Stop recruiting female soldiers

THE recruitment of females to be listed in the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) is a waste of taxpayers’ money and liability to the State.
I have observed that most of the females, after passing out of the basic training at Goldie, become pregnant within a year or two without meeting the requirement of serving six years in the force.
As a result, the requirement of getting accommodation within the barracks is not met.
This, in turn forces them to illegally reside in the female single quarters with their babies.
The lack of routine inspection by senior officers and a breakdown in military discipline makes the female single quarters look like a nursery centre or a day care building for infants.
Then we have the uncontrolled dumping of diapers and other sanitary wastes around the building areas, making it unhygienic for other military personnel.
These discipline related problems makes the female military personnel noncombat ready for emergency situations and other on-call duties.
While on duty, they are often disrupted with maternal responsibilities.
Our country is small and for PNGDF, it is not necessarily an army that can fulfil the global notion of gender equality and go on a recruiting spree.
Maybe the PNGDF hierarchy and recruitment team should consider only recruiting females for cadet officer training with specific qualification levels to become officers and contribute meaningfully to the force.
The recruitment of general enlistees should focus on males below the required age of 26 and school leavers with technical backgrounds.

Sailor Boy