Army Sends Infant to Protective Services, Mom to Afghanistan

[rollingrock]

ugh...are we still living in America?...its like something the SS would do.




Army Sends Infant to Protective Services, Mom to Afghanistan

November 15, 2009


Ventura, California - US Army Specialist Alexis Hutchinson, a single mother, is being threatened with a military court-martial if she does not agree to deploy to Afghanistan, despite having been told she would be granted extra time to find someone to care for her 11-month-old son while she is overseas.

Hutchinson, of Oakland, California, is currently being confined at Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Georgia, after being arrested. Her son was placed into a county foster care system.

Hutchinson has been threatened with a court martial if she does not agree to deploy to Afghanistan on Sunday, Nov. 15. She has been attempting to find someone to take care of her child, Kamani, while she is deployed overseas, but to no avail.

....Faced with this choice, Hutchinson chose not to show up for her plane to Afghanistan. The military arrested her and placed her child in the county foster care system...more

www.opednews.com/articles/Army-Sends-Infant-to-Prote-by-Dahr-Jamail-091115-383.html

[stray cat]

1. Absent without leave - there may be more to the story

Supposedly the soldier refused to go through the appropriate channels and would not have been sent over seas without finding appropriate child care. However, she was afraid to show up as required and take her chances on the military granting her leave so instead she went absent without leave.

[rollingrock]

3. Uh, no

she did go through the appropriate channels. the army heard her story and even granted her an extension to find someone to care for her child, but then revoked the extension for no reason.

edit: her choice was; go AWOL or leave her infant child behind alone to fend for itself. according to you and the army, she should have done the latter.

[qazplm]

8. no she should have showed up for duty

and then brought her baby and said I still have no one to take care of her.

There are always higher ups to complain to. Your choice is not to simply not show up without having exhausted all avenues first.

We don't know all the facts and jumping to the Army sucks is a bit premature. I spent quite awhile as a military defense attorney. Sometimes, there is more to the story and it ain't always anti-Army and pro-accused.

I don't know what happened, but I do know it would be unusual for a Soldier in her situation not to be chaptered (aka let go) in this situation, which leads me to believe that, rightly or wrongly we do not know, the chain of command did not believe her.

[rollingrock]

11. That's stupid

the army already granted her an extension, so she didn't have to show up.

its not her fault the army revoked that extension. that's their screw up, not hers.

it wouldn't have made a difference if she showed up with her daughter anyway. they would have simply arrested her and took her kid away! they act like the Gestapo.

[qazplm]

18. i see logic and reason

have no dog in this hunt for you, the army sucks and that's all you want to hear.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

2. This demands presidential leadership!

What a disgrace this military is.

[951-Riverside]

4. The people running the Army are incompetent ASSES

Despite repeated complaints and an investigation they let a batshit crazy fundie stay in and eventually kill 13 people then they arrest a mom, take away her kid and expects her to fly off to Afghanistan.

We're talking about the Army not UHAUL. :mad: The Army I knew yesterday is not the Army I know today.

[rollingrock]

5. I'm surprised they haven't reinstated the draft yet

they have resorted to such draconian measures to keep this war and bloodshed going, that would be the next logical step.

[branders seine]

6. "She's just a peasant."

"Big deal," say our rulers.

[Obamanaut]

7. Much discussion at some of these earlier threads

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=7009606

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=7015520

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=7012490

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7035169&mesg_id=7035169

edited to add one more

[C_Lawyer09]

9. Like me and several other vets spent hours attempting to explain:

There is more than meets the eye, and one side of the story is being missrepresented. I'm not going to waste more hrs. attempting to set anybody straight on this, but check out the latest story when you get a chance. She's not being sent to Afghanistan, and won't unless she has a valid family care plan.

[TexasObserver]

15. You speak only for yourself, not most vets here.

You are distinctly out of step with most veterans here at DU, who aren't gung ho, and don't spew the military line every time they post on military topics.

The military is notorious for having officers who abuse their position and soldiers who suffer because of it. This soldier's only problem may be some self righteous, Bible Thumping career officer who doesn't like her being a single mother.

You don't know, but you're always going to lap up whatever the military spews.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TexasObserver]

17. As I said, you're an apologist.

And you think the Army is right when it forces a baby into foster care to send its mother to war.

Stop dodging your bad history here. You wrote it, now you're stuck with it.

You quote regs, as if regs compel the army to act. The army does what it wants to do, and doesn't give a damn about regs, when that doesn't fit its needs.

We already had all the discussions you and I need to have. You religously defend the Army from a 21 year old mother and her baby. You're a real piece of ... work.

[C_Lawyer09]

20. The Army happens to be in compliance with the AR 635-200

The Army will not deploy the mother without a valid family care plan. She is not confined as the first article indicated, nor is her child currently in foster care. Finally, the Army is not sending her to Afghanistan for a court martial. Myself and the others whom attempted to rationally and patiently explain this to yourself and others, not only apparently wasted our time. Because one overriding fact is increasingly clear: You don't want to consider facts, you'd rather have them entirely wrong, as long as the errors allow to rail against what you don't like. If you just want to be a naysayer and defy facts, you're no better than Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. The first article was quoting from her attorney, who in large part wanted to drum up public outcry and sway opinion, wherein she obviously was successful. Go bury your head in the sand, or pound it.

[TexasObserver]

23. You're consistent. You can't see the forest for the trees.

The army ignores any reg it wants to ignore, when it serves the army's needs, and enforces them when it serves their needs. The reg is immaterial, because it isn't regs that make the Army lie about Tillman or Lynch. They do so because lying is part of the army's way of life.

Behind this event is some petty major or colonel who thinks it is his job to teach this single mother a lesson.

You know what you can do with your regs, don't you, boot?

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SoCalDem]

10. Joining the military is not like taking a job at Target

She was in the military before she had the baby, and she knew what the consequences were. It sucks, but single Moms should not be able to negate their contracts by having a baby..

She needs to accept the court-martial, and go on with her life.

There are many Moms in Iraq & Afghanistan.

Women fought for the right to be equal to men in the military, and this stuff gives them all a black-eye.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SoCalDem]

13. Nope..she would have spent part of the previous 20 months

making arrangements for deployment, and failing that, taken her lumps and court martial if it came to that. the US military is not a social Services Organization

I fully understand her reluctance to go, but the military did not force her to be a single mother with no friends, family. no doubt she used military medical benefits for her prenatal care and for the delivery and for any other medical expenses. She just needs to honor her contract, or leave under whatever circumstances she has to..

It sucks, but she was not tricked , nor is she being unjustly punished..

She went to the media, to crank up the volume & attract sympathy to her plight, but she only has two choices here..

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[qazplm]

19. so let me get this straight

and why is it just a woman, there are more than a few single dads in the military too...but single parents get out but married parents have to go...and you think that's fair?

Do you really think she would have literally "left the child to fend for itself?"

Can you not post drivel?

[C_Lawyer09]

22. You need to get your facts straight

If you want to deal with facts then read the most recent article, which explains the misstatements of the previous. If you want to incoherently babble about assumptions and journalistic sensationalism without getting your ducks in a row, by all means to it. Just don't critize those whom are dealing with the facts and realities as they pretain to this situation.

[Scout]

25. "this is a long-time commitment we're talking about, not a weekend babysitting job"

and she should have THOUGHT OF THAT before she squeezed it out.

[Echo In Light]

21. At the very least, more stories like this thankfully dissuade others from joining

[proteus_lives]

24. SS would do?

Godwin's law, look it up.

It sucks but she signed on the line. She should accept her court-martial and get on with her life.