Augusta Military Divorce Lawyer - The Four-Year Itch
Written by Chuck Crowder
A few of my buddies are going through troubling times in their marriages that will likely lead them to an attorney’s office. I’m talking divorce. And that’s not good for anyone—except maybe that lawyer. But a lifelong commitment such as matrimony is a hard pill to swallow in these ever changing times. Someone’s bound to crack at some point. And I for one can’t blame them.
Back when the concept of marriage was “the way to be,” the average adult could expect to be dead and gone by age 50. You married at 14, had a bunch of kids to sustain the “village” and then lived out your 40’s letting them take care of you. That is of course, unless you were eaten by a dinosaur first.
Nowadays, we’re living longer and better than ever before. We’re moving and shaking through careers that lead us from city to city and job to job, we’re upgrading houses every few years, constantly trading in cars and even changing cell phones as often as our underwear. But when it comes to spouses, society still expects monogamy for the rest of our natural lives…and that’s a mighty long time.
Maybe that’s why the divorce rate continues to hover around 50 percent (or higher). Our modern way of life doesn’t expect us to remain the same person we are right now. In fact, if you don’t change with the changing times then you best move out of the way. Nothing these days requires, or even tolerates, indefinite commitment. That’s why we have contracts, leases, resumes and expiration dates.
The military has the right idea. Four-year contracts. You go in willing to take a bullet for Lady Liberty or the guy right next to you, serve your country with dignity and then get out with an honorable discharge. And if, after all of that fun and excitement is over, you want to re-up, then you just re-up for another four years. It’s that easy. But should you go AWOL within those four years, you can be held accountable for your actions, and possibly be dishonorably discharged. And guess what? Sur-prize, sur-prize, sur-prize—it works.
Why can’t we do the same for marriage? I know, I know, in the eyes of God you take a vow to be married for life. But as far as the state is concerned, you are in it until you file the necessary paperwork to get out of it. What if however, there was an expiration date to a marriage license—just like your driver’s license? What if both parties had to agree to re-up at the end of the license period and apply for a four-year extension?
You can say all you want about the powerful bond of marriage holding couples together so they will try to work out their problems instead of simply throwing in the towel, but captivity breeds contempt. That’s why I think that if both parties knew that the other could just walk out the door whenever they wanted, then they might be a lot more respectful of each other in the first place, and avoid many of the common couple problems that over time lead to divorce.
A wise marriage counselor once told me, “Marriage is a decision.” To me that means you are in it, and continue to be in it, until something happens to change your mind. If you’re happy and the other person is happy, then you’ll likely stick with it. But if things go terminally south, then why should you? If kids are involved, they’re probably better off in two separate happy homes than one mixed-up hell house anyway. Man, I’m starting to sound like Dr. Rick. But regardless, life’s too short (even though we’re living way past age 50).
So why not try the four-year plan? I can just see the wedding vows now: “Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, promising never to change your Facebook status from ‘married’ to ‘single’ or ‘it’s complicated?’ To have and to hold from this day forward, forsaking all others, until death do you part—or four years—whichever comes first?”
So why not try the four-year plan? I can just see the wedding vows now: “Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, promising never to change your Facebook status from ‘married’ to ‘single’ or ‘it’s complicated?’ To have and to hold from this day forward, forsaking all others, until death do you part—or four years—whichever comes first?”
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Faith Deployed: Lifting up the ones left behind
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Faith Deployed: Lifting up the ones left behind
Christian Examiner staff report
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — As thousands of U.S. military serve the country overseas, their families make steep sacrifices on the home front. Military families experience a high rate of divorce, financial difficulties, discouragement over extended deployments, and other family issues.
Jocelyn Green, the wife of a former Coast Guard officer, speaks to the needs of the brave, unsung heroes who are called military wives. Green, along with 14 other contributors from every branch of the U.S. military, have created a first-of-its-kind collection of inspiring devotionals addressing the stressful lifestyle military families face. “Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives” was released by Moody Publishers in November.
The book is described as not a “10 easy steps” for a painless life, but rather as a collection of nearly 90 devotionals that squarely address the challenges wives face when their husbands are away protecting freedom. Challenges like:
• How does a military wife maintain a strong sense of patriotism without allowing her country to become an idol?
• What good can possibly come from moving every two or three years?
• How can I be sure that God's purpose for my life is as strong as His purpose for my husband's?
Faith Deployed explores all these questions and more from a biblical perspective.
“Good morale is essential to good military functioning, and an essential element to military morale is what's happening on the home front,” said Tom Neven, Focus on the Family editorial director, Marine Corps veteran and author of “On the Frontline: A Personal Guidebook for the Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Challenges of Military Life.”
“Jocelyn Green writes to those thousands of military wives left to tend the home fires as their husbands deploy around the world—often for more than a year at a time,” said Neven. “Grounded in solid, practical, been-there advice and rooted in biblical truth, Faith Deployed should be essential reading for everyone whose husband serves in uniform.”
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Christian Examiner staff report
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — As thousands of U.S. military serve the country overseas, their families make steep sacrifices on the home front. Military families experience a high rate of divorce, financial difficulties, discouragement over extended deployments, and other family issues.
Jocelyn Green, the wife of a former Coast Guard officer, speaks to the needs of the brave, unsung heroes who are called military wives. Green, along with 14 other contributors from every branch of the U.S. military, have created a first-of-its-kind collection of inspiring devotionals addressing the stressful lifestyle military families face. “Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives” was released by Moody Publishers in November.
The book is described as not a “10 easy steps” for a painless life, but rather as a collection of nearly 90 devotionals that squarely address the challenges wives face when their husbands are away protecting freedom. Challenges like:
• How does a military wife maintain a strong sense of patriotism without allowing her country to become an idol?
