Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges

[gunner1zeus]

JAM:
Getting back to Spec Hutchinson let's do a little math covering her 2 year army career.

Boot camp 2 months
advance school 1 month
leave prior to first duty station 1 month
pregnancy 9 months
time as single mother 11 months
TOTAL 24 months


what an asset to her command. ha
She has scammed the military since day 1, she has shown no intension of honoring her commitment to the Army other than filling a double spot for billeting quotas by being a minority and a female probably even a third spot by being an unwed mother.
The Army should cut it's losses and discharge this freeloader along with all her perceived entitlements. JMHO

 

[Maximus]

I also want to clarify that I am not defending this woman at this time as I do not know all of the facts.

However, just to play devil's advocate what if it WERE a single father and the facts are all the same, including the assumption that a dependent's plan was filed and had just recently been found to be impossible .... would it play out differently? Already on this thread we've heard that "single mothers should NOT be in the military", but what about single fathers?

Now, this is JMO. I think that part of the problem lies with the way single mothers are perceived by many people as opposed to single fathers. Very often single mothers are thought of as unwed mothers as if this were an almost derogatory term. This is not always the case. Some women are divorced, some are widowed, some have irresponsible partners who after a divorce or breakup choose not to help support (financially, physically or emotionally) that child. There's not the same connotation for a single father.

A single father is more often thought of as doing something extraordinary by simply taking full care and custody of his very own child, something many women do every day of their lives without garnering any special attention for being a single mother. A single father often receives such sympathy, empathy and praise for being a single father and that's usually not the case with a single mother. With a single mother it's more of a "you've made your bed, now lie in it" type of attitude. I've never heard the term "unwed father" used to describe a single father in my life. I'm not saying it's not used, just that I've never personally heard it. Anecdotally, I've never been a single parent, but my husband was when we met (the children have since all reached adulthood). And the way he was perceived as a single father (even by me) was entirely different from the way most of my single mother friends were perceived (truthfully, even by me). And he knew it ... and it baffled him ... they were HIS children, he'd say ... why would he be looked at as a great father for simply being a single father?

So does this double standard carry over into the military, causing someone to look less favorably upon a female Spec who refuses to deploy and put her child in foster care than a male Spec? Maybe.

JMO, I think a single father would be portrayed as a hero by the press for refusing to deploy and leave his child in foster care effectively abandoning that child. I've read the article posted on this thread as well as several others and this woman doesn't seem to be being portrayed as a hero. It seems like she's just doing what every mother "should" do and not abandon her child.

Again, these are all just opinions. I rarely post and hope I didn't offend anyone.

Men are all just evil eh? lol

I tend to agree with Gunner here about single mothers (BTW, if you're a single mom or dad, you're un-wed ) and the same holds true for a single man, it's a conflict of interest, they are there for a job, not day care. And as a matter of fact, I feel some people do use the military with that intent.

 

[caroline]

Men are all just evil eh? lol

I have absolutely no idea how you would think this was my conclusion. Some of my very fave people are men, and men I don't appreciate anyone saying that I would ever think that they were "all just evil".

 

[Maximus]

I have absolutely no idea how you would think this was my conclusion. Some of my very fave people are men, and men I don't appreciate anyone saying that I would ever think that they were "all just evil".

Relax, you were complaining so much about the unfair treatment of single moms and basically threw single dads under the bus so, I was trying to add some levity to your post. All in fun, not meant to be mean

 

[caroline]

Relax, you were complaining so much about the unfair treatment of single moms and basically threw single dads under the bus so, I was trying to add some levity to your post. All in fun, not meant to be mean

I would never throw single dads under the bus .... if you read my thread you'd see that my husband was a single dad when I met him. And a great one. But ok, I'll relax now. Dang, y'all could drive a woman to drink.