Headquarters, Department of the Army Department of the Army Pamphlet 27-50-427 December 2008 Articles Foreword: Administrative Law Is Not for Sissies! Lieutenant Colonel Suzanne Mitchem Child Custody and Deployments: The States Step in to Fill the SCRA Gap Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey P. Sexton & Jonathan Brent New Developments in Child Support: Enforcement of Foreign Orders Under the 2001 Amendments to the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act Major John S. Frost Survivor Benefits Update Major Dana J. Chase State Survivor Benefits: An Overview Major Dana J. Chase & Major Daniel J. Sennott Families First and the Personnel Claims Act Major Daniel J. Sennott Street FOIA 101: Nuts, Bolts, and Loose Change Lieutenant Colonel Craig E. Merutka Whistleblower Protection for Military Members Major William E. Brown For All “Intensive” Purposes: A Primer on Malapropisms, Eggcorns, and Other Rogue Elements of the English Language Major Ann B. Ching TJAGLCS Practice Note Faculty, The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center & School Tax Law Note Update for 2008 Federal Income Tax Returns Major Dana J. Chase Book Review CLE News Current Materials of Interest The Army Lawyer Index for 2008 Editor, Captain Alison M. Tulud Assistant Editor, Major Ann B. Ching Technical Editor, Charles J. Strong The Army Lawyer (ISSN 0364-1287, USPS 490-330) is published monthly Lawyer welcomes articles from all military and civilian authors on topics of by The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, Charlottesville, interest to military lawyers. Articles should be submitted via electronic Virginia, for the official use of Army lawyers in the performance of their mail to [email protected]. Articles should follow The legal responsibilities. Individual paid subscriptions to The Army Lawyer are Bluebook, A Uniform System of Citation (18th ed. 2005) and the Military available for $45.00 each ($63.00 foreign) per year, periodical postage paid at Citation Guide (TJAGLCS, 13th ed. 2008). No compensation can be paid Charlottesville, Virginia, and additional mailing offices (see subscription form for articles. on the inside back cover). POSTMASTER: Send any address changes to The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, 600 Massie Road, The Army Lawyer articles are indexed in the Index to Legal Periodicals, ATTN: ALCS-ADA-P, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903-1781. The opinions the Current Law Index, the Legal Resources Index, and the Index to U.S. expressed by the authors in the articles do not necessarily reflect the view of Government Periodicals. The Army Lawyer is also available in the Judge The Judge Advocate General or the Department of the Army. Masculine or Advocate General’s Corps electronic reference library and can be accessed feminine pronouns appearing in this pamphlet refer to both genders unless the on the World Wide Web by registered users at context indicates another use. http://www.jagcnet.army.mil/ArmyLawyer. The Editor and Assistant Editor thank the Adjunct Editors for their Address changes for official channels distribution: Provide changes to invaluable assistance. The Board of Adjunct Editors consists of highly the Editor, The Army Lawyer, The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center qualified Reserve officers selected for their demonstrated academic and School, 600 Massie Road, ATTN: ALCS-ADA-P, Charlottesville, excellence and legal research and writing skills. Prospective candidates Virginia 22903-1781, telephone 1-800-552-3978 (press 1 and extension may send Microsoft Word versions of their resumes, detailing relevant 3396) or electronic mail to [email protected]. experience, to the Technical Editor at [email protected] Articles may be cited as: ARMY LAW., [date], at [first page of article], The Editorial Board of The Army Lawyer includes the Chair, [pincite]. Administrative and Civil Law Department; and the Director, Professional Writing Program. The Editorial Board evaluates all material submitted for publication, the decisions of which are subject to final approval by the Dean, The Judge Advocate General’s School, U.S. Army. The Army Articles Foreword: Administrative Law Is Not for Sissies! Lieutenant Colonel Suzanne Mitchem ................................................................................................................................... 1 Child Custody and Deployments: The States Step in to Fill the SCRA Gap Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey P. Sexton & Jonathan Brent ....................................................................................................... 9 New Developments in Child Support: Enforcement of Foreign Orders Under the 2001 Amendments to the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act Major John S. Frost .............................................................................................................................................................. 15 Survivor Benefits Update Major Dana J. Chase ............................................................................................................................................................ 20 State Survivor Benefits: An Overview Major Dana J. Chase & Major Daniel J. Sennott ................................................................................................................ 25 Families First and the Personnel Claims Act Major Daniel J. Sennott ........................................................................................................................................................ 44 Street FOIA 101: Nuts, Bolts, and Loose Change Lieutenant Colonel Craig E. Merutka .................................................................................................................................. 49 Whistleblower Protection for Military Members Major William E. Brown ...................................................................................................................................................... 58 For All “Intensive” Purposes: A Primer on Malapropisms, Eggcorns, and Other Rogue Elements of the English Language Major Ann B. Ching .............................................................................................................................................................. 66 TJAGLCS Practice Note Faculty, The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center & School Tax Law Note Update for 2008 Federal Income Tax Returns Major Dana J. Chase ................................................................................................................................................................. 73 Book Review Green Warriors: Army Environmental Considerations for Contingency Operations from Planning Through Post-Conflict Reviewed by Major James A. Barkei ................................................................................................................................... 86 CLE News ................................................................................................................................................................................... 93 Current Materials of Interest .................................................................................................................................................. 105 The Army Lawyer Index for 2008 ............................................................................................................................................. 110 Individual Paid Subscriptions to The Army Lawyer ........................................................................................ Inside Back Cover DECEMBER 2008 • THE ARMY LAWYER • DA PAM 27-50-427 i Foreword: Administrative Law Is Not for Sissies!1 Lieutenant Colonel Suzanne Mitchem2 Professor and Chair, Administrative and Civil Law Department The Judge Advocates General’s Legal Center and School Charlottesville, Virginia Administrative and civil law can be one of the most challenging and diverse areas for the Judge Advocate (JA) practitioner. For the first time in many years, this edition of The Army Lawyer (TAL) exclusively focuses on the legal topics from The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School’s Administrative and Civil Law Department. While administrative law is the interpretation of the rules, regulations, and statutes that administer how government agencies operate, the function of civil law is “to provide a legal remedy to solve problems. Sometimes civil law is based on a state or federal statute; at other times civil law is based on a ruling by the court.”3 The Administrative and Civil Law Department is responsible for a broad range of legal topics from environmental law, employment law, federal litigation, income tax and estate planning, family and consumer law, immigration, and servicemembers rights, to military investigations, standards of conduct, government information practices, professional responsibility, and military personnel law. This TAL edition will provide our readers with relevant perspectives in our areas of practice covering last year’s numerous developments in the areas of legal assistance and claims, civil law, and general administrative law. Legal assistance practitioners should be aware of the significant developments in our Wounded Warrior Program, in consumer and family law, and in estate planning and income tax. In the May 2007 TJAG Sends, Lieutenant General Black challenged us all to support and provide guidance to wounded warriors and their Families.4 He stated, “No Soldier is more deserving of our best efforts than a Soldier wounded in combat.”5 Consistent with