Episode 138: Your Mother Wears Combat Boots

For the career minded Naval professional, to have a chance for the greatest advancement and promotion, you have to push and push hard. The reputation you build in your first 10 years sets the tone for the rest.

Except for very rare exceptions, there are no second chances. There are no pauses - one iffy set of orders - one poorly timed FITREP, and you are on an off-ramp. You must work harder, you must sacrifice, and if you are to have a family young, you need a very strong support structure.

For men - there is always the RADM Sestak, USN (Ret) option; wait until post O6, then start. For women though, there are some hard biological facts.

The average American woman gets married at age 26. For college-educated women the average age at first birth is ~30. If you want to have more than 2 kids, you need to start earlier. You need to time it right - and Mother Nature has her own schedule that doesn't often match yours.

With women making up more of the military than ever, what are the challenges out there biological, cultural, psychological, and relationship wise to "making it happen?"

You can't have it all - but how do you get the best mix you can?

We will have two guests on to discuss. For the first half hour we will have Major Jeannette Haynie, USMCR, a 1998 graduate from the US Naval Academy, AH-1W Cobra pilot, and  currently a Reservist flying a desk at the Pentagon and working through graduate school - and fellow blogger over at USNIBlog.

The second half of the hour, our guest will be Robyn Roche-Paull, US Navy Veteran, wife of a Chief, ICBLC, and author of the book Breastfeeding in Combat Boots.