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Army discharges single mom who wouldn't deploy
SFGate.com ^ | 2/11/10 | Henry Lee

Posted on 02/11/2010 3:08:23 PM PST by NormsRevenge

A single mother from Oakland has been discharged from the Army for refusing to leave her infant son behind to go to Afghanistan, but she will not be court-martialed, her attorney said Thursday.

Alexis Hutchinson, 21, had faced criminal charges at a court-martial for refusing to accompany her unit when it deployed in November. Although that is no longer a prospect, Hutchinson has been demoted from specialist to private and will lose all military and veteran benefits, said her attorney, Rae Sue Sussman of San Francisco.

She said Hutchinson had been given an other-than-honorable discharge.

In a statement, Hutchinson said she was "excited to know what will happen to me, and that I am not facing jail. This means I can still be with my son, which is the most important thing."

Hutchinson enlisted in the Army in 2007 straight out of Fremont High School in East Oakland. She was supposed to deploy overseas as a cook with her unit, the 3rd Infantry Division, on Nov. 5. She skipped the flight, she contended, because she had nobody to take care of her then-10-month-old son, Kamani.

Hutchinson told her commanding officers she had arranged for her mother to watch Kamani while she was away for her one-year tour of duty, but when that fell through at the last minute, she could find no alternative.

In January, the Army charged her with four court-martial counts. She could have spent up to two years behind bars had she been convicted of being absent without leave, missing a movement, dereliction of duty and insubordinate conduct toward a noncommissioned officer.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; US: California
KEYWORDS: army; deploy; discharges; militarymoms; militarywomen; singlemom
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1 posted on 02/11/2010 3:08:24 PM PST by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

Single moms should not be in the military in the first place.


2 posted on 02/11/2010 3:09:46 PM PST by Minipax
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Finally, some good news for the single mother cook that wouldn’t deploy.

The Army has plenty of cooks. Raise your boy well.

I hope he survives growing up in Oakland.


3 posted on 02/11/2010 3:10:49 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Chuck DeVore - CA Senator. Believe.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Didn’t John Kerry get an “other than honorable” discharge?


4 posted on 02/11/2010 3:11:56 PM PST by Ben Mugged (Unions are the storm troopers of socialism.)
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To: NormsRevenge

This strikes me as a fair result in a very difficult case both for the Army and her. I also think, however, she will find that she has not exactly enhanced her resume by her behavior and she could have a very difficult time finding work in this recession.


5 posted on 02/11/2010 3:12:20 PM PST by colorado tanker
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To: Minipax
Single moms should not be in the military in the first place.

This.

6 posted on 02/11/2010 3:13:07 PM PST by AAABEST (Et lux in tenebris lucet: et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt)
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To: NormsRevenge; Minipax

Amen to that! I dunno if there’s any truth to the rumors that the military is being turned into a jobs/welfare program for unwed mothers but I’d like to know if anyone is out there tracking the stats and expenses.

I hate to sound un-PC but in most employment instances I’ve seen single mothers are not worth the trouble of hiring for most jobs. We could use an administration with the guts to discharge single women for that offense which was called in the ancient WAC-era “PWOP” (pregnant-without-permission).


7 posted on 02/11/2010 3:15:20 PM PST by sinanju
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To: colorado tanker

Somehow I don’t think it will matter in Oakland.


8 posted on 02/11/2010 3:15:35 PM PST by RanGreHad
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To: NormsRevenge

“”...but she will not be court-martialed, her attorney said Thursday.

Alexis Hutchinson, 21, had faced criminal charges at a court-martial for ....””

did the same person write the first and second sentences?

What we need is an Army of women who will all come up pregnant when TSHTF

wonderful!


9 posted on 02/11/2010 3:15:48 PM PST by GeronL (Dignity is earned from yourself. Respect is earned from others.)
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To: GeronL

I would reserve judgment until I tasted her cooking.

The Army may have done our troops a big favor. ;-)


10 posted on 02/11/2010 3:16:44 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Chuck DeVore - CA Senator. Believe.)
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To: Minipax

How did she come to be a single mom, not just a single?

Ladies in the service (and God bless the good ones) pose their own set of problems.


11 posted on 02/11/2010 3:17:27 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America (per bible: am in the world but not of it))
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To: GeronL

Can you imagine a division full of these folks in the Argonne as the Panzers come crashing through.


12 posted on 02/11/2010 3:19:31 PM PST by dogcaller
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To: HiTech RedNeck

I guess some one “hit it”


13 posted on 02/11/2010 3:20:25 PM PST by al baby (Hi Mom sarc ;))
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To: colorado tanker

She’s probably already interviewed with ACORN to be a supervisor. I am not on the same page as many on it “working out for her”. She made a commitment and reneiged and now wants “life without blame”. It is why this country has gone to the dogs.


14 posted on 02/11/2010 3:20:37 PM PST by dumpthelibs (dumpthelibs)
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To: NormsRevenge

lol

ramen noodles w/ raw liver are her specialty


15 posted on 02/11/2010 3:21:13 PM PST by GeronL (Dignity is earned from yourself. Respect is earned from others.)
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To: NormsRevenge

She’s missing the war to have her mother raise the bastard


16 posted on 02/11/2010 3:21:19 PM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Tax the poor. Taxes will give them a stake in society)
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To: Minipax
“Single moms should not be in the military in the first place.”

Women,regardless of marital status, with young children should not be on active duty. Place them into the inactive reserves until all young’uns are 18.

17 posted on 02/11/2010 3:21:44 PM PST by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda" and its allies.)
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To: NormsRevenge

This is a bunch of horsecrap. The Army needs to send a message and put her ass in jail. She’s lucky they didnt charge her with desertion. She knew she was deployable when she enlisted, and it aint the Army’s job to worry about childcare for her. How about all the single fathers out there, any of them refuse to deploy? Bet if they did, they would be in jail right now....


18 posted on 02/11/2010 3:23:24 PM PST by ConservativeNewYorker (FDNY 343 NYPD 23 PAPD 37)
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To: al baby

Well, yeah, obviously. Stune mah beeber.

Goofing around with enlisted men, already expecting when she signed on, something else? Could put a fillip on the story.


19 posted on 02/11/2010 3:23:46 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America (per bible: am in the world but not of it))
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To: NormsRevenge

I’m bowled over. The comments for this story in SFChronic are indistinguishable in tone from the ones here. Things are a-changing.


20 posted on 02/11/2010 3:24:38 PM PST by sinanju
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