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."

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