'AWOL' over sick baby

An inspiring quote in a key Army manual for commanders of rear detachments says soldiers have "two supreme loyalties," to country and family.

But "even the bonds of patriotism, discipline and comradeship are loosened when the family itself is threatened."

Sgt. Chris Williams, 24, a Fort Lewis 4th Stryker Brigade soldier home from his second deployment to Iraq, never wanted to test the idea's validity when he came home to Indiana on leave for the birth of his first-born in early December.

As he spends Christmas with his newborn son, who is battling for his life in critical care while his wife remains stressed out from a difficult delivery, the battle-tested soldier has been told his extended leave is canceled and to hurry back to Iraq or be declared AWOL, the soldier's family said Monday.

"My kid and his wife don't need this right now," the soldier's father, Doug Williams, said.

If ever there was a hardship, this is one, he said.

"This is a career soldier -- or was -- who has been hit with IEDs and been there for the Army. Before all this, he could have come home from Iraq for knee surgery but didn't feel right leaving Iraq and all the guys there. And now with his son in critical care, this is the response he gets from the military?" Williams said.

Chris Williams serves with the 4,000-member 4th Stryker Brigade, which left Fort Lewis in April for a 15-month tour of duty. He returned home for his 15-day leave on Dec. 4 but requested an extension when his son's condition suddenly worsened hours after the baby's difficult birth Dec. 18.

Catherine Caruso, a Fort Lewis spokeswoman, said Williams appealed for emergency leave through the American Red Cross to the 4th Stryker Brigade's rear detachment. The rear detachment allowed Williams' leave to be extended after he was unable to get a response from Williams' chain of command in Iraq, she confirmed.

The rear detachment commander, however, is not in Williams' chain of command, which is in Iraq, she noted. The rear detachment commander at Fort Lewis "has no authority to grant leave but is in a position of some trust and took it upon himself to say (Williams) needed to stay home," Caruso said.

The decision was based upon information from the American Red Cross, which handles military requests for emergency leave, she said.

Chris Williams was at Munster Community Hospital in Indiana Monday and could not be reached for comment.

His family says he followed orders to return and booked the first flight he could find, slated to leave Friday.

But they and he can't understand the sudden reversal that has added so much distress to their lives.

On Sunday, Williams' son's condition was downgraded to critical at almost the same time Williams received the message to return to Iraq, the soldier's father said.

"The baby's condition worsened 12 hours after he was born," Doug Williams said. "Sunday morning he stopped breathing twice and had to be resuscitated. He was sent back to neonatal intensive care, and has undergone spinal taps."

Williams' family, which includes numerous military retirees "disgusted" by the turn of events, are outraged, Doug Williams said, while Illinois public officials are demanding answers from the Army on their behalf.

Over the weekend, Doug Williams said, an adjutant general said flatly that Sgt. Williams' extended leave had never been granted.

Yet, he notes, "I have copies of voice mails from a sergeant and captain at Fort Lewis rear detachment who told him that because we were running out of time and they had not heard from (commanders in) Iraq, they were extending his leave to Jan. 3."

There's also the voice mail from his son's commander in Iraq, a captain, that Williams has retained.

"He told Chris to ignore the previous messages from the rear detachment and the extension was revoked, that it was not deemed of any immediate emergency and that he had to be on the first plane back to Iraq or he would be AWOL," Doug Williams said.

On Monday, Williams said he learned from an Army officer that an executive officer in Iraq had made the initial decision to rescind leave.

"He didn't ask for the Red Cross to check, like he should have. He called the hospital from Iraq, asked for the nursery and was told the baby was discharged from the nursery. Of course he was discharged from the nursery. He was sent to neonatal intensive care," Williams' father said, fuming.

Williams said the Army should put more faith in his son's integrity.

"I'll tell you the kind of man Chris is. He joined the Army for six years instead of the usual four after 9/11," Doug Williams said.

When his son returned to Iraq with Fort Lewis' 4th Stryker Brigade last spring, Williams said, he had scheduled other soldiers to take their leaves around Christmastime instead of him. When Chris Williams learned his wife was pregnant, however, his commanders suggested he take leave for the December delivery instead.

Williams said his son has been in two Stryker vehicles damaged by improvised roadway bombs.

He suffered a severe concussion in the first explosion but was back on patrol two days later when the second hit.

"I was never in the military," the soldier's father said, "but in my opinion, these are the types of men and women the military wants to keep, not to chase off."