Military update: Review of ex-spouse law promised

Tom Philpott
DailyPress.com

An Army officer's complaint during a Pentagon "town hall" meeting might breathe new life into an issue that Congress has ignored for years. It's a 1982 law that allows state divorce courts to divide military retirement as marital property, jointly earned.

The particular "injustice" cited by the officer, whose comments caught Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld off guard, is a court order. It directs that she pay her former husband a share of her retirement when she reaches 20 years of service in 2006 - whether she retires or not. It will have the effect of forcing her out of service, said the officer, identified by associates as Lt. Col. Patricia Larrabee.

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