Soldier denied extension of leave to be witih his dying mother.

[MiaCulpa]

Pardon the blog whore, but I couldn't believe even the military could be so heartless:

A Decatur soldier with five months left on his enlistment tried unsuccessfully to get an extension on his two-week leave to stay with his dying mother, who is hospitalized on life-support.

Sgt. Tim Robinson requested another week in a letter faxed to his unit explaining that his mother, Kate Mae Jones, was dying of kidney and heart failure. His request included a note from his mother’s doctor concerning her condition, but his commanding officer denied the extension.

http://miaculpa.blogspot.com/2007/04/heartless.html

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. I bet his congressman is a Repuke

and won't raise a finger.

[MADem]

2. Bud Cramer; he is a Blue Dog Democrat

[e-mail] is his email if you want to ask him to help the kid. They tend to ignore requests via email from outside their district, but ya never know.

There's also this contact info:

District Offices
Huntsville

Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Mailing and Walk-in Address:
200 Pratt Avenue, N.E.
Suite A
Huntsville, Alabama, 35801
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Walk-in address:
Morgan Co. Courthouse
302 Lee Street
5th Floor, Room 86
Decatur, Alabama 35601
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 668
Decatur, Alabama 35602
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Decatur Staff:
Mrs. Peggy Towns, Caseworker

Tuscumbia

Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Mailing & Walk-in Address:
The Bevill Center for Environmental Technology
1011 George Wallace Boulevard
Tuscumbia, AL 35674
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

2184 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0105
PHONE: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

[MiaCulpa]

3. Thanks!

I'll do that right now!

[Squatch]

4. Mission first.

It sucks bad, but sometimes commander's have to make the hard decisions.

None of us here are privy to the information that led the commander to deny this soldier's extension, so on the surface it seems heartless. However, there may be a very valid, mission-critical reason that SGT Robinson was denied an extension on his leave.

[atreides1]

5. Another Reason

You're right none of us here are privy to the information about this case, but those of us who have been in the military know that sometimes it's not about mission priority, sometimes it's about a commander who thinks that a soldier is just trying to get out of deploying!