Saturday, February 13, 2010
Alexis Hutchinson and Son
Avoiding what legal experts said could have been a first-of-its-kind case, the U.S. Army agreed this week not to court-martial a young female soldier who refused deployment because she had no one to care for her child. Instead of trying Specialist Alexis Hutchinson, a 21-year-old Army cook and single parent from Oakland, CA, Army commanders decided to give her an other-than-honorable discharge. Hutchinson will be demoted to private before leaving the service, and she will lose all rights to military and veterans benefits.
Hutchinson was supposed to deploy in November along with her unit from the Third Infantry Division to Afghanistan, but when her mother said she could not care for her grandson, Hutchinson chose to skip her flight. She was arrested the next day, and in January was charged with being absent without leave, missing a movement, dereliction of duty and insubordinate conduct toward a noncommissioned officer. She faced two years in prison.
Legal experts could not recall another case of a soldier being court-martialed over child-care issues. Hutchinson’s refusal to deploy preceded another controversy in which the commander of the Third Infantry, Major General Anthony Cucolo III, threatened to punish soldiers who became pregnant. Cucolo later gave up on the idea.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Single Mother Is Spared Court-Martial (by James Dao, New York Times)
Army to Discharge Single Mom, Rather Than Court-Martial Her (by Dahr Jamail, Truthout)
Army Discharges Single Mom Who Wouldn't Deploy (by Henry Lee, San Francisco Chronicle)
Army General in Iraq Threatens Couples with Jail if They Become Pregnant (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
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