• What good can possibly come from moving every two or three years?
• How can I be sure that God's purpose for my life is as strong as His purpose for my husband's?
Faith Deployed explores all these questions and more from a biblical perspective.
“Good morale is essential to good military functioning, and an essential element to military morale is what's happening on the home front,” said Tom Neven, Focus on the Family editorial director, Marine Corps veteran and author of “On the Frontline: A Personal Guidebook for the Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Challenges of Military Life.”
“Jocelyn Green writes to those thousands of military wives left to tend the home fires as their husbands deploy around the world—often for more than a year at a time,” said Neven. “Grounded in solid, practical, been-there advice and rooted in biblical truth, Faith Deployed should be essential reading for everyone whose husband serves in uniform.”
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Lawyer - Government Ad Campaign Encourages Healthy Relationships
Augusta Military Divorce Lawyer - Government Ad Campaign Encourages Healthy Relationships
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State sociology professor Dr. Paul Amato said there is a lot of misinformation floating around about marriage.
He is part of a group of advisers tapped to sift through the misinformation and provide folks with the tools needed in successful relationships.
"What we're advocating is not marriage for the sake of marriage. That would be a mistake. We're advocating healthy marriages,” Amato said. "Even if this campaign has even a relatively modest effect, the potential for good is quite extensive."
Nearly 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce.
Amato said the marriage campaign is the first of its kind, but he hopes it will catch on and help bring down that statistic. However in a time of economic hardship, 5,000,000 tax dollars equates to mixed feelings.
Jason Hellerman said, "I think it's smart, if I'm going to pay my taxes, I want it to go to something I believe in. My parents are happily married and I think it's something everyone aspires to do."
"I think the government needs to stop worrying about trivial problems in this country such as marriage and other things the government shouldn't be involved with and start spending money where it's needed on our struggling economy, military... anything. Health care," said Dallas Kerr.
According to Amato, the $5 million amounts to less than one cent per taxpayer over the next four years.
"You have to balance that with the fact that divorce and out of wedlock childbearing costs U.S. taxpayers $100 billion every year. Year after year after year."
Amato said measuring the success of the campaign will be difficult initially, but the group will be monitoring the resource website, twoofus.org. Additional survey research will be conducted once the campaign wraps up in 2013.
Meanwhile, television, radio and print ads will be released in August.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State sociology professor Dr. Paul Amato said there is a lot of misinformation floating around about marriage.
He is part of a group of advisers tapped to sift through the misinformation and provide folks with the tools needed in successful relationships.
"What we're advocating is not marriage for the sake of marriage. That would be a mistake. We're advocating healthy marriages,” Amato said. "Even if this campaign has even a relatively modest effect, the potential for good is quite extensive."
Nearly 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce.
Amato said the marriage campaign is the first of its kind, but he hopes it will catch on and help bring down that statistic. However in a time of economic hardship, 5,000,000 tax dollars equates to mixed feelings.
Jason Hellerman said, "I think it's smart, if I'm going to pay my taxes, I want it to go to something I believe in. My parents are happily married and I think it's something everyone aspires to do."
"I think the government needs to stop worrying about trivial problems in this country such as marriage and other things the government shouldn't be involved with and start spending money where it's needed on our struggling economy, military... anything. Health care," said Dallas Kerr.
According to Amato, the $5 million amounts to less than one cent per taxpayer over the next four years.
"You have to balance that with the fact that divorce and out of wedlock childbearing costs U.S. taxpayers $100 billion every year. Year after year after year."
Amato said measuring the success of the campaign will be difficult initially, but the group will be monitoring the resource website, twoofus.org. Additional survey research will be conducted once the campaign wraps up in 2013.
Meanwhile, television, radio and print ads will be released in August.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Iraq Troop Decision Said Near
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Iraq Troop Decision Said Near
By Yochi J. Dreazen
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is close to a decision to withdraw the majority of U.S. troops from Iraq by the summer of 2010, a move that would effectively end the long war there.
A senior administration official said that Mr. Obama was strongly leaning towards a 19-month withdrawal timeline. The official said that the president hadn't finalized his decision, but was expected to do so -- and to announce the plan to the public -- later this week.
The administration official said that not all U.S. forces would leave Iraq by the summer 2010 deadline. As previously reported by The Wall Street Journal, the administration is prepared to leave a residual force of more than 30,000 troops in Iraq until at least 2011. The smaller force would be charged with battling Islamist terrorists, training the Iraqi security forces, and protecting U.S. diplomats and civilian officials.
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama often talked of withdrawing U.S. combat forces from Iraq within 16 months of taking office. In the aftermath of the election, Obama aides said the new president would take the feelings of his senior military commanders into account before making a final decision.
Top military officials in Washington and Baghdad ultimately crafted a trio of withdrawal plans for the president to consider. The plans had 16-, 19- and 23-month withdrawal timetables.
Within the military, top officials were divided over the withdrawal options. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top American commander in Iraq, favored the slowest possible withdrawal, arguing that conditions in Iraq were fragile and that the recent security gains there would not yet irreversible.
But other senior officials, including most members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, favored a faster drawdown. They argued that reducing the U.S. military presence in Iraq would reduce the manpower strains on the armed forces, which have been linked to rising rates of divorce and suicide within the armed forces.
Military officials also want to free up as many troops as possible for Afghanistan, which has deteriorated sharply in recent months. Mr. Obama has already announced plans to boost U.S. troop levels there by more than 17,000 troops, and U.S. commanders expect to ultimately deploy an additional 13,000 troops to Afghanistan before the end of the year.
Gen. David McKiernan, the top commander in Afghanistan, said last week that he doesn't plan to request any other reinforcements. In an interview Monday, however, a senior member of Mr. McKiernan's command acknowledged that the military would likely ask for more troops if Afghanistan's security situation continued to decline.
