We've all fallen victim to it in one way or another. We talked way over our monthly minutes and had to pay a phone bill twice the size we intended. Or the car broke down and we didn't have the money to pay rent. Or our credit card bills -- for whatever reason -- ran so high that we had to sell our possessions to pay it off.
Either way, debt is never an enjoyable situation.
Now imagine that you just served in the Middle East on active (and dangerous) duty and you come home to find that your house is being foreclosed, your car repossessed and other possessions illegally sold to cover unpaid fees.
Under the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act, modified and strengthened in December of 2003, federal law forbids this kind of action without a court order. Most landlords, moneylenders and collection agencies (including prominent companies such as Wells Fargo and Citigroup) are either unaware of or are ignoring the law. Not to mention judges and lawyers.
In fact, some judges (as in a Fort Hood, Texas case) are ruling against service personnel -- even their stateside spouses (also protected by law).
According to the New York Times, the Coast Guard has had to address more than 300 cases in the last year, and the numbers are thought to be substantially higher for other branches of the armed forces. Some bar associations, military lawyers and state courts have been trying to spread information about the Relief Act, but largely to no avail.
Most of the service men and women facing foreclosure and creditors are not in the position to seek professional military legal counsel and do not pursue their creditors.
Back in D.C., the very minds that sent our military into the Middle East are facing a fiscal problem themselves. Namely the Future Combat Systems, with a price tag of $145 billion and the $25 billion communications complement necessary to connect the Future Combat to other forces.
This weapons program (the most expensive ever undertaken) comes as a part of the $1.3 trillion budget for the major weapons system the Pentagon decided to build.
Arizona Sen. John McCain has said that the funding for the Future Combat must be protected, whereas David M. Walker (in charge of overseeing the Government Accountability Office) has been quoted in the Times as saying: "we are not able to afford all this ... every dollar spent on a want today is a dollar we won't be able to spend on a need tomorrow."
Hmmm ... need. Need like maybe helping out the troops in financial need here at home? While the leaders of this country are busy designing outrageously priced machinery and planning far-off programs that we don't have the money for, they are forgetting the most important and crucial component in our defense system: the individual soldier.
The commitment to defending this country should not rest solely on the battlefield, but also here at home. Our government -- federal, state and local -- should treat soldiers with respect before, during and after their service is completed. By largely ignoring the problems soldiers face once they return, we are sending them the message that their importance extends insofar as they are able to fight: commodifying our relation to them.
The government and private organizations ought to spend both money and time on keeping and enforcing the promises they have made.
Lucia Bill is a journalism and political science sophomore. Reach her at lucia.bill@asu.edu.
