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

Senator Webb Should Lead Ex-Spouse Law Reform

Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) is a compassionate and honorable choice to chair the armed services personnel subcommittee. Being one of many military retirees unfairly impacted by the Uniformed Service Former Spouse Protection Act (USFSPA), I urge him to look at this important issue which has been ignored for more than 25 years.

It demands Webb's even-handed, logical approach to restore earned and promised compensation to those who honorably served. We often talk of financial demands of current times, but seldom has Congress looked into the true, long-term cost to taxpayers and military personnel of this outdated law.

Terry Housley
USAF-Ret.
Via e-mail

Is there anything moving to change this USFSPA?
It's outrageous that a spouse, male or female, can take advantage of a soldier's retirement based on the years of marriage.

I've been in a marriage for 19 years and, because I decided to get a divorce, the government awarded my former spouse the right to 50 percent of my retirement, which I earned.

I'm the one who served the contractual time. The spouse provided some support but nothing to the tune of 50 percent. Spouses do not spend half of the soldiers' time on deployment. They don't run half of our laps or attend half of our training our military schools.

Times have change from the old way where spouses only sat home and cared for the children. With computer technology, they can take classes online, run businesses from home. The sky is the limit. So they shouldn't be allowed to take a soldiers' hard work and then share in the earned benefit for life. It just doesn't make sense.

And no one looks at the fact that the former spouse might have served in the military but decided to hang up his or her boots. If they've retired themselves and then are awarded a share of retirement based on years of marriage, it allows them to double dip. How can this be?

Who can we get to look into the highway robbery against service members?

Valerie Arnold
Sergeant First Class
Via e-mail

A leading advocacy group for military retirees who want to see changes to the USFSPA is the American Retirees Association. Here's a link to their website: http://www.americanretirees.org/

Agent Orange Outside Vietnam
My husband and I really enjoy your columns. They are very informative and it is nice to know someone is looking out for the veterans.

Your recent column about Agent Orange was especially interesting. My husband is a Vietnam-era veteran but was not in Vietnam. He was a crew chief on KC-135's, stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base, in Jacksonville, Ark., from 1966-1969. The chemical plant VERTAC was there. It manufactured Agent Orange. It later was determined to be an EPA Superfund Site because of the ground contamination. Barrels filled with the black sludge were illegally disposed of around town. We lived less than a mile from this chemical plant with a barrel buried in our backyard.

My husband now has diabetes and heart disease. He had surgery to replace his heart valve. While in surgery, a three-inch aneurysm was found in the ascending aorta. No one else in his family has had heart disease.

Although he was in other countries in Southeast Asia he was denied disability because he never actually set foot in Vietnam. Have you heard anything about a study by the government regarding Agent Orange exposure in the United States?

Carol White
Via e-mail

VA does acknowledge that veterans outside of Vietnam were exposed to Agent Orange. Here is a list of test and storage sites outside that country as found on the VA website: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/
outside_vietnam_usa.asp. But as you'll see, no Agent Orange-identified sites are listed in Arkansas. -- Tom Philpott

Medical Record Search
I was discharged in 1946 from Fort Dix, N.J. I had been overseas for about 12 months in the Pacific Theater. I had headaches, a skin condition and some hearing loss.

Before discharge, they wanted me to go a hospital for these problems. But they also suggested I could accept a zero disability at discharge and then go off to a local VA clinic. I chose that option. The VA clinic at the time was on Tremont St. in Boston, Ma. I am trying to get these records.

Please advise.
Melvin Jacobs

Here's a link to information about medical record retrieval for veterans and families: http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/medical.html. Records do not need to be retrieved if you are filing a claim with the VA because the department has access to them already. If you still want military and VA health records for your own files, you need to download form SF 180 at the link above and mail to the Director, National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records, 9700 Page Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. You can expect to wait 8-12 months for a reply due to a severe backlog of cases. -- T.P.

Why No WWII Veterans?
My husband has Parkinson's disease and dementia. He was in WWII and Korean War. Why should these veterans not be as eligible for VA disability compensation like someone who set foot on Vietnam soil?

Is anyone looking into this? WWII and Korean Veterans have received the least benefits of any group of veterans.

Helen T.
Fayetteville, N.C.

The issue is the devastating effect of Agent Orange and other deadly defoliants used during the Vietnam War and found to be the possible cause of many ailments. These particular poisonous chemicals weren't used in World War II. -- T.P.

To comment, e-mail milupdate@aol.com, write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120-1111 or visit: www.militaryupdate.com.

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