ABA Military Pro Bono Referral Project

Information for servicemembers and their families seeking pro bono legal help.

"The ABA Military Pro Bono Project (MPBP) will connect eligible, active-duty servicemembers with pro bono attorneys to assist with the resolution of civil legal issues. If you are an active-duty member of the military eligible for services through your military legal assistance office (which may include certain members of the Reserves and National Guard), you may be eligible for a referral for legal help through the Military Pro Bono Project. There are a few criteria you need to know when seeking a referral through the Project:"
For more information, click here.

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Information for civilian attorneys interested in volunteering pro bono legal assistance to servicemembers through the Project.

"Extended American military missions overseas have generated unprecedented civil-law challenges for servicemembers, many of whom have left family, home, and job for years at a time to serve their country in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations.

Our servicemembers are increasingly saddled with legal needs that distract them from their mission and can make their already difficult daily lives even more challenging. These needs are arising in the areas of consumer law, family law, landlord-tenant, employment law, and other areas. Their families often unfortunately require assistance in the area of probate, trusts and estates, or guardianship law.

The Military Pro Bono Project will directly help servicemembers who are sacrificing greatly for their country by moving pro bono referrals straight from military law offices to willing-and-able private sector lawyer volunteers throughout the country."

To learn more, click here.

Continuation of Medical Health Care Coverage Benefits for Former Military Spouses

ROLL CALL, the Newsletter of the Military Committee of the ABA Family Law Section, has its Summer, 2008 edition online now with a long & useful article entitled"THE CONTINUATION OF HEALTH CARE BENEFITS PROGRAM (CHCBP) AS A LONG-TERM HEALTH CARE OPTION FOR FORMER MILITARY SPOUSES" by Wm. John Camp/
According to the newsletter's editor:

"Georgia attorney John Camp explains the ins and outs of military medical care coverage when a spouse or former spouse is not entitled to 20/20/20 coverage (20 years of marriage, 20 years of service, and an overlap of 20 years). John specializes in military divorce cases, and he spent many hours researching this topic to give us a thorough summary of this little-known aspect of family support in military divorce cases."

It includes a very handy flow chart for navigating 10 US Code 1078a for Spouses & Former Spouses!

READ IT NOW: http://meetings.abanet.org/webupload/commupload/FL115277/newsletterpubs/rc_sum08.pdf

VA Can't Be Stopped from Using Religion, Says 7th Circuit

In Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Nicholson, the 7th Circuit ruled (August 5, 2008) that taxpayers lack standing to sue the Department of Veterans Affairs for incorporating religion into its health care programs.

On April 19, 2006 the Foundation sued in District Court under 42 USC 1983 to end certain VA practices that it claimed violated the separation of church and state:

• The clinical focus of the Chaplain Service
• The spiritual assessments that the VA gives to patients
• The provision of pastoral care to VA outpatients
• The integration of spirituality/religion into VA treatment programs.

The VA argued that spirituality should be integrated into care, but it is up to patients to decide whether that involves religion. Its "spiritual assessments" ask patients about their faith (such as how often they attend church, or how important the Bible or other scripture is in their lives) to help it figure out what each patient needs.

U.S. District Judge John Shabaz granted summary judgment to the VA, ruling Lemon v. Kurtzman was controlling and that the VA program satisfied the "Lemon" test.

On appeal, the VA lawyers challenged the Foundation's standing to sue, citing the recently decided Hein case, and the three-judge panel agreed.

• Freedom From Religion Foundation Complaint
• Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Nicholson Ruling
• Report in the Green Bay Press Gazette
• FFRF press release Aug 7, 2008

Thanks for the heads-up from VA Watchdog!

Sexual Assault and the Military: When Will the Pentagon Take Action?

Paul Rieckhoff of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America reports:

Women make up 20% of all new recruits and more than 11% of the forces deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. These women’s honorable service and incredible heroism in combat should be noted, and celebrated. They deserve tremendous credit for their service and sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But sadly, I’m here to talk about a different threat facing women in the military - a threat not from insurgents, but from their fellow service members. Women in the military cope with significant and underreported sexual assault and harassment:

“It took Diane Pickel Plappert six months to tell a counselor that she had been raped while on duty in Iraq. While time passed, the former Navy nurse disconnected from her children and her life slowly unraveled.

Carolyn Schapper says she was harassed in Iraq by a fellow Army National Guard soldier to the extent that she began changing clothes in the shower for fear he’d barge into her room unannounced as he already had on several occasions.”

The rates of assault are shocking. Almost one-third of women veterans say they were sexually assaulted while in the military. (In the general population, one out of every six American women has been a victim of a sexual assault.) Already, 15 percent of female Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have gone to the VA for care have screened positive for Military Sexual Trauma. But even these troubling figures may not be telling the whole story; experts estimate that half of all sexual assaults go unreported.

It’s the Pentagon’s job to ensure our troops are protected, and they are failing miserably here. For anyone who followed the body and Humvee armor scandals of a few years ago, it should be no surprise that the Pentagon has been dragging its heels on responding to this threat. A special DOD “task force” on sexual assault in the military was created almost 4 years ago - but it has yet to convene for a single meeting.

