RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina mother who reported for Army duty with her two young children will be discharged from the military, her attorney said Monday.
Attorney Mark Waple of Fayetteville said it wasn’t yet clear whether Lisa Pagan would receive an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions. It also wasn’t certain when she would be discharged.
The reason for the discharge will be that she doesn’t have, and cannot have, adequate family care for her two young children, he said.
“There is definitely some feeling of relief, especially since she has been led to believe that the command at Fort Benning is going to do everything to expedite this,” Waple said of Pagan’s reaction to the decision.
He advised Pagan against talking to reporters until after the discharge is official.
Pagan was recalled to the Army four years after being released from active duty, which is allowed under the military’s “individual ready reserve” program. But she says she had no one to care for her children.
Pagan filed several appeals, arguing that because her husband travels for business, no one else can take care of her kids. Her appeals were rejected.
So she reported for duty Monday at Fort Benning, Ga., with her children, 4-year-old Elizabeth and 3-year-old Eric.
Pagan is among thousands of former service members recalled after leaving duty since the Sept. 11 attacks because they’re on “individual ready reserve” status, meaning they have time left on their original enlistment contracts and can be recalled at any time.
Master Sgt. Keith O’Donnell, an Army spokesman in St. Louis, has said that of the 25,000 individual ready-reserve troops recalled since September 2001, more than 7,500 have been granted deferments or exemptions. About 1,000 have failed to report, and most of those cases are still under investigation, he said.
Another 360 soldiers have been separated from the Army either through “other than honorable” discharges or general discharges.
