The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are still raging, and some kids couldn’t celebrate Mother’s Day yesterday because their moms are deployed overseas. Motherhood is a hard enough job at home, and an overseas deployment makes childrearing infinitely harder, especially when military moms can’t guarantee quality child-care and adequate time with their children.

A recent Reuters story on a report issued by Congress on Friday to coincide with Mother’s Day outlined some of the problems that mothers in the military face. An NBC tally showed 7,243 military moms deployed out of a total of 121,701. According to the report, these women are stressed, underpaid and having a hard time getting help with childcare. The report also indicates that military moms are likelier to be single, divorced or married to members of the military who face deployment. More frequent deployments and a mere six weeks of maternity leave are good reasons for these moms to stress.

Women have fought hard for the right to serve in the military. While the opportunity to serve has finally been earned, women who are mothers or are planning to have kids need to carefully consider the choice of active military-duty and the risks it presents.

Kids need both their parents, but they especially need their mothers. Whether the child is a breastfeeding baby or a confused adolescent needing guidance, kids need time with their moms, and the military needs to guarantee a reasonable amount of it. More frequent vacations, predictable deployments and longer maternity leave are good steps to take to alleviate the problem.

It may not be the best decision for moms to go into the military, but the women who make the decision to serve should know that the military will give them the resources to be a good soldier as well as a good mom.