"You never say never," the officer said by email by Kabul.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
By Yochi J. Dreazen
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is close to a decision to withdraw the majority of U.S. troops from Iraq by the summer of 2010, a move that would effectively end the long war there.
A senior administration official said that Mr. Obama was strongly leaning towards a 19-month withdrawal timeline. The official said that the president hadn't finalized his decision, but was expected to do so -- and to announce the plan to the public -- later this week.
The administration official said that not all U.S. forces would leave Iraq by the summer 2010 deadline. As previously reported by The Wall Street Journal, the administration is prepared to leave a residual force of more than 30,000 troops in Iraq until at least 2011. The smaller force would be charged with battling Islamist terrorists, training the Iraqi security forces, and protecting U.S. diplomats and civilian officials.
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama often talked of withdrawing U.S. combat forces from Iraq within 16 months of taking office. In the aftermath of the election, Obama aides said the new president would take the feelings of his senior military commanders into account before making a final decision.
Top military officials in Washington and Baghdad ultimately crafted a trio of withdrawal plans for the president to consider. The plans had 16-, 19- and 23-month withdrawal timetables.
Within the military, top officials were divided over the withdrawal options. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top American commander in Iraq, favored the slowest possible withdrawal, arguing that conditions in Iraq were fragile and that the recent security gains there would not yet irreversible.
But other senior officials, including most members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, favored a faster drawdown. They argued that reducing the U.S. military presence in Iraq would reduce the manpower strains on the armed forces, which have been linked to rising rates of divorce and suicide within the armed forces.
Military officials also want to free up as many troops as possible for Afghanistan, which has deteriorated sharply in recent months. Mr. Obama has already announced plans to boost U.S. troop levels there by more than 17,000 troops, and U.S. commanders expect to ultimately deploy an additional 13,000 troops to Afghanistan before the end of the year.
Gen. David McKiernan, the top commander in Afghanistan, said last week that he doesn't plan to request any other reinforcements. In an interview Monday, however, a senior member of Mr. McKiernan's command acknowledged that the military would likely ask for more troops if Afghanistan's security situation continued to decline.
"You never say never," the officer said by email by Kabul.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Divorce 'bad for climate'
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Divorce 'bad for climate'
LASTING marriage is good for the planet as divorce leads the newly single to live wasteful lifestyles, an Australian senator said yesterday.
Steve Fielding told a senate hearing in the Australian capital, Canberra, that divorce worsened climate change as separated couples needed more rooms, more electricity and more water, which increased their carbon footprint.Mr Fielding, who leads the independent Family First party, grew up in a family of 16 children and has been married for 22 years.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
LASTING marriage is good for the planet as divorce leads the newly single to live wasteful lifestyles, an Australian senator said yesterday.
Steve Fielding told a senate hearing in the Australian capital, Canberra, that divorce worsened climate change as separated couples needed more rooms, more electricity and more water, which increased their carbon footprint.Mr Fielding, who leads the independent Family First party, grew up in a family of 16 children and has been married for 22 years.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Kate Walsh Opens Up About Her Divorce
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Kate Walsh Opens Up About Her Divorce
For the first time since filing for divorce in November 2008, "Private Practice" star Kate Walsh is opening up about her failed relationship in the March issue of Redbook. "I don't think anyone gets married thinking that they will get divorced. We certainly did not," she says of ex Alex Young.
And while both husband and wife cited irreconcilable differences on the divorce papers, it sounds like she could have checked off uncertainty instead.
"I second-guess myself all the time," Kate admitted. "I make a decision and then wonder if I made the wrong choice. Sometimes I come off as confident, but really I am a quivering little wharf rat underneath who is radically insecure and deeply in need of love and understand."
So Kate is back on the market -- any guys want to date a wharf rat? -- and it sounds like she came from a screening of "He's Just Not That Into You" right before the interview. Or maybe Kate's angling for a role in the sequel, because she too despises how technology has ruined romance.
"Remember when you could mildly stalk a guy?" she wondered. "Not anymore, man. They can be at your front door in five minutes. There's just no mystery now."
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
For the first time since filing for divorce in November 2008, "Private Practice" star Kate Walsh is opening up about her failed relationship in the March issue of Redbook. "I don't think anyone gets married thinking that they will get divorced. We certainly did not," she says of ex Alex Young.
And while both husband and wife cited irreconcilable differences on the divorce papers, it sounds like she could have checked off uncertainty instead.
"I second-guess myself all the time," Kate admitted. "I make a decision and then wonder if I made the wrong choice. Sometimes I come off as confident, but really I am a quivering little wharf rat underneath who is radically insecure and deeply in need of love and understand."
So Kate is back on the market -- any guys want to date a wharf rat? -- and it sounds like she came from a screening of "He's Just Not That Into You" right before the interview. Or maybe Kate's angling for a role in the sequel, because she too despises how technology has ruined romance.
"Remember when you could mildly stalk a guy?" she wondered. "Not anymore, man. They can be at your front door in five minutes. There's just no mystery now."
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Adding misdeeds to divorce cases not good idea
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Adding misdeeds to divorce cases not good idea
Divorce proceedings in Arizona could become even more bitter in the future. That is because a bill pending in the Arizona Legislature would again allow the issue of "misconduct" by a spouse to become part of divorce cases.
If it becomes law, the state's "no fault" approach to divorce will be compromised. At one time in the past, divorce was often based on blaming one spouse or the other for causing the end of the marriage through misconduct, often through infidelity.
