Alexis Hutchinson, a 21-year-old Army cook, was arrested last November when she didn't deploy to Afghanistan because her mother backed out of caring for her son during her tour. Now, Hutchinson is back in the news because the military opted not to court martial her; instead she received an other-than-honorable discharge and she lost her veteran's benefits. Though, as the New York Times writes, Hutchinson "did what might seem natural to a parent" by staying with her son in lieu of a caretaker, the military thinks otherwise, contending that Hutchinson “didn’t intend to deploy to Afghanistan with her unit and deliberately sought ways out of the deployment."
Feministing points out the damned-if-she-does, damned-if-she-doesn't element to this story: "Amazing, if she left her child with no care, she would be demonized as a neglectful mother. She stays with her child to care for him and now she was lying and using him as a ploy to get out of her job."
The Atlantic Monthly wonders "how well does the military treat single mothers?" and answers the question with a fantastic round-up of commentary surrounding the three-month Hutchinson affair, noting that while "the issue has been resolved with less drama than initially expected, it has sparked debate over the intersection of child care, parenting, and an increasingly overextended military." -TLF
Friday, February 12, 2010
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