Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced a new maternity leave policy that triples the amount of maternity leave for women in the Navy and Marine Corps to 18 weeks. The policy aims to recruit and retain talented women service members by providing more flexibility for their important role as mothers. It will apply retroactively to January 2015 and allows women to use a combination of maternity leave and extended sick leave following childbirth. The increased leave time benefits both mothers' and childrens' health and well-being, and also improves military readiness and retention.