Robertson alumna Amy Kramer (Duke ’18) is committed to increasing support for nearly 400,000 families in the U.S. Army. Last week her work became an official directive signed by the Secretary of the Army. The Parenthood, Pregnancy and Postpartum Army Directive encompasses twelve policy changes and updates to support soldiers in military and their families. Kramer is the lead author.

“This was all inspired by a grassroots team of moms on Facebook, and has grown into the omnibus policy being published. This will compel transformational change for Soldiers, improving health, wellness, morale, retention, and readiness of the entire force. Maybe most importantly, it makes an effort to normalize parenthood by removing many of the unique barriers to growing one’s family in the military,” Amy shared.

The directive aims to ease the transition of soldier-moms back to duty, while supporting military families in general. Some of the wide sweeping policy changes include a stipulation that one parent be deferred for one year from deployments, operations, and training in order to remain with their newborn, a standardization for leave up to 42 days for a solider and their spouse who experience pregnancy loss, and a year exemption from physical fitness tests after the conclusion of pregnancy.

“It’s been my honor to work with this grassroots effort, as well as all Army senior leaders, to make this change happen,” Amy reflected. Her message for Scholars: “Anyone can help enact transformational change — even in one of the largest, most meritocratic and bureaucratic organizations in the world.”

To read more about the policy and the transformational impacts it will have thanks to Amy’s dedication to change click here.