• Specialist Alexis Hutchinson, an Army cook, was arrested by military police and contained at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia, after she refused deployment to Afghanistan by not showing up for her flight. Hutchinson, a 21-year-old single mother, said she hasn’t been able to find care for her 10-month-old son, Kamani, while she is gone, explaining that her mother is overwhelmed by caring for three sick relatives. Hutchinson’s attorney said one of her superiors told her Kamani would be placed in foster care if Hutchinson couldn’t find care during her deployment. A spokesperson for Hunter Army Airfield said he does not know what Hutchinson was told by her superior, but she wouldn’t be deployed unless she could find Kamani care. Hutchinson’s mother ended up flying from California to Georgia to pick up Kamani anyway, since her daughter could face charges from the Army for going AWOL. [AP]

I’ve been pretty fascinated by the New York Times’ series “Women at Arms,” about lady folk in the military. Yesterday’s front page story might have been the most interesting so far. It looks at the lives of women who’ve returned from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and are now dealing with the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. Obviously, this affects dudes as well, but the article makes the argument that it can be even more severe for women, who feel such a disconnect between who they were before and after war that they isolate themselves from friends and family, sometimes for years. One woman in the story describes feeling paranoid of her kids. Another says she beats her husband in her sleep during especially intense combat dreams. Yet another woman reported wanting to jump over the counter and attack an Arab store clerk the other day, for no apparent reason. Experts at the newly formed Women’s Center at the VA Hospital in Tampa, Florida, explain that these are classic PTSD symptoms, but that women feel a whole ‘nother level of insane for having these thoughts because they are so typically “unfeminine.” And to add another layer to this story, these women feel ultra misunderstood because most people assume women in the military don’t see actual combat, when in truth many of them witnessed explosions and saw friends die. This year, more than 8,500 women have been diagnosed with PTSD, and those are only the ones who sought treatment through the VA. The VA expects that number to double over the next year. Anyway, read the whole article. And make sure to give it up for veterans, of both genders. [NY Times]

I am probably not alone in thinking that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is one of the suckiest pieces of legislation ever. The 1994 policy essentially says that peeps who are openly gay can’t serve in the military. That said, if you’re gay and don’t mind keeping it a secret, then by all means serve your country. Interestingly, a new report shows that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is even suckier for lesbians than it is for gay men. In the army, 36 percent of the soldiers fired last year for playing for the same-sex team were women. That doesn’t sound huge—until you remember that only 14 percent of soldiers are women. Similarly, in the Air Force, 56 women were dismissed last year for being lesbos while 34 gay men got the boot. Barack Obama, can you get on this issue, please? We know you got the Peace Prize, but you still got a lot of work to do! [CNN]

Being married didn’t stop host Meredith Vieira from throwing herself at a handsome Navy pilot who appeared as a guest on “Who Want to Be a Millionaire?” Max Shuman showed up in uniform to compete on the game show, where he seemed to be blindsided by Vieira’s nonstop, cougar-esque advances. “You are one handsome guy—woah!” Vieira solicited the clearly embarrassed Shuman. The host went on to make suggestive comments as the Virginia Beach, Virginia pilot attempted to answer his questions. “I’m a old horny woman!” she declared. Uh, yup. Poor Max. [BuzzFeed]

Depressing story alert! An ultra disturbing article in today’s New York Times looks at how military officers in Conakry, Guinea attacked unarmed demonstrators last week. Their main order of business seemed to be sexually assaulting the group’s women. Sadly, experts say this is business as usual in Africa. But what is new is that in Guinea, where cell phones are rapidly outnumbering land line phones, the protesters-turned-victims sent out cell phone photos of rapes in progress by uniformed soldiers. The atrocities were broadcast around Guinea, and then around the world—possibly before the violence even ended.

