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 ...
It’s a shame cause the honorable women in the service have it hard enough.
Then a coward like this plays the female card, shirking her commitment to her country and unit, and gets preferential treatment from the brass.
This is the same kind of Army leadership decision making that created the conditions for the Ft Hood Massacre.
“Because the command cares about you, it will never stop presenting information for those who wish to take steps to reduce their risk of being a victim of fatal car accident or a rape.”
Ft. Hood.
She should’ve been sinply to be made an example of. You shouldn’t join up if you don’t have anyone to depend upon to care for your kids and if enlisted you shouldn’t let yourself get pregnant if you don’t have a dependable spouse to leave them with.
Single Mom in Oakland I’m guessing now that she has the child is planning for the government to care for her for the next 18 years? No job needed when there’s Welfare to collect.
OTH discharges are quite serious, and even a General discharge (under honorable conditions) is not exactly a prime credential, especially in today’s economy.
You lose most of your benefits and a lot of employers will catch that on a background check.
You had better believe if a guy had pulled this stunt he would be on his way to Leavenworth. Learn to zip your pants women or figure out how to use birth control. My son says that half the women in the Army are single, never married mothers and quite a few of them are busy trying to figure out when is the best time to get pregnant and avoid deployment.
Now that was a ‘funny’ movie....but that LT looks more like my era CPO..... notice how he is ‘holding’ his beer locker in?...
..art 115 Malingering...
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Back in the day (Oh God, what am I saying?)
you could get in deep kimchi for a severe sunburn, festered tattoo, STD, or anything else the powers that be considered ‘destroying Government Property’ if a specific UCMJ article wouldn’t cover it, Art 134 managed to make it an offense.....
LOL! I had forgotten that “damaging or destroying gov’t property” usage.
>”She joined because of all the nice pictures and the promises of going to college, medical coverage and someone neglected -in 2007- to tell her there was a war going on and soldiers fight wars.”
Yeah, I know. Been like that for as long as I can remember. Always gonna have that one person who who just “cant find anyone” or “No body will take care of my kids” or blah blah blah. I had a few troops that I almost had to hit with a stick to get this stuff done, and in the long term, they thanked me when their number came up and we had all our ducks in a row. HOWEVER..... (I learned THAT in First Sergeant School! hehehe) there will always be one. (They didnt do her any favors though, Art 15’d her it appears and her discharge sure isnt anything to crow about.)
>”I had to give sexual harassment briefings to the entire post twice a year.”
Ya, I hear ya. And, you sure got it right. I used to be fond of using this example when confronted with the “I should be able to dress like....”. Used to say, “Well, I should be able to put on a ballerina outfit and walk down the streets of East St. Louis, but, would that be a SMART thing for me to do?”
LOL! No one EVER was able to refute my logic. LMAO! (I’m sure a few troops walked out of my office with a mental picture that haunts them to this day. ;) )
I had a female in my company in AIT, and she found about a week before graduating that she was going to Korea. She spent the entire weekend before graduation, trying to find someone to knock her up, so she could stay CONUS...
I got my one and only ART15 in AIT, for getting drunk and falling asleep on the beach in Corpus, and I couldnt train because I was blistered up. I learned my lesson and bought alot of sunblock!! LOL
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