February 2, 1972
Page 2441
ATTACHMENT OF MILITARY RETIREMENT PAY – A CASE
HON. MARTHA W. GRIFFITHS OF MICHIGAN IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Wednesday, February 2, 1972
Mrs. GRIFFITHS. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I would like to insert in the RECORD a letter I received from the wife of a former military man, who after 18 years of marriage and three children has found herself abandoned by her husband. She refers in her letter to legislation which would provide for the attachment of up to 50 percent of a military man's retirement annuity. This was included in H.R. 10670 passed by the House on October 21 and which is now pending before the Senate Armed Services Committee. It is a provision that I strongly urged and supported. It assures for the first time a wife's right to her share of her husband's military retirement annuity, to which she contributed, just as her husband, during the years of marriage. It is aimed at situations where a wife and children are left destitute and often destined for welfare while the husband, refusing to honor the responsibility of care for his family, thwarts the jurisdiction of the courts by pulling up stakes in a State in which he is being sued or flees to or remains in a foreign country. In my judgment, it is foolish to establish these pensions so that they will care for a wife and children, and then permit a husband to abandon his family, taking with him the full pension and leaving the taxpayer to support his dependents.
Senator MUSKIE has introduced similar legislation in the Senate, S. 2654, and I am taking the liberty of including a copy of the woman's letter addressed to the Senator. These letters describe most accurately the problems and fears of an abandoned wife and mother and the need for this legislation.
The letter follows: Re Abandoning Husbands.
Representative MARTHA GRIFFITHS,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR REPRESENTATIVE GRIFFITHS: You will find attached a letter I have written to Senator Muskie regarding military retirees abandoning their families. This is causing terrible family situations and completely unfair to wives and young children because most men are retiring before the age of 40.
Mrs. Griffiths, it is not fair that after being with my husband over 18 years, he has the right to run with everything we own and there is nothing I can do about it. There should be some punishment of attaching retirement pay; also I should be entitled to a military identification card entitling me to medical, legal, commissary, and other benefits. In my case, my husband said he was going to marry a German girl – then all benefits would go to her and I would be left with nothing, if a divorce becomes effective.
There is now legislation pending in the Senate Armed Services Committee to attach half of the retiree's pay, but this is hardly fair as it is not a living wage for a family. Then too, if I ever have to resort to a divorce, half of the retirement check won't suffice for the loss of my medical, legal, and other benefits.
If it were only for myself, I would call it quits just to get away from this drunken immoral husband, but I have to support two teenaged girls and a handicapped deaf boy who also fell off his bike and knocked his front teeth out. Wherever we happen to go after leaving here, the state will have one big welfare case because of my son's numerous problems.
It is not right for the American people to have to pay for our support and medical just because my husband wants to run off and have a good time the remainder of his life.
Sincerely,
SENATOR EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senator (Maine),
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: Since you are a sponsor in the senate regarding the above mentioned bill, I hope you will help to pass this bill and make it possible for the courts to attach a retiree's retirement check, plus give the retiree's wife a permanent identification card entitling her to benefits earned after being married throughout her husband's military career.
My husband retired in September and just left the children and myself here in Germany.
He was sending me only $200 a month for support, but now the checks are getting later and later each month. I have two teenaged girls and a handicapped deaf boy to raise. My only consolation is that I did find a job, but the money is just disappearing faster than it is coming in.
Six months before my husband retired and it was evident that he would not be eligible for promotion, he took my name off the checking account, took our savings, bonds, cars and left me with almost nothing to live on. The Judge Advocate finally had to force him to support us. I requested the Secretary of the Air Force to return my husband to the states so that I could get possession of our property, but my request was refused because it was a civil case and "not in the interest of the United States Government"yet within 60 days, my husband retired and they paid him for two months of unused leave time!
If I get a divorce in order to claim our property, if he returned to our home state, then my medical benefits as a service wife are taken away along with all the other privileges I consider I have earned after being married for over 18 years. A court order for support would mean nothing because my husband never intends to return to the states.
I hope you and your committee will make some changes in the forthcoming bill regarding the attachment of a retiree's check for his family's support and giving the wife a permanent identification card when she remained married throughout his military career.
With legislation the way it is now, any retired service man can travel space available anywhere in the world and be free of arrest as the military does not act as an arresting agency for deserting husbands. With such little controls they can shop, eat at our overseas bases, obtain medical treatment and even get identification cards for their "common-law" wives with no questions asked.
Military men become professional con-men after 10 years of service, so I hope you will not let them influence you when they start telling of the impossibilities of these actions to consider.
Wives and children need some consideration as the service men are abandoning their families just at a time when they really need their fathers. It is absolutely sickening to see these abandoning fathers living a glamorous life at clubs overseas completely free until the need arises for them to return to the states, and then they MIGHT get a sentence of six months jail – this has not helped support the family and is hardly sufficient punishment. Passports can be revalidated overseas now too, so this adds to the problem.
My only recourse is to return to the states and go on welfare, and this is not fair to the people of my husband's "home of record". This causes excess taxation on Americans, plus contributes to the gold flow.
Unless you enforce some of these rules, only the BUMS will stay in service – this is the problem now with the military in that the well-qualified people get out after four years because of the unqualified drunken leadership.
Muskie, may I plead with you to get support for my children and myself as soon as possible. I have weathered this situation and didn't run back to the states to be placed on welfare as long as I could manage until school is out in June. My husband can also ship our furniture anywhere in the world, so the children and I will most likely have to camp on our governor's front lawn!
Sincerely,