A single mom could face criminal charges after skipping her deployment flight to Afghanistan and refusing to leave the country.
Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, remains in custody and is confined to Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia. She was arrested 11 days ago by military police after missing her unit’s flight.
As of now, no charges have been filed against the woman, but investigation is currently underway by commanders, according to a spokesperson for the Army post.
Such a bold move is highly frowned upon, but the reasoning was in order to take care of her infant son, who would not have had the proper supervision or care if she were to leave and go overseas.
In regards to her child, Kamani was placed into in the hands of a daycare provider overnight once his mother was arrested and then was put in the custody of her mother a week ago where she took the child back to their home in California.
Hutchinson states that the only other possibility for her son to stay with family would have been to go with her mother, Angelique Hughes, but she added that her mother is already overwhelmed as she is currently taking care of three other family members that have health problems. Along with family, the mother also has a daycare in which she is in charge of 14 other children.
Hughes even added that the weight would be too much to hold and she wasn’t sure if she could provide the necessary 24-hour care needed for the infant.
Some pay ponder why she wouldn’t motion for this fact, but the actuality of her circumstances is the fact that her superiors told her to deploy, regardless of the fact, and just have her child placed inside foster care.
Reported by the Associated Press, Rai Sue Sussman, the civilian attorney for Hutchinson, spoke on the behalf of her client and her pending situation.
“For her it was like, ‘I couldn’t abandon my child’. She was really afraid of what would happen, that if she showed up they would send her to Afghanistan anyway and put her son with child protective services.”
The mother and daughter had originally had a plan for Hughes to care for the child if Hutchinson was deployed as the Army requires single-parents to issue a care plan for dependent children before they can actually be deployed into combat. Her mother realized after two weeks that she couldn’t care for the child for a whole year.
“This is an infant, and they require 24-hour care,” Hughes said. “It was very, very stressful, just too much for me to deal with.”
According to Kevin Larson, a spokesperson for Hunter Army Airfield, he is unaware of what Hutchinson stated to her superiors, but added that a single parent would not be deployed if there was no one to care for his/her child. The investigation will serve as a means to get to the bottom of what actually transpired. He also added that if she would have brought her child with her to the deployment terminal, her departure would have been cancelled.
“Spc. Hutchinson’s deployment is halted,” Larson said. “There will be no deployment while this situation is ongoing.”
Larson added that Hutchinson will remain in Georgia as facts are gathered on her case.
With all of the facts that are presented, what exactly is the problem?
This serves as yet another example of how America is built by the people, but not meant to serve the people. Why should a woman be forced to bring her child to the terminal to provide validity?
Let’s clap our hands for the country whose mindset is more focused on taking out those around of us instead of caring for those with us.
