a view but the News should print all the facts.
cwo4wife	3/4/2009 10:02:57 AM
I feel bad that she was put into this situation. I just wonder why Grandparents were able to help them. Their is a new story out and it says Lawyer: Soldier to be discharged after reporting for duty with kids http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/02/us.soldier.children/index.html
Diane	3/4/2009 10:39:59 AM
Sarah, thanks for the breath of fresh air! When I initially heard about this story, I too felt bad for Ms. Palan though couldn’t understand why the military was being made out to be the bad-guy. Thanks for sharing a different point-of-view and reminding us there is more to the story. This situation reminds me of Reserve families complaining about deploying. The devil is in the detail and oh how quickly service members forget that they serve at the pleasure of the military .. not the other way around.
SAmburn	3/4/2009 6:12:31 PM
Why can't her husband help take care of the kids? If a solider is has been honorably discharged after several years or in IRR, there's a chance that solider will get called up. Did she go through her chain of command and speak with the Commander of the unit. My husband is a former BN CO, he would have had her to fill out the FPC form (Family Care Plan). Had there been issues with her going to theatre, she would have been considered as undeployable.
ChestersGirl	3/4/2009 9:54:06 PM
I have a hard time feeling bad for her. My husband and I were in the same position, filed the same paperwork, only difference was he didn't dare drag his kids out there with him. They aren't pawns, they're children. We coped, so should she.
Mrs. Brady	3/7/2009 12:26:09 PM
I for one am thrown back by this. I am a member of the ANG and a mother and wife to an AD service member. If I were ever called to duty I would understand that "I" the dotted line stating that I understood everything that the contract said. I am very familiar with the IRR and have had to deal with several people that are currently in the IRR. She knew that there was always a possibility that she could be re-called and should have had the appropriate plans set so that matters such as "child care" wouldn't have been a problem. I feel for her, I really do, but being a woman in the service as well as a mother and wife I don't think it was right what the Army granted her. I have very mixed feeling on this and definately don't want to step on anyones toes about it. The media is never going to have it all put together in the right order about things, but as said below there are 2 sides to every story.

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