What do you do when forced to choose between your children and service to your country? That is the incredibly difficult decision ex-soldier Giselle Flynn faced 10 years ago, shortly after she joined the military.
Unfortunately, Flynn's choice was not without consequence. On Saturday, she was arrested at her San Diego home, a decade after she made her fateful decision.
In 1998, Flynn enlisted in the Army after being homeless and spending considerable time on welfare.
Due to her financial situation, and the state of her deteriorating marriage, she felt that joining the military would allow her to establish financial security for her son and daughter, then ages 4 and 8.
When Flynn attended basic training in South Carolina, she left her children with a friend. Shortly after, she started a 17-week communications class at Fort Gordon in Georgia.
According to the San Diego-Union Tribune:
In February 1999, she flew home and found that her son, Vidal, was suffering from ringworm, anemia and pneumonia. She brought him to the San Diego Naval Medical Center, where he was hospitalized for several weeks. ...
Army officials granted Flynn 10 days of emergency leave. When Vidal's recuperation took longer than expected, they told her to check in with them regularly, according to the newspaper story.
Flynn eventually sought permission to bring her children to Fort Gordon, but Army officials said trainees are not allowed to have children on base. In the newspaper story, Flynn said Army officials instructed her to put the children in foster care and turn herself in. Flynn declined out of worry that it would take months or even years to get her kids back.
To compound things, her family members were unwilling to take the children, and Flynn balked at the prospect of leaving them with friends given her son's illness. She was declared absent without leave in 1999, dropped from the roster and marked as a deserter. Her salary payments stopped not long after.
But here's the kicker. She actually tried to turn herself in at least twice at local Navy installations but was rebuffed. Army officials asked the Navy to tell her to go home both times, according to naval authorities in an earlier story by the newspaper.
Flynn got a job as a bus driver and remarried. Her children are now 14 and 18. Sadly, she was taken into custody at 1 a.m. while at her home. And on a Saturday no less. Now, she is in a jail cell awaiting for the Army to assume custody.
For anyone who has ever been in the military or who is familiar with people in the service, you know that desertion is one of the worst possible allegations that a soldier can face. Of course, this is a unique situation and the circumstances surrounding it are atypical. It's not every day that soldiers are faced with a decision like this one.
But I'm curious to know how many people would have done the same were they in Flynn's shoes? I think she made the right decision. It's a travesty that after all these years, she has to face these charges. This is a sad case of government not working for the people. She should have been given an honorable discharge on account of a hardship case.
Hopefully, this wrong will be righted soon. What are your thoughts?
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