Charges filed against non-deployed single mom

By Russ Bynum
Jan. 15, 2010

SAVANNAH, Ga. The Army filed charges Tuesday against a single-mom soldier who refused to deploy to Afghanistan last year, arguing she had no family able to care for her infant son.

Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, a 21-year-old Army cook, could face a prison sentence and a dishonorable discharge if she is convicted in a court-martial. But first, an officer will be appointed to decide if there's enough evidence to try a case against her.

Hutchinson, of Oakland, Calif., was scheduled to deploy from Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah on Nov. 5. She skipped her unit's flight, saying the only relative she had to take care of her 10-month-old son her mother was overwhelmed by the task and backed out a few days before Hutchinson's departure date.

A spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah said Wednesday that Hutchinson has been charged with missing movement for missing her overseas flight being absent without leave, dereliction of duty and insubordinate conduct.

The stiffest charge, missing movement, carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.

The decision to charge Hutchinson was far different than the Army's handling of another recent case involving a military mom.

Lisa Pagan of Davidson, N.C., was granted a discharge after she fought being recalled to the Army, under the military's "individual ready reserve" program, four years after she left active duty.

Pagan reported for duty at Fort Benning in west Georgia last February with her two young children in tow. She argued that her husband traveled for business too often to care for their children alone. While Pagan and her attorney battled the Army through appeals, she was never accused of refusing orders.

The Army requires all single-parent soldiers to submit a care plan for dependent children before they can deploy to a combat zone.

Hutchinson had such a plan her mother, Angelique Hughes, had agreed to care for the boy. Hughes said she kept the boy for about two weeks in October before deciding she couldn't keep him for a full year.

According to the Defense Department's latest demographic report, there are more than 70,500 single parents on active duty in the U.S. military about 5 percent of all service members. Nearly half of military single parents are in the Army.

Cases like Hutchinson's, where a conflict between deployment orders and parental duties lead to a prosecution, appear to be rare, said Lory Manning, a retired Navy captain a who studies how military policies affect women for the nonprofit Women's Research and Education Institute.

"There are thousands upon thousands of single parents that have deployed since the war in Afghanistan started," Manning said. "Things don't fall apart that often. Sometimes the family care plan doesn't work for whatever reason, but overall it works well."

Hutchinson's civilian attorney, Rae Sue Sussman, says the soldier was afraid to show up for her overseas flight because one of her superiors told her she would have to deploy and turn her child over to the state foster care system.

A spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield, Kevin Larson, said the Army would not deploy a single parent with no one to care for her child.

Hutchinson's commanders granted her a leave last month so she could spend the holidays at her mother's home in California. Before that, she had been prohibited from leaving the Army post.

Hutchinson, who is assigned to the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, joined the Army in 2007 and had no previous deployments. Sussman said Hutchinson is no longer in a relationship with her son's father.

Hughes said she's already taking care of her ailing mother and sister, as well as a daughter with special needs. She also runs a daycare center at her home, keeping about 14 children during the day.

Hughes said she returned Kamani to his mother in Georgia a few days before her November deployment.

She said they told her daughter's commanders they needed more time to find another family member or close friend to help Hughes care for the boy, but Hutchinson was ordered to deploy on schedule.

Hutchinson's son, Kamani, was placed into custody overnight with a daycare provider on the Army post after she was arrested and jailed briefly in November for skipping her flight. Hutchinson's mother picked up the child a few days later and took him back to her home in California.

Hutchinson is not in custody. Sussman said Wednesday that Hutchinson's son, who had his first birthday this month, returned home with his mother to Georgia after the holidays.

Army charges mom for refusing to leave infant

by Kevin Fagan
SF Chronicle Staff Writer
January 14, 2010

Spc. Alexis Hutchinson was gung-ho in 2007 when she enlisted in the Army straight out of high school in East Oakland. She'd done three years in the ROTC, and this was her ticket to rock-solid stability, she told relatives.

Now a single mother in uniform, she wants nothing more than to be a civilian again, her mother says - but she may have to spend a couple of years in military prison before that can happen.

The 21-year-old Army cook was charged this week with four court-martial counts for refusing to leave her infant son behind to go to Afghanistan in November with her unit.

Hutchinson is posted at the Hunter Army Airfield outside Savannah, Ga., and for now is serving her normal duties, said base spokesman Kevin Larson. No arraignment date has been set.

She was supposed to deploy overseas with her unit, the 3rd Infantry Division, on Nov. 5, but skipped the flight, she contended, because shehad nobody to take care of her then-10-month-old son, Kamani.

Child care plans fell through

Hutchinson told her commanding officers she had arranged with her mother, Angelique Hughes, 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.

Larson said her commanders had offered her child care options but that she had refused them.

Hutchinson was arrested Nov. 6. After a brief stay in military day care, Kamani went back to Oakland with Hughes. Hutchinson was released after two days in military jail and had been waiting until this week for officers to decide if she would be cleared, discharged or brought up for court-martial.

Could face 2-year sentence

Her answer came Tuesday, when the Army charged her with being absent without leave, missing a movement, dereliction of duty and insubordinate conduct toward a noncommissioned officer. If convicted, she could spend up to two years behind bars.

"I'm so mad," Hughes said Wednesday. "She'd been in the ROTC since the ninth grade, and even though I told her she should wait until the war is over, she was so eager to join up right after getting out of Fremont High School she did it. Now look at what a mess this is."

Larson said the Army is sympathetic to soldiers' child care concerns, but that when Hutchinson told officers she had nowhere to leave her child, that was not entirely true.

"The command set up alternative child care options for her," he said. "Some organizations came forward, including a well-known veterans group, and offered to take care of the child. Command passed that on to Spc. Hutchinson, and she said no."

Hutchinson's mother and her lawyer vehemently disagree.

"They said, 'You have to get on the plane, and maybe your child will end up in foster care,' " said attorney Rai Sue Sussman of San Francisco. "That wasn't really an option. It's a lot harder to get your child out of
foster care when you come back from being away, and that was unacceptable to Alexis."

Hutchinson, who could not reached for comment, has no contact with Kamani's father or his family, Sussman said.

Hughes said she had wanted to take care of Kamani, but shortly before the deployment date, she had to begin helping an ailing sister. She was already caring for an 8-year-old daughter with special needs and a frail mother and running a day care center with 14 children, Hughes said, and the load overwhelmed her.

"I thought the military would understand," she said.

Discharges for child care

According to the Defense Department, single parents are not allowed to enlist for active duty. But the military has 70,500 single parents who had children after finishing basic training. That's about 5 percent of all active-duty personnel.

Legal child care disputes in the Army do have some precedent, as in the case of Lisa Pagan of North Carolina, who resolved a battle with the service last spring over being ordered to report for duty even though she said she had no one to care for her two young children. She received an honorable discharge.

About 3,000 soldiers have been discharged from the Army over the past two years after they couldn't deploy because of child care or pregnancy difficulties, according to the Army Times.

But neither Sussman nor base spokesman Larson said they could recall another court-martial in such a dispute.

"Overall, her command has shown a lack of compassion and failed to properly counsel Alexis," Sussman said. "It's very disappointing that they've chosen to throw the book at her instead of working with her on
this."