2.  Unlike other retirement systems in the public or private sector, the military retirement system is the only one which subjects the retiree to lifetime recall to duty, a fact pointed out to Congress by the American Legion in 1998 testimony. 

• The USFSPA does not lift this statutory tasking from the military retiree.
• The USFSPA does not place any public service requirements on the former military spouse who receives a division of military retirement pay.

3. The USFSPA does not contain a "termination at remarriage" provision.

• Similar laws affecting foreign service or intelligence service officers contain such provisions.
• Payments go to the ex-spouse for the remainder of the military retiree's lifetime, although in some cases, it may even continue past then if the retiree elected or was forced to elect to participate in the Survivor's Benefits Plan (SBP).

4.  The USFSPA discriminates in its treatment of domestic violence victims.

• The law provides for financial protection of former military spouses who were abused by their military mates.
• The statute does not provide corresponding protection to the military person if the ex-spouse was the domestic abuser. 
• An ex-spouse who was an abuser continues the emotional abuse of the military retiree through the continued monthly monetary payments from the military retiree. 
• USFSPA is the only Federal law which makes crime pay for a domestic abuser who is divorced by the victim because of that violence.

5.  The USFSPA, while a general Federal law requiring consistent application across the country, has been implemented by state courts on a patchwork basis.

• Many states, including my state of Ohio, disregard its payment limitations and allow ex-spouses to attach disability pay, despite the criminal prohibition of such practices. 
• Some state courts, despite the fact Congress did not authorize it by statute, allow the currently popular and legally frivolous charade of triggering a "spousal support" order, under either 42 USC 659 or state contractual law, if a retiree's disability pension increase caused the former spouse's payment to be reduced by a corresponding amount. 
• Despite being a Federal law, USFSPA does not apply if you live in Puerto Rico which bars the division of retirement monies. 

6.  This law was passed an amendment to an appropriations, not an authorization, act.

• Since passage, Congress has not legislated USFSPA in an even-handed  manner as the Noncommissioned Officers Association noted to Congress in February 28, 1998 testimony:  "Congress has amended the laws pertaining to military divorce 23 times since the USFSPA was enacted in 1982. Eighteen of these amendments have benefited ex-spouses; one has benefited military members and four have equally impacted both sides. All but two of these amendments were added as riders to viable legislation – without public hearings or debate."

7.  The military retiree remains subject to the Uniformed Code of Military Justice for life, if receiving retirement pay.

• USFSPA does not lift that legal burden from the military retiree.
• At the same time, the USFSPA does not levy a corresponding lifetime UCMJ requirement on the former military spouse.

8.  Congress passed USFSPA as a sympathetic response to anecdotal stories of destitute former military spouses who were homemakers rather than on hard, statistical data.

• Nowhere in the statute is there a requirement that a former military spouse participate in "return to work" or job training programs.
• Nothing in Federal law restricts former military spouses from such programs simply by virtue of their status under USFSPA.
• Since payments under USFSPA are lifetime in nature with no termination for remarriage, USFSPA is nothing more than a lifetime public assistance program for former military spouses who failed to provide for their own retirement, a situation totally contrary to the welfare reform laws which are now public policy.

The USFSPA Liberation Support Group is a military retiree activist group growing out of the the Federal lawsuit Adkins et al v. Rumsfeld, which mounted a constitutional challenge to this unjust and poorly serving law.  I suggest you take a look at the ULSG web site and consider joining their effort to return justice to military retirees.