Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 10/29/2001

Dear Sgt. Shaft:

The Fleet Reserve Association (FRA), representing enlisted men and women of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, is charging that the Department of Defense (DOD) is abdicating its responsibility to uniformed personnel. In a recently released report on the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act (USFSPA), which was due on 30 September 1999, DOD further aggravates the issue by offering a morsel or two to military personnel while recommending more benefits for former spouses.

Enacted in 1982, the Act abandoned more than a century and a quarter of federal control of military retirement and retainer payments. The statue authorized state courts to divide those payments with former spouses regardless of fault.

FRA and other military and veterans associations have for years urged Congress to amend the USFSPA to make its provisions as equitable to service members as to former spouses. However, Congress has been reluctant to publicly address the issue due to what proponents of change suspect is sensitive societal and political implications. To deflect heavy lobbying by military and veterans groups in 1997, Congress again ducked action on reform by directing the Pentagon to review the USFSPA and provide a report on its findings.

FRA condemned the report -- released 23 months late -- as biased, opinionated, and discriminating. The report whitewashed the Pentagon's 180 degree reversal of its pre-1982 position. The Pentagon at first opposed the legislation, then said it would support the proposal only if the bill recognized military retired and retained pay as property of the service member, while payments to former spouses would terminate upon remarriage.

FRA believes the report only reinforces the Pentagon's position of siding with former spouses and omits much of what should have been addressed. Although it trumpets the objective that any USFSPA legislative initiative should be to maintain fairness, the recommendations only add to the inequities in the current law. Since its enactment, Congress, without any apparent objection from DOD and mostly without public hearings, has strengthened the position of former spouses 18 times, but only once for service members.

In short, the USFSPA is the worst piece of legislation ever dumped on the backs of military personnel. Our service members deserve better! The courts, for the most part, have no empathy with them despite their service to the nation in war and peace, and this includes those who are disabled as a result of combat wounds.

FRA will fight on until Congress acts on amending the USFSPA to balance provisions for both parties. Thank you for helping bring this issue to the forefront, and please urge your readers to support legislation H.R. 1983, sponsored by Rep. Cass Ballenger (NC), which would authorize equity amendments to the USFSPA.

Charles Calkins
National Executive Secretary
Fleet Reserve Association

Dear Chuck:
Congress must ensure that our men and women in the military are treated fairly in domestic disputes. I urge an appointment of a Congressional panel to hold hearings and review the inadequacy of this DOD report, as well as the inequities of the amendments to the laws that the Congress has passed. The morale and welfare of our military men and women deserves nothing less.

Dear Sgt. Shaft:
I shop at the Fort Myer commissary every Saturday. When I drive up to the parking lot, I see a number of cars parked in the lot with diplomatic plates. Who in the diplomatic corps rates commissary privileges and why?

Ken P.
Arlington, VA

Dear Ken:
Department of Defense Regulation 1330.17-R, "Armed Services Commissary Regulations," chapter 2, details who is authorized commissary privileges. Generally, commissary privileges are authorized for foreign military personnel and their family members on active duty who accompany or support U.S. Forces overseas, who participate in Joint Security Assistance Training (JSAT) at U.S. facilities under orders issued by DOD or one of the U.S. military services, or who are assigned military attache duties in the United States. Foreign civilian diplomats are not authorized commissary privileges in IAW DOD 1330.17. It is customary for military attaches to display diplomatic plates on their cars. Since the Fort Myer Commissary is close to embassies in the Washington, D.C., area, it is not unusual to see cars with diplomatic plates in the parking lot.

Shaft Kudos
The Sarge looking forward to attending the 24th annual National Press Club Book Fair and Author's Night on Thursday, November 8, from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. Participating authors with military books include good friend James Webb (with his book, "Lost Soldiers"), James Bamford ("Body of Secrets"), Gen. Wesley K. Clark, (Ret.) ("Waging Modern War"), James R. Dickensen ("We the Few: The Marine Corps 400 in the War Against Japan"), John S.D. and Joanne T. Eisenhower ("Yanks: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I"), Adrian Havill ("The Spy Who Stayed Out in the Cold"), Carl Hoffman ("Hunting Warbirds"), C. Brian Kelly and Ingrid Smyer-Kelly ("Best Little Ironies, Oddities & Mysteries of the Civil War"), LTG Claudia Kennedy (Ret.) ("Generally Speaking"), Thomas E. Ricks ("A Soldier's Duty"), and Jay Winik ("April 1865"). Nationally known authors appearing at the book Fair will include Walter Chronkite, Letitia Baldridge, Dr. Mae Jemison, Haynes Johnson, Morton Kondracke, Michael Korda, Kati Marton, Phyllis Richman, Daniel Schorr, Lynn Sherr, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, and many more. Billed as Washington's largest literary event, the Book Fair offers a one-stop shopping opportunity. It attracts hundreds of fans, Press Club members, publishers, and agents. It's an opportunity to meet the authors as they sign your book purchases. Admission is free for members of the National Press Club and $5 for non-members. Tickets are available for purchase at the National Press Club (202-662-7501) or Olsson's Books & Records locations (202-347-3686). No outside books are allowed. For more information, visit the Press Club web site at www.press.org or contact Laura Falacienski at 202-662-7564.

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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