The following article is from Yahoo. Click the title of my blog entry to directed to the story:
Soldier mom refuses deployment to care for baby
AP – This undated self-portrait provided by Army Spc. Alexis Hutchinson shows Spc. Hutchinson and her son, …
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By RUSS BYNUM, AP Military Writer Russ Bynum, Ap Military Writer – Mon Nov 16, 9:32 pm ET
SAVANNAH, Ga. – An Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.
Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, claims she had no choice but to refuse deployment orders because the only family she had to care for her 10-month-old son — her mother — was overwhelmed by the task, already caring for three other relatives with health problems.
Her civilian attorney, Rai Sue Sussman, said Monday that one of Hutchinson's superiors told her she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care.
"For her it was like, 'I couldn't abandon my child,'" Sussman said. "She was really afraid of what would happen, that if she showed up they would send her to Afghanistan anyway and put her son with child protective services."
Hutchinson, who is from Oakland, Calif., remained confined Monday to the boundaries of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, 10 days after military police arrested her for skipping her unit's flight. No charges have been filed, but a spokesman for the Army post said commanders were investigating.
Kevin Larson, a spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield, said he didn't know what Hutchinson was told by her commanders, but he said the Army would not deploy a single parent who had nobody to care for his or her child.
"I don't know what transpired and the investigation will get to the bottom of it," Larson said. "If she would have come to the deployment terminal with her child, there's no question she would not have been deployed."
Hutchinson's son, Kamani, was placed into custody overnight with a daycare provider on the Army post after she was arrested and jailed briefly, Larson said. Hutchinson's mother picked up the child a week ago and took him back to her home in California.
Hutchinson, who's assigned to the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, joined the Army in 2007 and had no previous deployments, Sussman said. She said Hutchinson is no longer in a relationship with the father.
The Army requires all single-parent soldiers to submit a care plan for dependent children before they can deploy to a combat zone.
Hutchinson had such a plan — her mother, Angelique Hughes, had agreed to care for the boy. Hughes said Monday she kept the boy for about two weeks in October before deciding she couldn't keep him for a full year.
Hughes said she's already having to care for her ailing mother and sister, as well as a daughter with special needs. She also runs a daycare center at her home, keeping about 14 children during the day.
"This is an infant, and they require 24-hour care," Hughes said. "It was very, very stressful, just too much for me to deal with."
Hughes said she returned Kamani to his mother in Georgia a few days before her scheduled deployment Nov. 5.
She said they told her daughter's commanders they needed more time to find another family member or close friend to help Hughes care for the boy, but Hutchinson was ordered to deploy on schedule.
Larson, the Army post spokesman, said officials planned to keep Hutchinson in Georgia as investigators gathered facts about the case.
"Spc. Hutchinson's deployment is halted," Larson said. "There will be no deployment while this situation is ongoing."
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Russ Bynum has covered the military based in Georgia since 2001.
MY THOUGHTS:
How is it okay to arrest a parent who asks for an extension on deployment to find someone to care for their child while they are away? It's not okay. Soldiers are the defenders of our country. They deserve respect, admiration, and support. The woman in the story I am referring to is a military cook. Is this a crucial position that only a set number of people can do? I understand that someone else should not be shipped out in her place. She signed up for the job and it was her call to be deployed. It wouldn't be fair for someone else to have to fill in for her. But she is a single parent to a 10 month old child. She doesn't have anyone to care for her child while she is away. It could be weeks, months, even a year before she is back.
The military says that single parents without another caregiver for their children are not deployed. Why was this woman arrested then?
I don't understand things sometimes.
It is a scary world for soldiers when they are deployed to places like Iraq to fight in a war that has lost it's meaning. I support my country. I support our troops. I could never do what they do. They are brave, strong, and incredible.
I could never go to a country that lacks the very things that Americans take for granted. Like clean running water, air conditioning, clean clothes, houses, food. I am very grateful and thankful for the things I have. I am thankful for the people who gave them to me.
The government should be helping our soldiers. They should be protecting them. Single parent soldiers should not face having their children forced into foster homes so that they can be deployed.