The assumption was that married couples should remain together unless there was some "unforgivable" reason for separating. The divorce hearings tended to be very adversarial, conducted more like criminal proceedings where guilt is found rather than the breaking of a civil contract. The person being divorced might be viewed as a "bad person" who had done something wrong to the "innocent" spouse who was demanding a divorce. Often it was more complicated than "good" vs. "bad," of course, with some wrong and some right on both sides of the marriage.
That is why divorce laws over the years have moved toward the "no fault" approach where the only requirement is that the marriage be found to be "irretrievably broken." Under that system, who is "guilty" or "not guilty" is irrelevant to the judge in most cases.
It makes for less divisive divorces, which many see as a better approach, one that can help spare the children from some of the parental infighting that can take place. But supporters of the bill say judges need to know who has been guilty of misconduct in a marriage, especially when it comes to deciding how to split up property and determine spousal support, something not allowed under current divorce law in Arizona.
This proposal would be a step backwards. It would encourage even more of the pettiness and bitterness that can develop in divorce cases. Divorces are already difficult enough for the parties involved and their children without re-introducing the issue of "misconduct," something that isn't even clearly defined in the proposed law.
No-fault divorce may not satisfy some supporters of this proposal, who describe themselves as "pro-family," but it makes the best of a bad situation.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Divorce proceedings in Arizona could become even more bitter in the future. That is because a bill pending in the Arizona Legislature would again allow the issue of "misconduct" by a spouse to become part of divorce cases.
If it becomes law, the state's "no fault" approach to divorce will be compromised. At one time in the past, divorce was often based on blaming one spouse or the other for causing the end of the marriage through misconduct, often through infidelity.
The assumption was that married couples should remain together unless there was some "unforgivable" reason for separating. The divorce hearings tended to be very adversarial, conducted more like criminal proceedings where guilt is found rather than the breaking of a civil contract. The person being divorced might be viewed as a "bad person" who had done something wrong to the "innocent" spouse who was demanding a divorce. Often it was more complicated than "good" vs. "bad," of course, with some wrong and some right on both sides of the marriage.
That is why divorce laws over the years have moved toward the "no fault" approach where the only requirement is that the marriage be found to be "irretrievably broken." Under that system, who is "guilty" or "not guilty" is irrelevant to the judge in most cases.
It makes for less divisive divorces, which many see as a better approach, one that can help spare the children from some of the parental infighting that can take place. But supporters of the bill say judges need to know who has been guilty of misconduct in a marriage, especially when it comes to deciding how to split up property and determine spousal support, something not allowed under current divorce law in Arizona.
This proposal would be a step backwards. It would encourage even more of the pettiness and bitterness that can develop in divorce cases. Divorces are already difficult enough for the parties involved and their children without re-introducing the issue of "misconduct," something that isn't even clearly defined in the proposed law.
No-fault divorce may not satisfy some supporters of this proposal, who describe themselves as "pro-family," but it makes the best of a bad situation.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Campfield Drinking 'Magic Liquor?'
Georgia Military Divorce Attorney - Campfield Drinking 'Magic Liquor?'
A bill sponsored by the often combative and controversial Rep. Stacey Campfield cleared a House subcommittee on a unanimous, bipartisan voice vote today and a lobbyist for lawyers declared it "imminently reasonable."
Steve Cobb, who lobbies for the Tennessee Bar Association, spoke in favor of the measure, as amended, in the House Family Justice Subcommittee.
"That's something I've never done before and never expected to do," Cobb said afterwards.
The bill allows military personnel who have child visitation rights under a divorce decree to transfer those rights to someone else when he or she is sent overseas.Cobb said in an interview that Campfield's original version of the measure was problematic because it effectively gave the soldier an automatic right to assign visitation to anyone he or she wished.
That would not be in the child's best interest, he said, if, for example, he designated the "other woman" who broke up the marriage or a suspected child molester.
As amended with Campfield's approval, however, the bill requires that a judge sign off on the person getting transferred visitation rights. In other words, Campfield made a sensible compromise and succeeded in advancing a bill.
"Maybe he drank the magic liquor or something," joked Cobb.
If such things continue, Campfield could break his legislative record of never sponsoring a bill that became law.
He has a couple more bills on notice for a hearing Wednesday in another subcommittee that might stir more dissent, though they're also in the low controversy range compared to many Campfield legislative crusades.
One would reduce heating and cooling in the Legislative Plaza parking garage. The other would put new restrictions on out-of-state travel by legislators.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
A bill sponsored by the often combative and controversial Rep. Stacey Campfield cleared a House subcommittee on a unanimous, bipartisan voice vote today and a lobbyist for lawyers declared it "imminently reasonable."
Steve Cobb, who lobbies for the Tennessee Bar Association, spoke in favor of the measure, as amended, in the House Family Justice Subcommittee.
"That's something I've never done before and never expected to do," Cobb said afterwards.
The bill allows military personnel who have child visitation rights under a divorce decree to transfer those rights to someone else when he or she is sent overseas.Cobb said in an interview that Campfield's original version of the measure was problematic because it effectively gave the soldier an automatic right to assign visitation to anyone he or she wished.
That would not be in the child's best interest, he said, if, for example, he designated the "other woman" who broke up the marriage or a suspected child molester.
As amended with Campfield's approval, however, the bill requires that a judge sign off on the person getting transferred visitation rights. In other words, Campfield made a sensible compromise and succeeded in advancing a bill.
"Maybe he drank the magic liquor or something," joked Cobb.
If such things continue, Campfield could break his legislative record of never sponsoring a bill that became law.
He has a couple more bills on notice for a hearing Wednesday in another subcommittee that might stir more dissent, though they're also in the low controversy range compared to many Campfield legislative crusades.
