From the tone of your post, it sounds like you'd like to see this resolved with no penalties to the mother. (Sorry if I'm mis-reading your post.) Anyway, I feel there has to be some penalties, because otherwise the Army has just set a precedent that other parents can try to exploit to avoid dangerous or unpleasant missions. The penalties don't have to be harsh -- just enough to make a point to others that they cannot easily shirk their duty. We have to think of the big picture here.
My sympathy with this situation is that no matter what this women does she is violating a legal duty imposed by the Army or the State of Colorado. I think that calls for some compassion and discretion.
BTW, what I've seen little focus on is the actions of the husband's ex in taking advantage of the couple's deployment as grounds to change custody, which is pretty scummy IMHO.
She had a viable plan to care for her kids when she was deployed, her ex just took the fact that she was gone to exploit the situation. No penalties should be attached to the Mom
Jeez, she joined the Nasty Guard...no benefits except while you are on duty (one weekend a month)...probably wanted to supplement her income, didnt whine when she was deployed...What else do you want from her???