Photo of soldiers breastfeeding in uniform goes viral

What was intended as a photo for the wall of a nursing room at Fort Bliss’ headquarters has exploded across social media after the Air Force vet who took the shot posted it to her Facebook page.


“Support for breastfeeding moms wasn’t even an option to consider,” photographer Tara Ruby wrote on Facebook. “To my knowledge a group photo to show support of active duty military mommies nursing their little’s has never been done. It is so nice to see support for this here at Fort Bliss.”

It’s doubtful Army officials will be as enthusiastic. In June 2012, photos of two Air National Guardsman breastfeeding their children went viral and stirred up a national debate over breastfeeding in uniform. Though military officials said the airmen violated a policy against “using the uniform to further a cause,” they were not disciplined.

However, Crystal Scott, the civilian organizer of the 2012 photo shoot, was fired from her job.

Now: Suck it, monster! Here’s how the Air Force would defend against Godzilla

Team Mighty is a combination of some of our best voices. Team Mighty includes past and current editorial team members with such expertise as intelligence, Special Operations, all things tactical, aviation, military culture and history.

While Team Mighty is an amalgamation of people, everyone on Team Mighty is human. While we love robots and acknowledge their place in society (looking at you, Roomba), AI functionality is never used in articles on We Are The Mighty. Team Mighty upholds journalistic integrity and you can find our Editorial Guidelines in their entirety, here.