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.