One would reduce heating and cooling in the Legislative Plaza parking garage. The other would put new restrictions on out-of-state travel by legislators.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - UPDATE: Mother accused of 11 counts of child cruelty in court
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - UPDATE: Mother accused of 11 counts of child cruelty in court
By Navideh Forghanin - nbcaugusta
WAYNESBORO, Ga. – 26 News has new information about the man and woman whose eleven children were removed from their home after deputies found them living in unfit conditions.
On Monday, Christine Long came to court with her 18-year-old daughter, asking to be tried separately from her husband, Jeremy, on charges of cruelty to her children and not educating them. Her attorney wants to make sure Christine Long gets a fair trial and doesn't think the jury will be able to separate Christine's actions from her husband's.
Also, Christine filed for divorce from Jeremy earlier this month. Her attorney wants to keep issues of the divorce from leaking into the criminal case.
The judge wants to wait until both the state and defense have had time to review the case before making a final decision on whether or not Jeremy and Christine Long will be tried separately.
Jeremy Long will be in court Tuesday. His attorneys have filed a motion for a mental evaluation. The children are in state custody.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
By Navideh Forghanin - nbcaugusta
WAYNESBORO, Ga. – 26 News has new information about the man and woman whose eleven children were removed from their home after deputies found them living in unfit conditions.
On Monday, Christine Long came to court with her 18-year-old daughter, asking to be tried separately from her husband, Jeremy, on charges of cruelty to her children and not educating them. Her attorney wants to make sure Christine Long gets a fair trial and doesn't think the jury will be able to separate Christine's actions from her husband's.
Also, Christine filed for divorce from Jeremy earlier this month. Her attorney wants to keep issues of the divorce from leaking into the criminal case.
The judge wants to wait until both the state and defense have had time to review the case before making a final decision on whether or not Jeremy and Christine Long will be tried separately.
Jeremy Long will be in court Tuesday. His attorneys have filed a motion for a mental evaluation. The children are in state custody.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Coming home: When home is as scary as war
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Coming home: When home is as scary as war
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
Happy families stay at the Fort Drum Inn. Unhappy ones do, too. Pfc. Phil Vance’s wife almost took her own life in one of the rooms just days after he got orders to deploy. Their baby boy was asleep on the bed.
They’d been arguing, as they often did. She wanted to drive to Rhode Island for a family visit. He had agreed until he saw how far it was. The discord escalated. She threw the laptop against the wall, he said.
Still, the baby slept.
She went into the bathroom and came out with a scalpel in her hand, one he said she used for cosmetics, and asked: "Is this what you want?"
Then she drew the scalpel across her throat.
She cut through her carotid artery and jugular vein and would have bled to death if Vance had chosen another military occupation.
But the 24-year-old former construction worker from Arizona had recently become a medic.
As she collapsed, he pressed a towel to her throat and tried to stop the bleeding.
"I straddled her and put all my weight on her esophagus," he said.
He managed to call 911 and then yelled through the motel door when help arrived that he was trying to save his wife, even if it might look like he was trying to strangle her.
"I was surprised the cops didn’t shoot me," he said.
She lived. He started divorce proceedings. He wanted custody of Quenton, the baby, and she didn’t fight that. And although his command told him he didn’t have to deploy, he went.
"I thought it was the right thing to do," he said.
He called his father and stepmother, despite having a strained relationship, to ask if they would take the baby.
In their 40s, their children finally grown and gone, they were planning to travel and have some fun.
"We were looking forward to that. We certainly didn’t see this coming," said Jay Vance, a former minister who lives in Columbia, Mo. "But when things happen, you make adjustments."
So does the heart. The elder Vances love Quenton, who will turn 3 in February. They would be "perfectly content" to keep him, Jay said.
Except for his gender, Phil is like thousands of single parents in the Army, who have only their own parents to turn to for help when it’s time to deploy. It’s not an easy thing to ask; it’s not an easy request to grant. And after the year is up and the soldier returns, it’s not always an easy thing to hand the baby back.
Phil says he’s determined to raise Quenton himself, just as he’s determined to make the Army a career, despite the future deployments and absences from home that would require.
"I’m not going to get out. No way. This is a defining thing in my life," he said. "I guess I’m a bit of an idealist. Somebody has to do what we’re doing."
How will he make it all work?
"I have no idea."
A few days after his return from Iraq, he said his parents would soon be bringing Quenton to Watertown.
"I’m sure my mom will stay a little while," he said. "But after that, it will just be me and him."
"It probably scares me more than combat or bombs."
He and his father had talked about it while Phil was in Iraq; the fact that Phil says he wants to step up to his responsibilities is good, Jay said. But he worries.
"Phil expresses he wants to be a father to his son. … But realistically in his situation that remains to be seen," his father said. "Our position is that if Phil says that’s what he wants to do, we can only exert so much pressure. Mentally, we’re prepared as much as we can be for one way or the other. It’s one of those situations fraught with danger one way or another."
Phil says he knows how difficult it will be. One irony is that like his ex-wife has let her baby go, Phil’s mother had also left her three children for his father to raise.
"I remember that time," he said. "It was very hard."
His wife still calls, occasionally, asking about Quenton.
"In a lot of ways she was a very good mother," he said. "She can see him whenever she wants. … She has to stay within the county."
Phil said that day at the Fort Drum Inn was the most disturbing thing he has ever been through.
"Imagine a room like this," he said, sitting on the new leather sofa his deployment money bought, "covered in blood."
"I couldn’t sleep for, like, a week. I’m still dealing with it to some extent."
His combat deployment — including being hit by a roadside bomb and caring for injured soldiers — was nothing compared to that trauma. In fact, he said, his deployment probably saved him.
"It definitely distracted me," he said. "It was for the best that I went. If I’d stayed here, I’d probably be in very bad shape."
