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âAWOL Momâ May Be Given Guard Duty
This story has gone on long enough, just the new stuff:In the Holcomb family, it was the part-time soldier who went to war first. Simone Holcomb, 30, a medic with the Colorado National Guard, was mobilized with her medical team and sent to the Middle East in January. First Sgt. Vaughn Holcomb, 40, stayed with the children at their home at Fort Carson until he, too, was ordered to the front in April with his unit of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The Army required the couple to present a family-care plan before the deployment, and they produced an acceptable one: Vaughn Holcombâs mother would move from Akron, Ohio, to Fort Carson to care for her grandchildren. This arrangement worked until late summer, when the grandmother told the Holcombs that she needed to return to Ohio to care for her ill husband. With the child-care situation looking precarious, Vaughn Holcombâs first wife, the biological mother of two of the seven children, went to court in Colorado to seek custody of those two children. Blah - blah - blah - snipped But Army officials now say the case will probably be resolved through a "compassionate reassignment" that will permit Simone Holcomb to leave her active-duty status and return to part-time National Guard duties here. "Sheâs in the process of being demobilized," said Lt. Col. Thomas Budzyna of the public affairs office at Fort Carson. "The paperwork will take about a week, and then she will be returned to her National Guard unit." Master Sgt. Debra Smith of the Colorado National Guard said, "An offer has been made to her, and it is still standing, for a position with a Guard medical support unit here in Colorado." "From what we understand, they have determined that she will not be going back to Iraq," said Dick Wadhams, spokesman for Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), who intervened in the case. "We donât know yet what will happen to any possible disciplinary measures, but they may go away if she returns to her old Guard unit." Budzyna said the military "is looking for the common-sense solution to this situation." They were all along, it just takes time. Posted by: Steve 2003-11-13 |
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