The Mother Who Wouldn't Deploy

This story broke over the weekend: Alexis Hutchinson was arrested on criminal charges and lost custody of her 11-month old son, Kamani, for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan on November 15th. Hutchinson, who is 21 years old, had originally planned to leave her son with her mother during her deployment, but her mother, overwhelmed with taking care of other ailing family members, soon notified Hutchinson that she would not be able to take care of Kamani. Hutchinson was then unable to find a relative to leave her son with before her mandated deadline of November 15.

Rather than abandon her son, Hutchinson, a cook, refused to report for duty on that day. After being arrested, the military took her son and placed him in foster care. Thankfully, her mother flew from California to Georgia to rescue the child from foster care, for the time being. The military is holding Hutchinson in custody while they "investigate the case." While it appears conceivable that this was simply a miscommunication between Hutchinson and her commanders, the right thing to do would be to release her immediately, as the conduct the investigation. Hutchinson's son is an infant, and should be with her mother until the military figures out the best way to send his mother to a combat zone thousands of miles away.