TESTIMONY OF

MARK H. OLANOFF, CMSgt, USAF (Ret)

LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR

THE RETIRED ENLISTED ASSOCIATION

before the

HOUSE VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

5 AUGUST 1998

Biography of Mark H. Olanoff, CMSgt, USAF (Ret)

Legislative Director

The Retired Enlisted Association

CMSgt Mark H. Olanoff enlisted in the U.S. Air Force on September 27, 1967 after graduating from Darby Township High School in Glenolden, Pa. After completion of basic military training and technical training he was assigned to Osan AB, Korea in 1968 working in the military personnel division. Chief Olanoff served in numerous military personnel assignments at Othello AFS, Washington; RAF Bentwaters, England and Griffiss AFB, NY. He was discharged from the U.S. Air Force on July 30, 1976 and joined the New Jersey Air National Guard in Atlantic City, New Jersey serving in positions of Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC), Customer Assistance; NCOIC, Consolidated Base Personnel Office and Chief, Personnel Systems Management. Chief Olanoff transferred to the Air Force Reserve at Dover AFB, Delaware on June 19, 1986 serving as Chief, Personnel Systems Management until Feb 9, 1991. Chief Olanoff assumed the position of Chief, Personnel Systems Management for the 436^th Airlift Wing (as a federal civil servant) from Feb 10, 1992 until May 22, 1993.

On April 1, 1992, Chief Olanoff assumed the position as the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Commander of the 512^th Airlift Wing, Dover AFB, DE. In this position, Chief Olanoff served as the Commander’s representative on all enlisted issues. During his tenure in this position, Chief Olanoff was TDY to the Persian Gulf. He served in this position until his retirement from the Air Force Reserve on June 10, 1996.

On April 1, 1996, Chief Olanoff assumed the position of Veterans Service Officer for the State of Delaware assisting Veterans with Veterans Affairs (VA) claims and representing the Commission of Veterans’ Affairs at many meetings and functions. He was appointed to the VA Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 4 Management Advisory Committee, which includes the areas of Pennsylvania, Delaware, parts of South New Jersey and parts of West Virginia.

Chief Olanoff assumed his current position as Legislative Director for The Retired Enlisted Association on December 16, 1996.

He holds an Associate in Applied Science from the Community College of the Air Force in Human Resource Management (April 1980) and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Stockton State College, Pomona, New Jersey (May 1986).

Chief Olanoff is a graduate of the 8^th Air Force Leadership School at Barksdale AFB, LA and a distinguished graduate of the Air National Guard NCO Academy at the Professional Military Educational Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Chief Olanoff’s military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Air Force Achievement Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the National Defense Service Medal with one service star and the Southwest Asia Service Medal with one service star.

DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL GRANTS OR CONTRACTS

The Retired Enlisted Association does not currently receive, has not received during the current fiscal year or either of the two previous years any federal money for grants or contracts. All of the Association’s activities and services are accomplished completely free of any federal funding.

Mr. Chairman and honorable members of the Committee, I am Mark Olanoff, Legislative Director of The Retired Enlisted Association (TREA). My biography is attached. On behalf of the 100,000 members and auxiliary of TREA, National President Dave Pahl and National Auxiliary President Ethel Hale, I appreciate having the opportunity to come before you and address an issue that is vitally important to a particular class of veterans, military retirees.

Military retirees, those who have spent the better part of their lives in service to their nation, often have a percentage of their retirement pay waived in order to receive disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs. A retiree is forced to make this decision because the law states that a military retiree cannot receive 100% of their retired pay and disability compensation. Their retirement pay must be reduced based on the percentage of the disability. It is important to remember that the payment received from the Department of Veterans Affairs is not retired pay, but compensation for a disability sustained in service to our country. Unfortunately, there are those who would like to strip this service-connected compensation from retirees.

