Striking Photo of Breastfeeding Soldiers Stirs Debate

This photo, of uniformed active-duty military moms breastfeeding their babies in Texas, has sparked public debate since going viral over the weekend. (Photo: Tara Ruby Photography)

A stunning photo of 10 active-duty military moms dressed in fatigues while breastfeeding their infants has gone viral, drawing both fire and praise since being posted to Facebook.

“Today I believe we made history. To my knowledge a group photo to show support of active duty military mommies nursing their littles has never been done,” notes Texas photographer Tara Ruby in her Facebook post Friday. “It is so nice to see support for this here at Fort Bliss.”

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Ruby, an Air Force military vet who now specializes in taking maternity and newborn portraits, reportedly volunteered to take a photo that could hang in a new nursing and breast-pumping room for moms at the Fort Bliss Army post, which she was thrilled to learn existed. To find subjects, she put word out on social media and with help from military-breastfeeding advocate Robyn Roche-Paull, she was able to wrangle the new moms to pose in uniform while feeding their babies.

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“I was active duty a long time ago when support for breastfeeding moms wasn’t even an option or a consideration,” Ruby, who did not immediately respond to Yahoo Parenting’s request for comment, continues on Facebook. “We have come so far. Breastfeeding their babies doesn’t make them less of a soldier, I believe it makes them a better one. Juggling the tasks and expectations of a soldier, plus providing for their own in the best way they possibly can, makes these ladies even stronger for it.”

Ruby’s Facebook post of the image — which she says originally disappeared without explanation before she added it back — has now been shared more than 8,500 times and liked more than 11,200 times. Supportive sentiments appear to make up the majority of comments, deeming the mothers “supermoms” and “badass,” and calling the photograph itself “truly beautiful,” “wonderful,” “stunning,” and “amazing,” with one noting, “I have such an overwhelming feeling of pride when looking at this photo.”

Detractors, meanwhile, say they believe the image is “unprofessional” and “inappropriate.” One mom, who says she breastfed and served nine years in the military, notes, “I fully support breastfeeding, but do think when you decide to have children while in the military, there are some things that must be given up. Military professionalism is not being held while your top is open and a baby at your breast.” Says another, “I disagree with this whole hardly! I am pro breastfeeding in public. Do it in your civilians. If you’re in uniform, find a private place and do it where you are not seen.”

To all of that, adds one commenter: “Men can smoke, drink, dip, have tattoos, go to the mall, clubs and restaurants in uniform AND remove their top, but a woman DARES FEED her child and OMG CONTROVERSY.”

It’s not the first time a nursing-in-uniform photo has ignited such back and forth. Last year, Arizona-based photographer Jade Beall caused a stir when she posted portraits of Air Force Reserves member Jonea Cunico wearing fatigues and breastfeeding her 14-month-old son. Similarly, in 2012, a group of Air Force moms were photographed nursing their children while in uniform on a base in Spokane, Wash., sparking public debate.

“It’s very hard to tease apart exactly what the problem is,” Roche-Paull, author of the book Breastfeeding in Combat Boots and the woman behind a website of the same name, tells Yahoo Parenting. But it’s typically one of three things that get critic’s hackles up, she explains: a belief that the breastfeeding mom is somehow “out of uniform” because of a shirt being open or untucked; a distaste for public breastfeeding in general; or an opinion that the act of breastfeeding is somehow “disrespectful” to the uniform.

“People get wound up about the meaning of the uniform — and I get that,” says Roche-Paull, a veteran of the U.S. Navy. “But how is breastfeeding disrespectful to those who have fought and died for our country?”

In fact, she says, images that show such an act are vitally important because they depict women who are “so strong, they can do both jobs” — parenting and serving the military — and because they spread awareness and empowerment to moms who may feel alone. “So few women in the military even think they can breastfeed,” says Roche-Paull, a mother of one. “When you see pictures like this, you are more likely to think you can do it.” The idea of being active duty and talking about breastfeeding feels so verboten in some cases, she says, that “women see photographs like this and realize they don’t even know women in the same command as them who are breastfeeding.”

Contrary to what many believe, she explains, the military has no specific rule or regulation that forbids breastfeeding while in uniform. What it does say is that, while in uniform, one must maintain a “professional appearance” — something that is open to interpretation. So, for example, if a mom is in uniform and goes by her post’s daycare center to get her child who needs to be breastfed and unbuttons her blouse to do so, she might get into trouble “if someone wants to be really a stickler about it,” Roche-Paull says.

She adds that the climate surrounding the issue is tied to not only what branch you serve in — the Air Force has the most supportive breastfeeding policy, she explains, while the Army has none at all — but also the policies of your local command. Roche-Paull helped develop Fort Bliss’s newly adopted policy, which brought about the nursing room.

“It’s fantastic,” she says, adding that the policy was spearheaded by a woman — something that’s crucial to create change on this issue. The military is “still very masculine,” with women making up only about 15 percent of its active-duty ranks, she says, adding, “Men just don’t think about this sort of thing.”

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