Alexis Hutchinson, Army cook and mother, may face criminal charges for refusing to go to Afghanistan

Alexis Hutchinson, a 21 year old Army cook, may face criminal charges because she refused to go Afghanistan.

An Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.

Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, claims she had no choice but to refuse deployment orders because the only family she had to care for her 10-month-old son — her mother — was overwhelmed by the task, already caring for three other relatives with health problems.

Her civilian attorney, Rai Sue Sussman, said Monday that one of Hutchinson's superiors told her she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care.

So foster care is somehow better than the care of the actual mother? I have to remind myself that this is government we're talking about; logic isn't one of its finest traits.

Hutchinson's case represents the central paradox of the claim by many that we have an "all-volunteer army." People may join the army based on their own free will and consent, but the deceptive and misleading contracts that they initially sign constitute what some have correctly called a back door draft.

Additionally, when someone desires to leave a job in the private sector, they are free to do so. You are not coerced into staying, and any further interaction between employer and employee is managed through negotiation, contract, or simply the peaceful parting of ways

Not so with the military. You MUST ship out, or else. The military is, after all, the largest government program there is (are you listening conservatives?), and it will use force or the threat of force to get you to comply.

Just ask the 43,000 troops who are being sent back to Afghanistan or Iraq despite the fact the doctors have labeled them as "non deployable for medical reasons."

Besides the fact that there is no one to look after her young boy, Hutchinson may or may not be resisting deployment for moral reasons . Regardless, there are thousands of soldiers who are beginning to question the wisdom of war and empire and are even refusing orders in the face of possible court martial.

More and more soldiers are beginning to ask themselves an essential moral question: if it is wrong to kill, why is it okay if I do it while wearing a government uniform?

To ask it to answer it.