February 12th, 2010
Army demotes, discharges Mom for putting baby first
Update of Nov 2009 story US Army single parent Alexis Hutchinson was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan. She was told that she had 30 more days to find care for her baby. The base commander never actually granted the promised extension. (DoD integrity?) Her care plan was not finalized prior to deployment date, so the Army arrested her for a short while. Because she refused to deploy without knowing how her son would be cared for, they threatened her with a court martial. According to NY Times reporter James Dao, there are more than 10,000 active duty single parents deployed overseas. Resolution came for Hutchinson on Feb. 11 — a demotion in rank to private, a less-than-honorable discharge, and loss of veterans benefits. She avoided a trial and jail, but the Army has no remorse for manufacturing the conflict between her job’s contractual obligations and her responsibility as a mother. Adding insult to the discharge, her employer claimed that she “didn’t intend to deploy to Afghanistan with her unit and deliberately sought ways out of the deployment.” A mean-spirited tactic — denigrate the humiliated, terminated employee.
Imagine that. A sane single parent not wanting to deploy. What an upside down world when seen through a mother’s eyes.
Tags: Alexis Hutchinson, Army, demotion, deployment, discharge, single parent mother
This entry was posted on Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 11:57 am and is filed under Employer Action/Inaction, Social Justice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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This is just one of countless reasons why the DoD has no credibility whatsoever with the educated public. It is the most morally bankrupt and thoroughly corrupt cesspool department within the US government.
Robert, I worry when any employer gets an unconditional stamp of approval (“Great Place to Work” etc.). When the military is credited with being staffed by people with unquestionable integrity (what political generals don’t lie about conditions so they can keep their “projects” funded?) and the rank-in-file is credited with being America’s “best & bravest,” I also worry. It is now politically incorrect to criticize the military or risk condemnation from the media robots. GN