Dan Choi is a lieutenant in the U.S. Army who graduated from West Point. He served in Iraq, is willing to go back, and is an Arabic language specialist. Sounds good, right? Well, apparently Choi is not good enough for the military, because after he admitted he was gay on the “Rachel Maddow Show” on March 19th, the army sent him a letter, officially discharging him. According to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy,” which Obama has vowed to change, admitting that you are gay “constitutes homosexual conduct.” The army accused Choi of “moral or professional dereliction.” Choi plans to fight the decision and a campaign has already been launched to help him out. [MSNBC]

You can serve the entire country in the military, but the military won’t let you serve yourself.  Did you know that our troops in Iraq aren’t allowed porn?  (If only The Frisky’s cookies could talk, we’d never get drafted!) Our poor overseas personnel who are risking their lives aren’t even allowed to have dirty magazines. All they get are visits from Jessica Simpson.  While the no porno rule supposedly isn’t strictly enforced for combat troops, it just got a contractor sent home. ITT small-arms repairman Brian Sayler was given a free lap dance and some DVDs while on leave visiting his hometown.  A Stoughton, Massachusetts stripper named Cassidey gave him some of her films for free, which he brought back to Iraq with him. When his bunk was searched, the poor patriot was promptly fired. Isn’t this the wrong battle to be fighting? [Boston Magazine]

Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t think so! This week, the infamous military policy that allowed homosexuals to be discriminated against in the workplace didn’t stand up in court thanks to Maj. Margaret Witt. The decorated Air Force nurse, who had cared for combat victims for 18 years, was discharged in 2007 because higher-ups heard that she’s gay. Brave and clever, Maj. Witt decided to fight back and sue for her right to serve, and with the help of the ACLU, she won! Her case has now set a precedent wherein the government cannot fire at will when it comes to the sexual orientation of its employees. Like any other job, the military bosses will have to prove there is a real reason for canning any of their personnel. Hooray! We’re hoping this decision will also help The L Word’s sexy servicewoman Tasha keep her military post. We pity the fools who try to mess with any woman, let alone one who is a trained fighter.  [MSNBC via World of Wonder]

U.S. Representative Paul Broun (R-Ga) has introduced a bill that would ban all sexually explicit material from military bases overseas, including Playboy, Penthouse, and Maxim magazines—currently there is a ban on “porn” enforced, but there is a loophole. Critics of the bill say it would be bad for morale.

A Department of Defense committee that reviews materials sold on bases ruled last year that magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse are not pornographic. But Broun’s Military Honor and Decency Act includes language that could make those magazines eligible for the ban…. Broun, a Marine veteran, told Newsweek recently that the magazines sold in military exchanges are partly responsible for a rise in sexual assaults in the military and other problems.

Warning: this story is so sweet, it’ll give you a Valentine’s candy toothache, but it’s worth it!
When six-year-old Jannah Lynn Medvec was given a homework assignment to write a soldier in Iraq, her recently divorced mother, Carol, took her to church to get the pen pal’s name off a list of military men.  The little girl began writing Army Reserve Sgt. Jim Schulz in 2006, and soon he began corresponding with her three other siblings too, acting as a father figure.  Divorced with grown children, Schulz was lonely and found the dating scene difficult since his idea of fun was curling up with his cat in front of the television—which he had done night after night back in his small hometown of 2500 people, just one mile from the Medvecs. When Sgt. Schulz returned for a second tour of duty in Iraq, his job was to repair vehicles that had been attacked—an extremely demanding task on its own. Additionally, he had been in six roadside bomb accidents and had won a Bronze star for bravery after rescuing two other soldiers from a burning vehicle.

Being a combat pilot in the Israeli Army is a tough job, but it’s about to get harder. Military officials are considering dispensing the wonder-woody drug, Viagra, to the elite division of their air force. Studies have shown that Viagra helps performance at high altitudes because it counteracts dizziness caused by high blood pressure in the lungs when there’s a shortage of oxygen. But will the blue pill leave these boys blue-balled? We’d do our part to help out, in the name of democracy, of course. [News.com.au]