Marriages ending in divorce has become a common occurrence in our society, including the military community. Nearly 50% of all marriages end in a divorce. I would dare say that the percentage within the military community is the same if not higher. The stress put on families by the long hours, constant moving and stressful jobs no doubt wares on the individuals in a marriage. In order to protect the spouses of members of the Armed Forces, Congress, in 1982, passed the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act, Public Law 97-252; 10 USC 1408. This in despite of the fact that the Supreme Court ruled in the 1981 McCarty decision that "…the military retirement system confers no entitlement to retired pay upon the retired member’s spouse and does not involve even a limited community property concept…moreover, the application of community property principles in military retired pay threatens grave harm to clear and substantial federal interests." Unfortunately, the legislation which Congress assumed would help many has only damaged the lives of retirees, particularly those receiving disability. The USFSPA gives judges issuing the divorce decree the right to award up to 50% of a retirees pay to a former spouse as part of the settlement. However, judges have failed to recognize the fact that VA disability compensation is not retirement pay. Disability compensation is not where payments to court-ordered obligations should be paid from. Now, military retirees who are disabled, and the more severely disabled the worse this situation becomes, are forced to surrender up to all of their retirement pay and a portion of their disability pension. This in despite of the fact that the USFSPA is supposed to protect disability pay from being garnished and that the United States Supreme Court reinforced this fact in its ruling in Mansel vs. Mansel in May, 1989. However, state courts continue to ignore this federal law by garnishing VA compensation under Title 42 which is in conflict with Title 10 of the United States Code.

This is just one of many examples of how uniformed service retirees are discriminated against by the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act. This legislation, in its attempt to protect ex-spouses, has destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of retirees. TREA constantly receives phone calls from retirees, and their current spouse, who are suffering under this legislation. At this time, I would like to briefly share examples of retirees who have been abused by the system they have sworn to protect. I have hard from an Air Force Chief Master Sergeant (Ret.) whose alcoholic former spouse nearly cost him an Air Force career by getting the then-Active Duty Chief an Unfavorable Information File (UIF). Any current or former member of the Armed Forces knows how devastating a UIF can be. This retired Chief manage to overcome this difficulty, only to retiree at a higher rank and have the ex-spouse reopen the divorce and seek more money. Or an Army E-8, divorced in 1989 after 18 years of marriage. Only to see his wife marry a man 9 months older than his own son. A man who had been convicted of breaking into the retirees house and was in prison when the ex-spouse married him. Now, a percentage of his retirement goes to support his ex-wife and her new husband. Finally, I have received a call from retirees whose former spouse proceeded to remarry several other retirees only to divorce them all and receive a percentage of their retirement pay. What are we to tell these individuals who gave their careers to their nation? Where is the justice in legislation which punishes members of the Armed Forces for being just that? Mr. Chairman, these are just three examples of the hundreds we receive on a yearly basis.

The Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act has been used to make a mockery of the Armed Forces of the United States and those who wear the uniform. Information available on the Internet urges women to "Aim High," the Air Force recruiting motto, and marry a career military man so they can divorce him and be "guaranteed a financially secure future." Five pages of information (Attachment #1) gives specifics of how to marry into the military, receive the benefits, get divorced and continue to receive the financial rewards. This is a slap in the face not only of military retirees and the Armed Forces, but also of this honorable body, the Congress of the United States. I believe that Congress passed the USFSPA with the best of intentions, however, as this information attests to, it has been manipulated and misconstrued to drive those who served the nation honorable into financial ruin.

Mr. Chairman, we military retirees seek equity with our civilian counterparts. When we joined the uniformed services, we expected to move around the world and we were well aware of the risks involved in military service. We also expected to be treated as equals in the Courts of the United States. Instead, former spouses of members of the uniformed services can reopen divorce cases for more money, can continue to receive payment even after they remarry, and can receive more money if the retiree finishes their career at a higher rank than when the divorce took place. This is blatant discrimination against military retirees. Civilian divorce settlements do not allow one former spouse to reopen the claim, or change the amount received because of a promotion in the workplace. Military retirees deserve equity.

Members of the Committee, this is not a gender issue, as some will lead you to believe. This is not about an issue that is anti-wife or anti-children. We certainly believe that former spouses should have some form of compensation, particularly when they have had no opportunity to develop careers of their own. We believe that parents have a tremendous obligation to ensure that their children are cared for. The sense of honor, duty and obligation learned in the military will, no doubt, help ensure these things. What this issue is about is all members of the Armed Forces, male and female, officer and enlisted. This is about a group of American citizens who are being held to a different set of laws then everyone else. These American citizens seek equality.

It is on this basis that TREA would like to express its support for House Resolution 2537, the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Equity Act of 1997, introduced by Chairman Stump. This legislation would protect both the service member and their former spouse. Former spouses would still be entitled to up to 50% of retired pay, in addition to whatever child support and other amounts the Courts deem necessary. However, payments to the former spouse would cease upon remarriage, VA disability compensation would be adequately protected and divorce decrees would be final. As military retirees, we do not believe we are asking for something outrageous, just something already practiced outside of the military.

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for granting The Retired Enlisted Association the opportunity to address you today on this most important issue to military retirees.