THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 6, 1995 TAG: 9503020026
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
I disagree with D. R. Davis' assertion (``Where's justice for military retirees?'' letter, Feb. 18) that military retirees are just looking for a level playing field in military divorces. Rather, I believe they want to return to the old ``throw-away military wife'' system.
I know about being thrown away since I served 27 years as an active-duty wife out of a 38-year marriage and received nothing - nada, zilch, zero - for my years of service. Of course, my divorce came before the Former Spouses Protection Act.
When FSPA was being debated in 1982, then U.S. Rep. G. William Whitehurst noted that military retirees were the only federal employees who did not have to share a pension with a spouse at divorce time.
He went on record as saying that military wives deserved something more than a certificate from the admiral in charge of the naval district or the captain of a ship telling them what great supporters they are of the Navy, or putting a logo on a grocery bag out of the commissary saying ``We are counting on you.''
He added, ``That is all they get for their sacrifices. . . . We could not send ships to sea if we did not have wives willing to stay back and be supportive of those men and raise those children'' (see Congressional Record, July 28, 1982).
In view of the high military divorce rate (highest in the country), will military wives still be willing to serve if U.S. Representative Dornan and the ARA succeed in gutting the Former Spouses Protection Act?
BETTY FRAILEY
Yorktown, Feb. 24, 1995 by CNB