The official response to individual cases of assault is also unsettling. In 2007, only 8 percent of sexual assailants were referred to courts martial, compared with 40 percent of similar offenders prosecuted in the civilian court system. And the latest assessment by the Government Accountability Office on the military’s sexual assault prevention and response programs offers another stinging critique. Among its findings, the GAO concludes that:

• Mandatory sexual assault prevention and response training is not “consistently effective.”
• Shortages of mental health care providers limit victims’ access to mental health services.
• There is no directive from the DOD on how to operate the programs in a deployed environment.
• The DOD has not developed an oversight framework to evaluate whether the programs are working.

Last Thursday, Congress gave the Defense Department an opportunity to defend its efforts at a House Oversight Committee hearing. Instead of acknowledging the program’s shortcomings, Pentagon officials directed the head of their Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) not to appear at the hearing. This is scandalous. And demonstrates a blatant disregard by the DOD for the hundreds of thousands of sexual assault victims and their families. Secretary Gates and the President should respond immediately. Thankfully, Congress has the power to subpoena-which means unless the Director of SAPRO appears before the Committee, she risks being held in contempt of Congress, and even the possibility of jail time.

What happened to taking care of our own? Our military brass seems to have forgotten that rule-one that I learned as a private in Basic Training-and a rule that American servicemembers have upheld for generations. It’s a sad day when one of the military’s proudest traditions, the commitment of servicemembers to protect and defend one another, must be enforced by Congressional subpoena. We can and must do better."

See http://www.iava.org/blog/?p=12683

See also:

• Oversight Hearing on Sexual Assault in the Military by Swords to Plowshares
• Women Faces of War by Wild Iris Media

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Guide now available free!

A very nice Guide to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Guide has been made available by the Judge Advocate's School of the United States Army. One place you can get it is, along with some explanatory videos and a whole lot of other stuff, is "No Family Left Behind" Training Program Agenda.

You can also link directly to the PDF here - it's a couple of megs.

Well done, JAG School!

Servicemember Homeownership Protections in Housing Bill

Several improvements in homeownership protection for servicemembers were included in the Fanne Mae/Freddy Mac Bailout Bill (HR 3221)

As summarized on govtrack.us:

H.R. 3221: Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008

Title II - Mortgage Foreclosure Protections for Servicemembers

Section 201 -
Sets forth a temporary increase, through December 31, 2008, in the maximum loan guaranty amount for certain housing loans guaranteed by the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs.
Section 202 -
Directs the Secretary of Defense to develop and implement a program to advise members of the Armed Forces who are returning from active duty abroad on actions to prevent or forestall mortgage foreclosures, including credit counseling and home mortgage counseling.
Section 203 -
Amends the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to increase from 90 days to nine months the period of: (1) protection against mortgage foreclosure proceedings; and (2) the stay of proceedings and adjustment of mortgage obligations. Sunsets such provisions December 31, 2010.
Revises the 6% interest rate limitation during the period of military service for debts incurred before military service whose interest rate did not exceed that percentage. Extends the 6% limitation for one year beyond the period of military service if the debt is a mortgage, trust deed, or other security in the nature of a mortgage.

More information: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-3221

Thanks to the Iraq And Afghanistan Veterans of America blog for the head's up!

Veterans Voting Support Act (H.R. 6625)

H.R. 6625 would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to permit facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to be designated as voter registration agencies.

Recently the head of the VA blocked voter registration efforts on VA facilities, thereby hindering the right to vote of veterans hospitalized or permanently retired (see VHA Directive 2008-25) The reasons given for this are pure bluster; contrary to the lie in that publication, non-partisan voter registration drives do not violate the Hatch act. They can be conducted with dignity and in a non-partisan way, but it appears that the rights of those who defended our Constitution on the battlefield must again be defended in Congress because of the unilateral action of a political appointee afraid that his incompetence will result in veterans exercising the franchise in a way he doesn't like.

If this blogger sounds intemperate about this bill, it's because the actions of the political head of the VA are completely outrageous and the excuses given are insulting to the intelligence of every American. It is clear that someone at the VA is worried that people living in VA facilities might not be entirely happy about their treatment, and use the right to vote for which the suffered the injuries now putting them in the VA's power.

This is no time for partisanship; this is time to enforce the rights of veterans; it is time to act:

• Read the text of HR 6625
• Understand the Key Points about what the bill does:
  Require the VA to make voter registration services available at VA facilities in states that request it, in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act. These services include providing voter registration forms, answering questions on registration issues and assisting with submitting voter registration forms
  • Require the VA to assist veterans at facilities to receive and use absentee ballots if they choose to vote absentee
  • Allow non-partisan groups and election officials to provide voter information and registration information to veterans
  • Require an annual report to Congress from the Department of Veterans Affairs on progress related to this legislation
• Call Congress Now! (one phone call is worth many emails)
• • Learn More:
  • Comments by Veterans for Common Sense
  • Swords-to-Plowshares weighs in
  • Add YOUR links via the reply function below