Alexis Hutchinson is a single mother living in Georgia. She’s also military personnel stationed there, taking care of her infant son.
Last November, Hutchinson was arrested for refusing deployment to Afghanistan, contractual to her stint in the military. Her reasoning? She could not find an appropriate caretaker for her infant son. Hutchinson’s mother was initially set to care for the child during her tour of the Middle East, but after a mere two weeks, the child’s grandmother “sent” him back stating that she couldn’t handle the pressure of taking care of an infant for such an extended period of time.
Initially, the Army filed criminal charges against Hutchinson, who adamantly refused to be deployed. However, after shuffling what was probably tons and tons of paperwork around on a desk, the military decided to discharge her rather than take her to court.
While Hutchinson is thrilled that she can now stay at home and care for her son, she will lose her military and veteran pensions and benefits.
Although the military bent and allowed her to be discharged rather than sent to jail, they claim that there is “evidence” that regardless of a family situation or not, Hutchinson would have refused to deploy regardless. Fort Stewart, the base at which Hutchinson was stationed, had a representative speak to the press regarding the case:
“This case wasn’t about a soldier having to choose between her duty to the nation and her family … There is evidence both from Pvt. Hutchinson and her fellow soldiers to indicate she had no intentions of deploying.”
Naturally, however, Hutchinson denies the avoidance of deployment for any other reason than that of taking care of her son.
This would have been Hutchinson’s first deployment since her initial sign-on date in 2007.