Judge rules men-only military draft unconstitutional

A federal judge has ruled that a men-only draft is unconstitutional, but he stopped short of ordering the Selective Service System to register women for military service.

The Houston judge sided with a San Diego men’s advocacy group that challenged the government’s practice of having only men sign up for the draft, citing sex discrimination in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection clause.

“This case balances on the tension between the constitutionally enshrined power of Congress to raise armies and the constitutional mandate that no person be denied the equal protection of the law,” wrote U.S. District Judge Gray Miller of the Southern District of Texas.

The government asked the judge to dismiss the suit or stay a decision until a national commission studying the issue of women’s draft registration reaches a recommendation. The judge noted that could take years, and even then Congress isn’t required to follow the commission’s findings.

Reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune

March 2019 - Chapter President's Message

Our next social will be Sunday, 28 April at Darcy’s, Spokane Valley. We celebrate our 45th anniversary as a MOAA Chapter. We also honor members and their spouses who have transferred to their final command. I hope you will join us at Darcy’s.

Agent Orange and Blue Water Exposure

What the Congress and VA have failed to correct may have been taken care of by the Federal Judicial system; the area for personnel affected by Agent Orange during Viet Nam should extend to the 12 mile coastal limit.

In a 9-2 decision on Procopio v. Wilkie, the court said those who served offshore in Vietnam should receive the same benefits as those who had "boots on the ground." This means that about 70,000 veterans potentially could be covered, and unfortunately about 20,000 have died during this process.

Blue Water Navy veterans are considered to be those who served aboard ships in the open waters off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and who did not go ashore. Historically, VA has excluded Blue Water Navy veterans from its presumption of herbicide agent exposure. Therefore, these veterans were required to show on a factual basis that they were exposed to herbicides during military service in order to receive disability compensation for diseases related to Agent Orange exposure.

As a result, tens of thousands of veterans were denied VA disability benefits over the years.

The Federal Circuit heard the case of Blue Water Navy veteran Alfred Procopio was seeking to overturn Haas v. Peake, arguing that the case was wrongly decided and that the intent of Congress in including the phrase “Republic of Vietnam” in the Agent Orange Act of 1991 was to include those service members who served off the coast of Vietnam. On January 29, 2019, the Federal Circuit issued a decision in favor of Mr. Procopio. Specifically, the Federal Circuit overturned Haas v. Peake, finding that “Republic of Vietnam” includes both the country’s landmass and its territorial seas in which Blue Water Navy veterans served. As a result, Blue Water Navy veterans will now be afforded the same presumption of exposure to herbicides as veterans who served “boots on the ground” in Vietnam.

The Federal Circuit’s decision represents a major victory for Blue Water Navy veterans who have been fighting for disability benefits for many years. The Federal Circuit decided that it was imperative that the 38 United States Code 1116 be interpreted and read in a way that favored a large class of veterans who had very important service in Vietnam.

This decision will likely impose significant costs to VA as Blue Water Navy veterans are now entitled to disability benefits for conditions associated with Agent Orange exposure. Congressional Budget Office officials estimate that awarding the benefits to Blue Water Navy veterans could total about $1.8 billion in fiscal year 2019 and $5.7 billion over the next 10 years. If the decision stands, VA will be forced to cover the costs regardless of whether an offset is agreed upon.

When VA adds a new condition to the presumptive list, it must: (1) identify all claims for the recognized disease that were previously filed and/or denied, and (2) pay retroactive disability and death benefits to the veterans or their survivors back to the date of the veteran’s initial claim. Furthermore, the Nehmer decision ruled that a veteran’s effective date would go all the way back to the date of their initial claim if their claim or denial for a presumptive condition falls between September 25, 1985 and August 31, 2010. Importantly, the Nehmer ruling only applies to veterans who served in Vietnam between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975. Now that Blue Water Navy veterans are considered to have served in the “Republic of Vietnam,” it is possible VA will consider them as part of the Nehmer class and award retroactive benefits.

February 2019 - Chapter President's Message

Our next social will be Sunday, 17 March at The Airport Ramada. Our planned speaker is Joe Bruce. Bruce works as director of children’s ministries at Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church. He is a 1981 graduate of Central Washington University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in science education. He spent three years teaching in Spokane, but left public education to help run a familyowned bike shop before joining Hamblen five years ago. Joe is the immediate past president of Rotary Club 21. He is a volunteer with NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He has been a Solar System Ambassador for over ten years, but in reality has been on a 28 year mission discovering mysteries about space, the last frontier. (I couldn’t pass up the chance to throw in some Star Trek lingo there). OK, he gets a little dreamy when talking about landing a man on Mars or traveling outside the solar system. But he’s really down-toearth, he may even show up in an authentic blue, space shuttle flight suit and comes with plenty of his own visual aids. He calls them his big-boy toys.

The chapter needs some help with the upcoming ROTC awards, we need someone to assist by making the telephone calls to the respective schools we support. If you can assist in this endeavor please call or e-mail me.

Looming Defense Spending Cuts: The Trump Administration has announced it wants to reduce the Fiscal Year 2020 (begins Oct. 1, 2019) Defense Department spending levels from $733 billion to $700 billion. In addition spending caps of the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 which sets strict caps on both defense and nondefense spending are scheduled to be re-imposed in FY 2020 and FY 2021. In the past Congress managed to make short-term compromises, lifting the caps for a couple of years at a time, but no such agreement applies to the FY 2020 Defense budget, at least not yet.

These automatic cuts, known as Sequestration, require that 50 percent come from Defense even though Defense spending only makes up 16 percent of the federal budget. Budget cuts mandated by the BCA pose a threat to national security and will substantially impact service members’ pay and benefits.

What can you do to prevent these cuts?

Contact your legislators, their contact information is located on our legislative action page. Any method, be it telephone, e-mail or snail mail can put pressure on them to prevent the cuts. Talk to your neighbors, relatives, other acquaintances and ask them to do the same. Now is not a time for the United States to get any weaker. Our potential enemies are not cutting their military budgets, they are increasing spending. Look at China, their navy is growing as you read this, they are building their third aircraft carrier, they have eight ballistic missile submarines, 70 amphibious ships, 240 surface combatants and 67 attack submarines. These vessels are not being built to protect their shores but to control the South China Sea and areas beyond.

They have built up several reef areas in the South China Sea and constructed runways, missile emplacements and stationed troops there. They have ignored the rulings by the United Nations and the International Court in the Hague. Our allies in the Pacific (Japan, Australia, New Zealand, The Philippines and others) are directly threatened by these moves to control shipping in this vital area. These are not the only moves the Chinese are making, they have compromised our defense industries and stolen technology they are using to build up ICBMs, attack aircraft and fighters. They claim to have a super-sonic missile that can target our aircraft carriers at extended distances and deploying them to the built up islands in the South China Sea.

Our Air Force is struggling to retain pilots and air crews. Army recruiting goals were not met, we, the United States, have two choices: continue to allow our foes go unchallenged and desert our friends and allies OR rebuild our armed forces to counter the actions of China and Russia.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!