[News] Army Sends Infant to Protective Services, Mom to Afghanistan

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Army Sends Infant to Protective Services, Mom to Afghanistan

November 15, 2009 By Dahr Jamail
Source: Inter Press Service
http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/23140

VENTURA, California, Nov 13 (IPS) - U.S. Army Specialist Alexis 
Hutchinson, a single mother, is being threatened with a military 
court-martial if she does not agree to deploy to Afghanistan, despite 
having been told she would be granted extra time to find someone to 
care for her 11-month-old son while she is overseas.

Hutchinson, of Oakland, California, is currently being confined at 
Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Georgia, after being arrested. 
Her son was placed into a county foster care system.

Hutchinson has been threatened with a court martial if she does not 
agree to deploy to Afghanistan on Sunday, Nov. 15. She has been 
attempting to find someone to take care of her child, Kamani, while 
she is deployed overseas, but to no avail.

According to the family care plan of the U.S. Army, Hutchinson was 
allowed to fly to California and leave her son with her mother, 
Angelique Hughes of Oakland.

However, after a week of caring for the child, Hughes realized she 
was unable to care for Kamani along with her other duties of caring 
for a daughter with special needs, her ailing mother, and an ailing sister.

In late October, Angelique Hughes told Hutchinson and her commander 
that she would be unable to care for Kamani after all. The Army then 
gave Hutchinson an extension of time to allow her to find someone 
else to care for Kamani. Meanwhile, Hughes brought Kamani back to 
Georgia to be with his mother.

However, only a few days before Hutchinson's original deployment 
date, she was told by the Army she would not get the time extension 
after all, and would have to deploy, despite not having found anyone 
to care for her child.

Faced with this choice, Hutchinson chose not to show up for her plane 
to Afghanistan. The military arrested her and placed her child in the 
county foster care system.

Currently, Hutchinson is scheduled to fly to Afghanistan on Sunday 
for a special court martial, where she then faces up to one year in jail.

Hutchinson's civilian lawyer, Rai Sue Sussman, told IPS, "The core 
issue is that they are asking her to make an inhumane choice. She did 
not have a complete family care plan, meaning she did not find 
someone to provide long-term care for her child. She's required to 
have a complete family care plan, and was told she'd have an 
extension, but then they changed it on her."

Asked why she believes the military revoked Hutchinson's extension, 
Sussman responded, "I think they didn't believe her that she was 
unable to find someone to care for her infant. They think she's just 
trying to get out of her deployment. But she's just trying to find 
someone she can trust to take care of her baby."

Hutchinson's mother has flown to Georgia to retrieve the baby, but is 
overwhelmed and does not feel able to provide long-term care for the child.

According to Sussman, the soldier needs more time to find someone to 
care for her infant, but does not as yet have friends or family able to do so.

Sussman says Hutchinson told her, "It is outrageous that they would 
deploy a single mother without a complete and current family care 
plan. I would like to find someone I trust who can take care of my 
son, but I cannot force my family to do this. They are dealing with 
their own health issues."

Sussman told IPS that the Army's JAG attorney, Captain Ed Whitford, 
"told me they thought her chain of command thought she was trying to 
get out of her deployment by using her child as an excuse." '

Major Gallagher, of Hutchinson's unit, also told Sussman that he did 
not believe it was a real family crisis, and that Hutchinson's 
"mother should have been able to take care of the baby".

In addition, according to Sussman, a First Sergeant Gephart "told me 
he thought she [Hutchinson] was pulling her family care plan stuff to 
get out of her deployment".

"To me it sounds completely bogus," Sussman told IPS, "I think what 
they are actually going to do is have her spend her year deployment 
in Afghanistan, then court martial her back here upon her return. 
This would do irreparable harm to her child. I think they are doing 
this to punish her, because they think she is lying."

Sussman explained that she believes the best possible outcome is for 
the Army to either give Hutchinson the extension they had said she 
would receive so that she can find someone to care for her infant, or 
barring this, to simply discharge her so she can take care of her child.

Nevertheless, Hutchinson is simply asking for the time extension to 
complete her family care plan, and not to be discharged.

"I'm outraged by this," Sussman told IPS, "I've never gone to the 
media with a military client, but this situation is just completely 
over the top."




Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20091115/c40f8b4d/attachment.htm>