Alexis Hutchinson To Be Discharged Instead of Court Martialed.

Ariel wrote in November about a soldier, Alexis Hutchinson, who was arrested for resisting deployment because her son was uncared for. The army filed criminal charges against her that were dropped last month and instead of being court martialed, she will only be discharged. On one level this is good news, however she will be losing all her military benefits along with being demoted in rank. Also, the military thinks she was lying about her son.

The decision still carries consequences for Hutchinson. She is being demoted in rank to private and will lose benefits afforded to military service members and veterans, Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said.
Larson said the Army had evidence that Hutchinson, regardless of her family situation, would have resisted deploying “by any means.” He said commanders decided a court-martial would be too disruptive to the Army, requiring soldiers now in Afghanistan to return to the U.S. to testify.
“This case wasn’t about a soldier having to choose between her duty to the nation and her family,” Larson said. “There is evidence both from Pvt. Hutchinson and her fellow soldiers to indicate she had no intentions of deploying.”
Sussman denied that Hutchinson was exploiting her status as a single-mom to get out of going to Afghanistan.
“She was willing to deploy, and was ready to do that if her mother had not backed out of taking care of her child,” she said.

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. You are hearing the same familiar tones of racialized narratives around working class motherhood that play out over and over in stories about motherhood. As Ariel said back in November, standard operating procedure has no flexibility for special circumstances and this will of course hurt those that have the least flexibility in their lives.