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
Happy families stay at the Fort Drum Inn. Unhappy ones do, too. Pfc. Phil Vance’s wife almost took her own life in one of the rooms just days after he got orders to deploy. Their baby boy was asleep on the bed.
They’d been arguing, as they often did. She wanted to drive to Rhode Island for a family visit. He had agreed until he saw how far it was. The discord escalated. She threw the laptop against the wall, he said.
Still, the baby slept.
She went into the bathroom and came out with a scalpel in her hand, one he said she used for cosmetics, and asked: "Is this what you want?"
Then she drew the scalpel across her throat.
She cut through her carotid artery and jugular vein and would have bled to death if Vance had chosen another military occupation.
But the 24-year-old former construction worker from Arizona had recently become a medic.
As she collapsed, he pressed a towel to her throat and tried to stop the bleeding.
"I straddled her and put all my weight on her esophagus," he said.
He managed to call 911 and then yelled through the motel door when help arrived that he was trying to save his wife, even if it might look like he was trying to strangle her.
"I was surprised the cops didn’t shoot me," he said.
She lived. He started divorce proceedings. He wanted custody of Quenton, the baby, and she didn’t fight that. And although his command told him he didn’t have to deploy, he went.
"I thought it was the right thing to do," he said.
He called his father and stepmother, despite having a strained relationship, to ask if they would take the baby.
In their 40s, their children finally grown and gone, they were planning to travel and have some fun.
"We were looking forward to that. We certainly didn’t see this coming," said Jay Vance, a former minister who lives in Columbia, Mo. "But when things happen, you make adjustments."
So does the heart. The elder Vances love Quenton, who will turn 3 in February. They would be "perfectly content" to keep him, Jay said.
Except for his gender, Phil is like thousands of single parents in the Army, who have only their own parents to turn to for help when it’s time to deploy. It’s not an easy thing to ask; it’s not an easy request to grant. And after the year is up and the soldier returns, it’s not always an easy thing to hand the baby back.
Phil says he’s determined to raise Quenton himself, just as he’s determined to make the Army a career, despite the future deployments and absences from home that would require.
"I’m not going to get out. No way. This is a defining thing in my life," he said. "I guess I’m a bit of an idealist. Somebody has to do what we’re doing."
How will he make it all work?
"I have no idea."
A few days after his return from Iraq, he said his parents would soon be bringing Quenton to Watertown.
"I’m sure my mom will stay a little while," he said. "But after that, it will just be me and him."
"It probably scares me more than combat or bombs."
He and his father had talked about it while Phil was in Iraq; the fact that Phil says he wants to step up to his responsibilities is good, Jay said. But he worries.
"Phil expresses he wants to be a father to his son. … But realistically in his situation that remains to be seen," his father said. "Our position is that if Phil says that’s what he wants to do, we can only exert so much pressure. Mentally, we’re prepared as much as we can be for one way or the other. It’s one of those situations fraught with danger one way or another."
Phil says he knows how difficult it will be. One irony is that like his ex-wife has let her baby go, Phil’s mother had also left her three children for his father to raise.
"I remember that time," he said. "It was very hard."
His wife still calls, occasionally, asking about Quenton.
"In a lot of ways she was a very good mother," he said. "She can see him whenever she wants. … She has to stay within the county."
Phil said that day at the Fort Drum Inn was the most disturbing thing he has ever been through.
"Imagine a room like this," he said, sitting on the new leather sofa his deployment money bought, "covered in blood."
"I couldn’t sleep for, like, a week. I’m still dealing with it to some extent."
His combat deployment — including being hit by a roadside bomb and caring for injured soldiers — was nothing compared to that trauma. In fact, he said, his deployment probably saved him.
"It definitely distracted me," he said. "It was for the best that I went. If I’d stayed here, I’d probably be in very bad shape."
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - The Need for Military Mental Health Services
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - The Need for Military Mental Health Services
When I lived in Fayetteville, I dated a young military officer who had received counseling because of a recent divorce, before we met. His superiors found out, and pressured him to quit. He couldn’t fully deal with his divorce, and it affected his job. He was deeply depressed when he received a bad Office Evaluation Report. I thought, “His superiors should have let him continue the counseling.” I wanted to yell, “Can you say ‘stigma’?”
It seemed like they were saying, “You’d better not have problems--but if you do, deal with them yourself.” I felt they created a vicious cycle: they discouraged him from getting counseling, so his problems affected his job, then he got a bad evaluation--because they discouraged him from getting counseling. The Army lost a potentially excellent officer. And we might have had a better relationship.
This was in peacetime. But now, the need for military mental health care is skyrocketing. Combat conditions, being redeployed, long separations from loved ones, breakups of significant relationships, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are only a few issues modern soldiers face.
Thankfully, the military is now recognizing the growing need for mental health services.The next article in this series will have resources, like phone numbers and web sites, for soldiers and their families. I look forward to bringing them to you.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney -Transgender vets a hidden population
Augusta Military Divorce Attorney -Transgender vets a hidden population
By Carol Ann Alaimo - ARIZONA DAILY STAR
In a city that prides itself on respect for military veterans, scorn is a fact of life for former Army captain Erin Russ.
Men with gender struggles drawn to macho military
By Carol Ann Alaimo - ARIZONA DAILY STAR
In a city that prides itself on respect for military veterans, scorn is a fact of life for former Army captain Erin Russ.
Neighbors gawk when she takes out the trash. At local malls, teenagers titter and hiss as the strapping ex-infantry officer shops for cashmere and heels.
Even simple errands can be a source of angst for Russ, who was born a man but now lives as a woman.
Decades after former soldier Christine Jorgensen stunned 1950s America by undergoing a sex change, a small army of veterans in similar straits has quietly sprung up in Tucson and around the country.
