Readers of Tom Philpott’s Military Update column sound off.

Chorus Of Retirees Call For Ex-Spouse Law Reform

I’m the officer who questioned then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Richard Myers about the inequities of the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act at a town hall meeting in June 2005. General Myers admitted the law should be re-visited. Rumsfeld said he never heard of it!

Since then I have retired. Essentially I was forced to retire for financial reasons caused by the USFSPA. Retired and active duty members who support and defend the Constitution against all enemies patiently waited for the judicial challenge to the constitutionality of this unfair law. Isn’t it a shame that our Supreme Court denied even hearing the case, though it was brought on behalf of active and retired military members who have devoted their lives to defending the freedom and rights of all Americans?

And isn’t it ironic that members of Congress trip over each other to get microphones to say, “We support the troops!” yet none of them has the courage to stand up on behalf of [divorced] military members who serve on the front lines every day.

If our lawmakers were “leaders” they would learn what the law states and how it affects military members. It’s their constitutional responsibility. Yet because we have no strength in numbers, Congress doesn't care how we are treated. They run from USFSPA discussions, believing myths such as that a service member must be married ten years to lose future retirement pay for the rest of their life. This is not true. One must only be married, period.

At a time when soldiers are returning home from deployments to cheating spouses and divorce papers, the government shouldn’t be slapping them down further by allowing ex-spouses to walk away with half of their future retirement. Many divorces occur because we put “mission first.” How does a spouse “earn” half of future military retirement of a member who is dodging IEDs everyday?

PATRICIA M. LARRABEE
Lieutenant Colonel, USA-Ret.
Via e-mail

The arguments made by lawyers for the USFSPA Litigation Support Group were valid but as with any lawsuit, it’s the details of thousands of cases are left unsaid.  States have butchered this law. They have never been consistent in its application and repeatedly have taken service members’ retirement without considering their sacrifices to country.  States now control a government-provided retirement. Only in America.

 House members and senators have run from this law for 25 years. None wants to suffer the wrath of a few thousand ex-spouses so they turn their backs on current and future retirees. Only in America.

When this law was created, women in the military were rare. Today women make up about 20 percent of service personnel. Now they face losing their retirement. I wonder what former Rep. Pat Schroeder, architect of this law, thinks of that. Tables have turned and service women are paying men a portion of hard earned retirement. Only in America.

What finally will change this law? I think it will be a congressional hearing where a female amputee tells how she lost her leg to a roadside bomb, returned home to a cheating husband, and now must pay that ex-husband 50 percent of her retirement, including disability pay given how some states have made that pay too fair game.

JOHN CONKEL
Indian Springs, Nev.

What kind of country is it when the nation’s Supreme Court refuses to give its most important citizens a fair shake?

I never served in the military and have no family members who are retired military. But I know military members are more important than the secretary of defense or even the president.  They lay their lives on the line for us. Yet divorced military retirees are stuck for life donating a lot of their retirement to ex-spouses under the most unfair law ever written.

Retirement pay comes after 20 years served but that pay is current wages for being subject to recall. The IRS taxes it. What other occupation pays an ex-spouse part of future wages?

EDDA RAYE MOODY
Rocksprings, Texas

One change that should be made to the USFSPA is the length of time a former spouse can collect retirement pay. It should only be for the same number of years the married lasted, and this change should be retroactive.

Many former spouses didn't even support the military member's career yet they're rewarded, in many cases, for bad behavior.   

JOHN CARPENTER
Via e-mail

I operate www.FamilyLawCourts.com and offer this on your most recent article about "the 25-year-old law that allows state courts to divide military retired pay as marital property in divorce settlements." 

Those against the “windfall” gains [in ex-spouse retirement shares due to promotions and additional years service following the divorce] do not take into account that spouses have endured many of their own career-stunting hardships while traipsing around various bases. 

I offer this as a former military dependent. My 84-year-old father was a pilot in the Air Force and married for 58 years until the death of my mother. They were a team, but he was the team captain.

BONNIE RUSSELL
Via e-mail

An area of the USFSPA that needs addressing is cases where both divorcing spouses are in service or have retired from service.

I was medically retired with 18 years, three months of active duty. My spouse got out after nine years active duty. We were married for nine years, 11 months, during which she served six years and seven months.  Her active duty time was not given any consideration by the court, nor was the fact that she requested release from service because she was “tired” of being a soldier.

That active duty time should be discounted when considering retired pay shares and spousal support.  Just as no one forced the spouse to join the service, in many cases no one forced them to get out.  They made the choice not to serve long enough to reach retirement.  Why should a retiring spouse be docked more based on voluntary actions of their former spouse?

GUY SLATER
Via e-mail

Letters may be edited for clarity or length.  Write to Military Forum, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA  20120-1111, send e-mail to militaryforum@aol.com or visit www.militaryupdate.com

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