As a supporter of Joh McCain, I wish to bring to your attention an issue that 
affects over 100,000 Military disenfranchised Retirees. This issue is the 
Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act of 1982, better known as 
USFSFA. 

This preposterous law permits our Military Retired Pay, which is defined as 
current income and taxed by IRS, and has been defined by the U. S. Supreme 
Court consistently since 1881 as "Reduced Current Income for Reduced Current 
Services",to be awarded to former spouses as their "SEPARATE PROPERTY FOR LIFE" 
even if they remarry! This law also permits a retirees V. A. Disability 
Compensation to be garnished for ALIMONY!

Here are a few facts that you need to be aware of:

The law as presently written allows NO FAULT judges to routinely award the 
maximum amount of retired pay to the petitioning spouse regardless of the 
circumstances of the divorce Today, statistics reveal that over 50% of our 
career force members obtain a divorce from a spouse during a 20 year career. 
This can only increase due to the increased pressure bought on our Volunteer 
Force and deteriorating moral values in our country. There is not a retiree 
affected by this law that is opposed to paying alimony and child support. They 
are only opposed to the additional financial burden of paying a former spouse 
the additional amount viewed as a property settlement they earned for an honorable 
career to their country. There is presently a bill before our congress that 
can bring relief to this hideous Act. Senator McCain has an opportunity to 
demonstrate his leadership and publicly support this bill during his campaign.

Rep. Bob Stump of Arizona and 58 of his collages have co-sponsored House 
Resolution 72 which calls for several changes to the USFSFA to keep our service 
members from being treated unfairly by state courts. Stump’s proposal would:

Terminate payments upon remarriage by the former spouse 
Set the award of retired pay on the service members length of service and pay 
grade at the time of divorce. 
Limit the apportionment of VA disability pay. 
Limit the time to seek a division of retired pay by a former spouse.
I respectfully ask that you solicit Senator McCain’s support on the resolution 
presently before the congress. The USFSPA, as it presently stands, is a "growing 
Cancer on our deteriorating Armed Forces and is rapidly becoming a direct threat 
to the security of our great country. Upon his visit to the various locales 
within our state, it is important that we seek his opinion on this issue.

As I have often heard Senator McCain say during this campaign: "My friends I 
will always tell you the truth". Well, the truth is this law needs to be 
modified so that our retired veterans receive equitable treatment and our 
current force members may not face financial destitute for giving up the best 
20 plus years of their life in service to our country. 

Jack C. Crutchfield

LtCol. USMC Retired

Tampa, Florida

P.S. As a point of fact Vice President Gore voted for the USFSPA in 1982 when 
he was a senator for Tennessee. 


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