Officially, the Pentagon bans transsexuals — those who believe they were born with the wrong male or female parts — from serving.
Yet some research suggests there may be a higher prevalence in the military than in society at large. That's because some young men, conflicted over their feminine feelings, enlist to try to escape them, the research found.
Advocates refer to these former troops as "invisible" veterans.
"This is something I think nobody wants to talk about," said Russ, 52. "Transgender veterans basically make other people rethink their preconceived ideas of what a veteran is. We don't just push the envelope — we crumple it up and throw it away."
Mocked by strangers and often shortchanged by the veterans health-care system, these ex-troops say they get little of the respect accorded to those they served alongside.
"Serious medical condition"
No one knows for sure how many veterans are affected by "gender identity disorder," which the American Medical Association calls "a serious medical condition . . . which causes intense emotional pain and suffering."
Because prejudice against them is so prevalent, many transgender veterans choose to live in "stealth" mode — quietly trying to blend into society.
The Southern Arizona VA Health Care System sees close to 50 former troops who are transsexual or are diagnosed with gender disorder, many of them in various states of transition from their birth sex. And there may be dozens more who aren't registered for care with the VA, local advocates say.
A national group, the Transgender American Veterans Association, estimates that somewhere around 300,000 transgender people have served, or now serve, in the U.S. military. That's roughly 1 percent of the country's nearly 27 million veterans and 2.2 million active-duty and reserve troops.
Transgender people aren't eligible to serve because they fall under a policy that excludes those with "learning, psychiatric and behavioral disorders," said Douglas Smith, a spokesman for U.S. Army recruiting command.
Yet one of the few studies ever published on the topic said the U.S. military probably has more of them in its ranks than the percentage in the general population.
A study titled "Transsexuals in the Military: Flight Into Hypermasculinity" — a classic still cited in college texts on gender issues — was written in 1988 by Dr. George R. Brown, then an Air Force captain and psychiatrist at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Brown found it curious that in a three-year period at the Midwestern base, he came across 11 men — eight current and former military, the rest civilians such as Defense Department staffers — all seeking treatment to become women.
Transsexuality is an issue "believed by many not to exist" in the armed forces, he noted. Yet each veteran told him nearly the same thing: He had enlisted hoping to "become a real man."
Brown also noted that late adolescence — the stage when cross-gender feelings can become so confusing that some feel an urgent need to escape them — coincides with the prime recruiting age for the predominantly male U.S. military.
Because of that, he said, the "prevalence of transsexualism in the armed forces may actually be much higher than in the civilian population."
Brown's findings ring true for Dr. Jennifer Vanderleest, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine — one of the few in the country where future doctors are trained on the medical needs of transgender patients.
Vanderleest conducts that training. She has treated more than 100 transgender people in Tucson, including many veterans who "are very proud of their military service," she said.
Many wait decades before seeking medical help, she said. Avoidance is common because confronting the truth can be wrenching in a culture that often is hostile.
"How can you process what is going on with you internally when you are operating in a world where you can't be who you are?" she asked, describing their dilemma.
In America and many other countries, military careers are killed by such admissions.
Don't ask, don't tell — the U.S. policy on gay and lesbian personnel — doesn't cover transgender troops, who typically are forced out if discovered. A few Western militaries, though — including Canada and the United Kingdom — welcome their service and even pay for their sex-change surgeries.
"Something was different"
Transgender people often sense their predicaments at a young age, Vanderleest said.
That's how it was for Russ, the former Army captain who has been living full time as a female since 2001. Even as a preschooler, she said, "I knew something was different about me."
Joining the military was one action in a long list of things — playing football, becoming an Eagle Scout, getting married and becoming a father — that Russ hoped would still the inner sense of being born with the wrong anatomy.
"You think if you do enough things of a male nature, then you will become male, and the female thoughts will go away."
Growing up in Syracuse, N.Y., in a 1950s neighborhood chock- full of other boys, Russ chose to play with girls and was deemed "a sissy."
In junior high, Russ started cross-dressing in secret, a practice that would continue for years as the young man wrestled with the turmoil between who he believed he was and who he pretended to be.
Commissioned as an Army officer in 1979, Russ served a total of 11 years in the reserves and on active duty, and planned to stay on until retirement. But in 1990, Russ said, "my career came to a screeching halt."
While stationed at Fort Wainwright in Alaska, the captain, off-duty and dressed as a woman, was stopped by civilian police for a driving violation. The traffic cop "wrote a page-long report on how I was dressed and gave a copy to the military," Russ said.
"On Monday morning, I was called into the commander's office and told I was going to be court-martialed for conduct unbecoming an officer."
Russ was allowed to resign honorably and, after a painful divorce, came to Tucson a few years later. "At that point, I was thinking, 'I can't go on like this.' "
So she grew her hair long and started going to the veterans hospital for hormone treatments, which softened her skin and swelled her breasts.
She turned to the Bible for comfort — she leads a monthly Bible study for transgender people — and got therapy to help her cope.
Then, ignoring the neighbors' stares, the 6-foot-2 former soldier walked out her front door and started living a new life.
"People usually don't change until the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of changing," Russ said. "For me, the pain of staying the same was overwhelming."
Risk of suicide
For some, suicide starts to seem like the best solution.
Diane Steen, an Air Force veteran who served as a man and now is a woman, often thought of killing herself.
"I was suicidal for most of my adult life. It's a very lonely journey to live a lie," said Steen, a youthful 64-year-old who has been volunteering at Tucson's veterans hospital since 2004.
Like Russ, Steen sensed early that something was amiss, but he had no words to describe it growing up in 1940s Indiana.
By age 6, Steen, then a little boy named Robert, was cross-dressing in outfits borrowed from cousins. Before long, he was sneaking his mother's lipstick.
