[OL]Honkomps in Colorado?

In a message dated 11/21/2003 5:54:30 AM Eastern Standard Time,
Werner.Honkomp@t-online.de writes:

Dear Listmembers,
a friend of our family have heard about a story of the family Wal and Simone
Honkomp of Fort Carson, Colorado.
The parents must left the children since they are stationed in Iraq.
During a native country vacation is a child falls ill, the mother has
remained at home, then been reported because of desertion. Have anyone heard about
this story? I can not find any confirmation.

Thank you,
Werner Honkomp

Hello Werner,

Yes I did read of this. The mother came home to be with the children. The
father stayed in Iraq. The mother will be given leave from the Army to care for
the children.

************************* news paper story.******************

Spc. Simone Holcomb, a National Guard medic who defied orders and stayed home
with her children after a custody battle rather than return to duty in Iraq,
has been reassigned to Ft. Carson, Colo. But she still faces possible
court-martial.

"The National Guard was working on a resolution to this problem," Giorgio
Ra'Shadd, Holcomb's lawyer, said Tuesday. There was "a monkey wrench thrown into
the works," he explained, when Holcomb's commander in Iraq called and insisted
on an administrative punishment.

That means Holcomb's pay and rank could be reduced, and she also could be
court-martialed, said Ra'Shadd, who was in Washington, D.C., talking to military
officials and Colorado political leaders about the situation.

Holcomb, 30, and her husband, Vaughn, an Army sergeant, were both sent to
Iraq in February; his mother came to Ft. Carson, near Colorado Springs, to care
for their seven children.

After about eight months, the couple learned that Vaughn Holcomb's ex-wife
was seeking custody of her two children. The Holcombs received an emergency
leave, came home and prevailed in the custody battle. But they faced another
problem: Vaughn Holcomb's mother said she could no longer stay with the children
because her husband's cancer had grown worse.

A Colorado judge said one parent had to stay or they would lose custody of
all of the children. Simone Holcomb volunteered. Shortly after, the military
told her to be on a plane to Iraq on Oct. 9. Her requests for an emergency leave,
a compassionate reassignment and a compassionate discharge were refused, she
said.

In the end, she disobeyed the order and stayed with the children. Her lawyer
said she was listed as absent without leave, or AWOL.

On Monday, Ra'Shadd went to the Pentagon and reached a deal for Holcomb to be
reassigned to Ft. Carson. Holcomb, who lives on the base, showed up to get
her tuberculosis test, the first step in being reassigned.

"Common sense is going to prevail in this matter," Ft. Carson spokesman Lt.
Col. Tom Budzyna told Associated Press. "We are going to take care of this
soldier."

Budzyna also said the reassignment would be backdated to Oct. 10, the day
Holcomb was due in Iraq — clearing her of the AWOL listing.

But her commander in Iraq, who was not identified, wrote and then called her
Monday.

"They gave her the Article 15 punishment, which means that 'I am the
commander and I think you are wrong and I am going to punish you,' " Ra'Shadd said.
"You can take away their pay, you can restrict them, you can reduce them from a
specialist to a private. They told her they will do any or all of the above
and are awaiting her response."

Holcomb could accept the punishment and get on with her life or decline it
and face a court-martial, the lawyer said.