Soldier Takes Rumsfeld to Task On USFSPA
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was at Yongsan Garrison Friday afternoon taking questions from the crowd when one NCO took him to task about the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act:
But it took a sergeant first class to bring down the house at Collier Field House. He asked the secretary why the military continues to allow service members?Eretirement pay to be calculated into alimony payments.
He said his divorce would end up costing him more than $500,000 in retirement pay, or $5 an hour for his 14 years of marriage, should he live an average life span. It’s a result of the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act, a law that allows state divorce courts to define military retirement pay as commercial property that can be divided in a settlement.
Rumsfeld paused, praised the soldier for his math skills and listened while the whoops and hollers started among the 1,400 service members plus family members invited to the question-and-answer period.
“I did my homework, sir,?Ethe sergeant said.
However, the answer Rumsfeld gave pretty much signaled IMHO that he planned to do nothing:
The secretary said he had asked for a study of the issue, but he also said that Congress was uninterested in addressing it now. He said he’s trying to find a way to make some changes tenable to members of congress.
I have not forgotten it,?ERumsfeld said of the issue. I don’t have an answer, and it may take some time. But I think the transcript of this discussion we just had would be anecdotally an example that could be used, and I thank you for raising it.
The USFSPA when taken at face value appears to be a good law. A diligent and faithful spouse that has been with their military spouse through thick and thin do deserve some compensation after their former spouse retires. However, there are many cases of abuse of this law. You got spouses that are separated not wanting a divorce and shacked up with their lover waiting for their spouse to hit the 10 year mark so they can get divorced and he/she can grab 50% of the retirement. You also got spouses that got remarried grabbing the money even though they don’t need it, or spouses that are making more money than the service member that is retiring and still grabbing their 50%. The list goes on and on about abuse of this law.
Skippy-san is the resident expert on this issue and he of course has plenty to say about it on his site since he is a living example of abuse of this law. Plus it is not just the guys criticizing this law, there are plenty of women also concerned about the abuse of this law as well.
However, what I think is going on is that the Pentagon does not want to pick a fight at this time with the feminist Nazis out there that are sure to go crazy if the DOD tries to change this law. They will bring out all their hired sob story people to back their version of why this law is needed while completing ignoring the abuse that is currently be perpetuated under this law. The media of course will side with the feminists and use this issue to smear President Bush and the Republicans as being anti-female. Any changing of this law would be a big deal and a media spectacle.
The law doesn’t necessarily need to be scrapped though; it just needs to be modified to weed out the people that are abusing it because there are diligent military spouses out there that do deserve the retirement benefit. Maybe a judge should have a hearing and approve the validness of the ex-spouse’s claim for alimony from a soldier’s retirement instead of just automatically giving it up? I’m sure their are minds smarter than me on this issue that can brain storm a better solution then what we have going on today. However, none of it will matter unless the Pentagon decides to do something about it and take on the feminist Nazis. Unfortunately, I don’t see that day coming any time soon.
