Soldier's campaign for sperm to be frozen before military action
Sergeant Rick Clements is campaigning for a free service to freeze the sperm of military personnel before they are deployed to fight.Sergeant Clements has been left unable to have children after losing both legs in an IED blast in Afghanistan in May 2010.
Sergeant Clements commented, "This is heartbreaking for my fiancée and I. I wish someone had told me to make a sperm donation before I went to Afghanistan. Not a day passes where I don’t regret it. Now I just want to do all I can to warn other troops, please, please don’t make the same mistake as I did".
MOD and sperm preservation
The Ministry of Defence has stated that personnel who wish to preserve their sperm can do so, free advice is provided, but the service itself is not provided to forces personnel.
The information is available on request, (not as a matter of course), but troops must pay privately for the necessary preservation.
Sgt Clement's campaign is to ensure that troops are given the option to freeze their sperm before deployment.
US troops
US troops are already offered such a service, with help given to donate and freeze sperm.
Taboo subject
Sergeant Clements believes that part of the problem is the taboo nature of the subject, “The Ministry of Defence is doing brilliant work warning soldiers about the dangers of losing limbs at war. But there is no warning that fighting could leave you unable to have children. No one wants to talk about losing your testicles – it’s a highly emotive subject.”
Children after death
There is also the other unspoken matter of spouses and partners of soldiers killed in action having access to their sperm in order to have children by them.
But this only backs up the practise of soldiers conceiving children with their partners prior to going to war; something that has been going on as long as wars.
Read more at: bfbs.com