AWOL Mom Chose Her Daughter Over Her Country(Honorable Discharge)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

Spc. Lisa Hayes, a National Guard reservist facing desertion charges for refusing to return to Iraq in the middle of her child custody fight, has been granted an honorable discharge.

Hayes drove Humvees while in Iraq with the New Hampshire National Guard. But back home, the battle was over custody of her 7-year-old daughter, Brystal.

While in Iraq in December, Hayes learned of possible domestic abuse in her ex-husband's home. She obtained emergency leave from Iraq to seek custody but was ordered back to Iraq before the case was resolved. When she refused to return, she was charged with desertion and faced jail time.

This weekend, the military announced it would grant Hayes an honorable discharge. On "Good Morning America," Hayes called the military's decision "a good outcome" and defended choosing her daughter over her country.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3265422

[Fran Kubelik]

1. Good for her!

And that is astonishingly good news about her honorable discharge.

[NoodleyAppendage]

2. VERY SMART to go to the media on this. It forced the military's hand.

I guarantee you that if her story didn't receive the media attention that it did, she would be sitting in an 8x10' cell right now.

J

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. K & R

chalk one up for the side of peace, love and Mommyhood. :)

[T Wolf]

4. I thought it was ironic and amusing to see the battle between competing

right-wing values -- family versus patriotism.

May they have many such battles with themselves.

[customerserviceguy]

8. Yep, you cannot claim to be "family values" oriented

and then screw over this soldier.

But I wonder if the outcome, and the support, would have been different if this had been a male soldier in the same situation?

[Dhalgren]

5. The Guard saw this as a total no-win situation. Best to go for whatever

PR value could still be salvaged. I am happy for this lady and if the "domestic abuse" charge is true, I hope she gets custody of her daughter...

[thereismore]

6. Wonderful! Beautiful! nt

[RamboLiberal]

11. I agree but I gotta follow LBN rules and post story headline

Wish I could've posted ABC's home page headline. AWOL Mom gets Honorable Discharge.

[MaineDem]

7. That headline sucks. n/t

[Karenina]

13. Her DAUGHTER

IS a part of the COUNTRY'S FUTURE!!! Doncha hate this constant either/or paradigm? :eyes:

[Eurobabe]

9. What a stupid headline is right. A no brainer if you ask me.

[DrDan]

10. that was the right decision - for both parties

I am sure the military had numerous conversations as to whether to give the honorable discharge or not. I am also sure they did not want the bad publicity.

[erpowers]

12. Good

I am glad this good well for her. I know some here felt she should have thought about this before she joined the National Guard, but any parent should be releaved of duties to attend to their children. I am glad the National Guard gave her an honorable discharge. I guess those on the right are going out of their mind with anger. No, I am not talking about the DUer who felt she should have just stayed in Iraq or gone back to Iraq until her duty was over. I am talking about the right wing freepers, who are no doubt pissed that she was able to get an honorable discharge.

[Lisa]

14. I think it's unfair of Bush to send the National Guard overseas for such long deployments

After all, if this had been the original intention of the organization, it would have been called the "International Guard"! There are lots of people who have work or family responsibilities, who wish to serve (like this woman did), and for them, an at-home military unit doing homeland security and disaster relief makes sense. It is one thing to be away for several weeks helping with Katrina recovery, and another to be out of the country for most of the past two years (as in the case of the neighbor of a friend in Alabama). In my opinion Bush has broken a kind of unwritten contract by treating them like regular or reserve troops, and sending them out of the country for so long. One National Guard member I talked to has said that more than half the people in his unit will not be signing up again because they have experienced family strain, and in some cases have lost promotions or even jobs, because of being away so long.

[Megahurtz]

15. Ha Ha Right On!

I'd pick my Daughter over this Country any day. :nuke:

[Tansy_Gold]

16. haven't there always been "hardship" discharges, or some such?

Late 1960s, Vietnam era, one of my husband's shipmates was granted a hardship discharge because his widowed mother had a heart attack and there were still younger siblings at home.

A few years later, a friend was killed in a shipboard accident, and his younger brother who was in boot camp was (almost) immediately discharged as an only surviving child.

Of course, that was in saner :sarcasm: days.

Still, am very very glad to see motherhood/parenthood win out over soldierhood.



Tansy Gold, mom