Source: LifeJourneys / Getty
A photography company called, Tara Ruby out of El Paso did a photoshoot of “decorated” 1st Armored Division of a group of nursing mothers out of Fort Bliss, Texas.
The photoshoot was a group of active Army Mommies who volunteered for the pic… they were all breastfeeding their babies.
The pic has surprisingly gone viral since the shoot and that has the photographer Tara Ruby in shock.
Tara Ruby said, “We are officially trending on Facebook. It’s crazy. 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. It is so nice to see support for this here at Fort Bliss.”
Tara, who is also an Army wife herself and is also retired from the Army said that the women do have a private room just for nursing and pumping called “the butterfly room” and she offered to decorate the walls with pics.
She said that the room is furnished with a fridge, microwave and privacy and it’s a huge step up from her days in the service in 1997-2001, but still it needed to be made more inviting.
“I told them I’d donate pictures on the wall of newborns babies, let’s make [the room] a little warmer and sunnier,” Tara said.
Tara had the idea of having a solider nursing in a picture and she put the word out on Facebook and the response was more than she ever thought it would be.
“There’s no regulation against it, but we still wanted to make sure public affairs knew because I knew once this goes online, we’d get some feedback,” she said.
Tara said, “When I was active duty, [breastfeeding]was a really big challenge for me. I gave up around eight weeks because it was too much to schedule, too much to carry it around with me.”
Paul Prince, an Army spokesman said, “The Army is currently conducting a comprehensive review of its personnel policies to include breastfeeding and lactation support. This review will leverage the expertise of our medical professionals as well as coordinate with the appropriate Army offices responsible for policy implementation.”
The picture wasn’t about showing off for the camera, it was about bonding and mother/baby time… that is why all the mommies are looking at their angels and not the camera. It’s like Tara said, “We never, ever tried to make this a political stance. This was strictly about taking a really nice picture and putting it up in the room.”
Via:armytimes.com
