Pregnancy / Fathering Children While At a Service Academy

The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.

-The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I-

I memorized this in undergrad and remind myself of it from time to time. @Capt MJ’s post is a perfect example of it. Well done, Captain.
 
I have NO experience in the application of the regulations, norms, or precedents of something like a pregnancy/parental event for Academy or NROTC personnel but I was wondering if the same rules apply. From what I could find, NSTC M-1533.2C, Regulations for Officer Development (ROD) for the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) section 4-3 Enrollment, paragraph 2 states:

"There are no restrictions as to the marital status of a candidate. However, single parents who have custody of dependent children must present a Family Care Plan Arrangements Form NAVPERS 1740/7 to the unit that allows full attention to service responsibilities during initial training periods and subsequent duty assignments. Single parents must be advised that individuals accepted for Naval Service must maintain a high degree of commitment to professional responsibilities and exemptions from personnel policies or preferential treatment for duty assignments should not be expected."

I asked DS who came through NROTC 5+ years ago if he remembered any briefs on the subject. He recalls having to certify that he had no dependents and one Midshipman admitted he did. That guy ended up dropping out of NROTC and had to pay back scholarship money. He didn't recall anyone else having pregnancy/ paternity issues during his four years.
 
VelveteenR said:
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.

-The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I-

I memorized this in undergrad and remind myself of it from time to time. @Capt MJ’s post is a perfect example of it. Well done, Captain.
Click to expand...
This is the most out of context reference to The Merchant of Venice I have ever run across.

Antonio and Bassanio were two entitled Venetian twenty somethings, who screwed over the “Jew” and came out on top, taking Shylock’s property, his daughter and forcing him to convert to Christianity.

The play is considered a comedy.
 
That merchant stuff is way over my head. I think the passage posted applies here.
 
In this day and age anyone that can quote or even recognize Shakespeare is OK in my book. A pound of flesh but not one drop of blood. Lay on Macduff.
 
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