CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – A New Hampshire National Guard soldier charged with desertion while trying to get custody of her 7-year-old daughter will file a hardship discharge from the Army, Sen. Judd Gregg said Friday.
Spc. Lisa Hayes, 32, returned to the state on emergency leave from Iraq in late February, after learning police had twice been called to her ex-husband’s home for domestic violence. At a court hearing in February, she won temporary primary custody of Brystal.
A guardian was ordered to investigate both homes and make a recommendation about who should have permanent physical custody of the girl. Hayes was granted three brief extensions on her leave, but the Army declared her AWOL on March 25 when she failed to report for duty. Hayes said she stayed home because the investigation was incomplete. Thirty days later, she was charged with desertion.
Hayes applied for a hardship discharge, saying there was no one else available to care for her daughter. She was turned down, because military regulations do not allow soldiers to apply for a discharge when they are absent without leave.
On Tuesday, she drove to Fort Dix, N.J., with her daughter and turned herself in. She was housed with her daughter on the base, and officials there promised to help expedite her discharge.
The state’s congressional delegation intervened, asking Army officials to grant her compassionate leave. Meanwhile, she was given free housing and child care at the base.
Gregg, a Republican, said Col. David McNeil told him Friday that Hayes would refile for the discharge Friday, with the help of military attorneys, and that McNeil planned to grant it as soon as possible.
Gregg said he had been in daily contact with both Hayes and military officials.
“Today’s decision is a very positive one for Specialist Hayes and one that is richly deserved for her service to our country and for her strong commitment to the well-being of her daughter,” Gregg said in a statement. “Her family is her first priority and this news, while long overdue, is more than justified.”
U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, a Democrat, said Thursday he also had received some assurances from Army brass.
“Lisa Hayes is doing the responsible thing – she is trying to square her duties as a parent with her duties as a soldier,” he said. “Due to legal delays in her child custody case, I am asking that the military afford her some flexibility and grant her a ‘hardship separation’ so she can continue to care for her daughter.”
Hayes was serving her second tour in Iraq when police in Dublin, near Rindge in southwestern New Hampshire, told her they had twice gone to the home of her ex-husband, Tim Knight, on domestic violence calls. Knight had primary custody of Brystal.
In November, Knight’s mother and his girlfriend, Brenda Brown, got into a fight, Hayes said.
In December, Brown was charged with assault, false imprisonment and criminal trespassing after Knight reported she had hit him in the head with a telephone, knocked him down, duct-taped his wrists together and slammed his head on the floor, according to a police affidavit.
After the court hearing in February, a marital master found that Knight’s “use and abuse of alcohol” and stormy relationship with Brown made his home unsuitable for Brystal.
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