Pentagon's Social Freezing Program

February 4, 2016 7:53 AM

"The goal is to give those in uniform the peace of mind that if they are hurt on the battlefield — hundreds of veterans suffered injuries to their reproductive organs in Iraq and Afghanistan — they would still be able to have children." (NYTimes)

Google and Facebook also offer this as an employee benefit.

posted by Mr.Pointy (15 comments total)

"also today the Pentagon again declined to comment on rumors of a top-secret "super soldier" program"
posted by Dr. Twist at 8:24 AM on February 4, 2016 [6 favorites]

"And what happens if the company housing your sperm or eggs goes bankrupt?" -- Arthur Caplan, professor of bioethics

A defense contractor going bankrupt. There's a laugh.

Yes, Actually-Bots, I know it's probably happened somewhere. I stand by the "joke".
posted by Etrigan at 8:35 AM on February 4, 2016

Maybe they should invest more in veteran's mental health services.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:38 AM on February 4, 2016 [4 favorites]

Maybe they should invest more in veteran's mental health services.

But that would require admitting that war is bad for people, and the mongers and profiteers who control the purse strings would never allow it.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:43 AM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

If I take an RPG to the groin, future generations will probably not be my first worry. Future Saturday nights however...
posted by jim in austin at 9:00 AM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

Injuries to fertility can be of a chemical nature as well.
posted by agregoli at 9:07 AM on February 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Pentagon's Social Freezing Program

Just don't let General Turgidson anywhere near it.
posted by jamjam at 9:10 AM on February 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

A defense contractor going bankrupt. There's a laugh.

Yes, Actually-Bots, I know it's probably happened somewhere. I stand by the "joke".

The RAND corporation literally has a whitepaper on predicting the likelihood of a contractor going bankrupt. Good joak though, I lol'd
posted by aydeejones at 9:16 AM on February 4, 2016

- Enlist poor folks and freeze their eggs and sperm.
- Provide terrible healthcare and benefits to veterans.
- Ensure another generation of poverty and a guaranteed set of new soldiers.
- ???
- Profit!
posted by theraflu at 9:28 AM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

Shit, that would make me want to rejoin the army, and I really really really fucking hate war. But it's worth noting that currently, Tricare won't cover your treatment if you're disabled and need assistance with children. Are they going to apply this to the people who already got broken?
posted by corb at 9:32 AM on February 4, 2016

Late last year I read the book "Zinky Boys" by Svetlana Alexievich (who had recently won the Nobel prize). It's about Soviets fighting in Afghanistan (and a whole lot of other people) and this kind of thing loomed large in a lot of young men's minds. It's... there's this system, where you teach your young men a certain kind of self-worth that's tied into masculinity, and then chain it to a toxic nationalism and war-pride, and then you send them off to get dismantled. And when whatever's left comes back, you forget about them because they don't have the right parts to fit into the selfsame system you built anymore.

It's fucked, and it's us.
posted by selfnoise at 9:59 AM on February 4, 2016 [3 favorites]

Maybe they should invest more in veteran's mental health services.

I get your point, but these aren't mutually exclusive things, unless you think that someone wanting children but unable to have them due to battlefield injuries is a mental illness.

While war exists and there are soldiers, this is actually a pretty decent thing to do for them.
posted by Sangermaine at 10:01 AM on February 4, 2016 [9 favorites]

theraflu, there's sadly no need for the "???" in that statement, is there?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:05 AM on February 4, 2016 [4 favorites]

I wonder if we shouldn't do this for everyone. We're quickly moving to a society where most people won't be able to afford to have children until they're old enough to elevate the risk of severe birth defects. Since those cost society a lot, it might be cheaper just to do this for everyone for free.
posted by Mitrovarr at 11:37 AM on February 4, 2016

The biggest Iraq War scandal that nobody’s talking about: “The Burn Pits” reveals how a Dick Cheney-connected company got rich while U.S. soldiers got poisoned

Thousands of soldiers have suffered similar fates since serving in the vicinity of the more than 250 military burn pits that operated at bases throughout Iraq and Afghanistan. Many who haven’t succumbed to their illnesses yet have passed along the legacy of their poisoning to their children. “The rate of having a child with birth defects is three times higher for service members who served in those countries,” according to the book.

posted by homunculus at 2:24 PM on February 20, 2016