[Antoninus]

How is she "abandoning" her children? They are staying with her mother, right? Be careful of the words you use. "abandoning" is a loaded word and unfair to use in this instance.

I disagree. A mother's first responsibility should be to her minor children. Grandparents should become caretakers of their grandchildren only in the event of serious disability, indigence, or death of the parent. For a single mother to abandon her children to serve overseas in the military is not laudatory. That our system is currently set up to allow such travesties demonstrates the moral vaccuum that afflicts much of our society today.

[steve-b]

You might want to try reading the article. Your "indigence" bullet point is in there:

Her National Guard duty, with the 129th Signal Battalion, brought in extra money. Her ex-husband paid child support. Still, she only scraped by, with the help of public assistance.

[sauropod]

Without knowing more about her situation, such as her financial situation and that of her grandparents, and the reasons that went into her signing up, I don't think you can make such a sweeping statement such as "a mother's first responsibility should be to her minor children."

Maybe her signing up to get the pay and health benefits for her family IS fulfilling her "first responsibility. It just so happens that her job calls for deployment every so often.

I'd rather she be serving her country instead of a ward of the state, wouldn't you?