In 1952, when Steen was in third grade, a bombshell hit America: Newspapers revealed that a male military veteran had gone to Europe for a sex-change operation and had come back as a woman — Christine Jorgensen.
The tale intrigued Steen.
"I heard the surgery cost $2,000 and I remember thinking to myself: 'If I had $2,000, I would do that.' Now why would a kid even think something like that?"
Decades passed before Steen allowed the thought to surface again. Through marriage, fatherhood and four years in the military, "I buried my transsexual self very deep," she said.
Today, Jorgensen's biography shares shelf space in Steen's library with books on Civil War history. Her bedroom has mauve walls, a cream-colored velvet bedspread and a closet brimming with size 12 women's wear.
Five years after her own sex- change surgery, "I am at peace," Steen said.
Assaulted over gender
For former soldier Janey Kay, peace has been more elusive.
The two-tour Vietnam veteran moved to Tucson from Missouri in 2006 and hoped life would get easier after she decided to become a woman.
Last October outside Tucson Greyhound Park — eight months after undergoing sex-change surgery in Thailand — Kay was assaulted by a man who kicked and punched her, calling her a "drag queen" and a "faggot," a police report said.
He also tore out two handfuls of Kay's hair in the attack.
The suspect, a 48-year-old Tucson man, was charged on suspicion of assault. No trial date has been set.
Besides Kay's diagnosis of gender-identity disorder, she suffers from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems that leave her vulnerable to mood swings. She also battles depression so severe that she's been treated in the past with electroshock therapy, her medical records show.
Kay, 59, said her mental problems were aggravated by decades of living in the wrong body.
"I remember as young as 8 or 9 years old looking in the mirror and seeing a girl. I just repressed it and repressed it until, finally, I cracked."
She enlisted in the military, she said, because she was terrified of the truth. "Joining the Army was an escape. I thought I could get away from it, but I could never escape."
20 years in uniform
Mick Andoso of Tucson, now a bearded construction inspector, kept his secret for 20 years as a woman in the Air Force.
Andoso, 51, retired in 1995 as a first sergeant. Back then, Andoso's name was Master Sgt. Brenda Weichelt — who in 1994 was named one of the service's top airmen for her work at the military's Defense Language Institute in California.
Andoso still has a copy of an Air Force Sergeants Association magazine describing the award, and photos taken with the service's top brass. Also among the keepsakes is a letter from Brenda's last commander.
"You are among the few rare exceptions whose absolute dedication to duty, commitment to excellence and genuine concern for your service and your fellow airmen, set you so far apart that I can never forget your outstanding achievements," it said.
Andoso joined the service to obtain job skills and escape from a family that didn't understand why Brenda, as a youngster, had always insisted she was a boy.
Once in uniform, "I had to resign myself that I couldn't (become a male) because I loved the Air Force, and I would've had to give that up."
Andoso still looks back fondly on his military days. But he's disappointed by how the Air Force has treated him since he retired and switched genders.
A few years ago, after legally changing his name and gender, he said he went to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to ask for a new photo ID card to access base services for retirees. He showed a clerk a copy of his court order.
The D-M staffer said the Air Force doesn't allow gender changes, Andoso recalled. "He was really rude. I got the impression he was disgusted by me."
A D-M spokeswomen, 1st Lt. Mary Pekas, said Defense Department policy forbids gender changes in its records system. Department lawyers "reviewed that policy on several occasions and found it to be legally supportable," Pekas said.
Andoso's run-in is not surprising, said Monica Helms, a Vietnam-era Navy submariner and president of the Transgender American Veterans Association, a national group formed in 2003 to combat stigma against such veterans.
Transgender veterans often are disrespected at military bases, in the VA system and elsewhere in a society that professes to honor those who have served their nation, she said.
"Transgender people have fought in every war, shedding the same red American blood as every other person who has protected this nation," Helms said.
"We have done our part to preserve the freedom of everyone in this country," she said, "and we are proud to have served."On StarNet: Find a copy of the study "Transsexuals in the Military: Flight Into Hypermasculinity".
The project
• Today: Tucson's invisible veterans: Former troops who change sexes face stigma, scorn.
• Monday: Transgender veterans find VA medical care inconsistent.
Trans facts
The language used to describe gender conflict is evolving. Here are some common terms and facts:
• Transgender — umbrella term that describes identity, dress or behavior at variance with one's sex at birth.
• Transsexual — those who live, or wish to live, full time as members of the gender opposite their birth sex.
• Transition — the process, often years long, of switching from one's birth sex to living as a person of preferred gender.
• History — Transgender people have been documented from ancient times in many cultures.
• What causes it? — Uncertain. Recent studies suggest brain differences that develop in the womb. Genetics, prenatal hormone levels and early childhood experience also may be factors.
• How common is it? — It's hard to say, because many live under the radar. The American Psychological Association estimates one in 10,000 biological males and one in 30,000 females are transsexual. Some research suggests prevalence may be higher in the military.
• Is it a mental illness? — Under debate. Gender-identity disorder is listed in the diagnostic manual used by psychiatrists — the same one that once labeled homosexuality a disorder — and is being reviewed. Some say psychological distress may be due to society's lack of acceptance of transgender people, rather than mental illness.
• Treatments — Include counseling, hormone therapy and gender-reassignment surgery (commonly called sex change), in which defining male and female parts are reconstructed into those of a preferred gender. Not all want surgery, though.
• Medical view — The American Medical Association says gender-identity disorder is "a serious medical condition" that can lead to stress-related illness, depression and suicide if proper care isn't received.
• Military view — Most military organizations ban transgender troops. A few — in Canada and the United Kingdom, for example — allow them to serve openly and will pay for treatment, including sex-change surgery.
Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator. She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney. She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.
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