I had to re-register my car today. The state provides a military
exemption for state taxes on car registration for military members who
are not Hawai'i residents. So I went down to Rear Detachment and waited
an hour for the RearD people to get out of a meeting so that I could
get the form I needed to exempt us from the state taxes.
I
took my registration, military ID, deployment orders, power of
attorney, and military exemption form down to the Satellite City Hall
today to get new tags for my car. I waited in line, double-checking
that I had everything I needed. I get to the counter and the woman asks
me what my rank is.
I have no rank.
I explain
that my husband is deployed, that I have copies of his deployment
orders, power of attorney, blood type, and anything else that the state
might possibly need in order to consider me worthy of the military
exemption for registration taxes. She again asks me what my rank is.
I. HAVE. NO. RANK.
Again, I explain that my husband
is the servicemember and he is currently in Iraq but that I have
deployment orders/power of attorney/marriage certificate/military
ID/1st grade report card and all of that should take care of the fact
that my husband is not currently on the island.
She looks at me and blinks. She then proceeds to ask me, "So you're not in the military?"
Um,
no. I am a military spouse. Hence the lovely tan colored ID card,
copies of deployment orders/power of attorney/marriage certificate/etc.
She then tells me that because my husband's name is not on
the registration and title of the car, we are not eligible for the
military exemption on state taxes when it comes to registering this
car. "That-will-be-one-hundred-and-seventy-five-dollars-plus-ten-dollars-for-a-late-fee-
thankyouverymuchhaveaniceday-pleasegopaythechashier."
Seems it doesn't matter that I'm married to a man in the military if his name isn't on the title. Grr. I could
get ahold of the bank, have them add MacGyver's name to the title (I'm
sure THAT would be a quick and easy process, given the fact that he's
in a foreign country at the moment. /sarcasm). But that would mean driving around for weeks on end (because we all know that something that sounds so simple will take at least 6-8 weeks) waiting to get paperwork taken care of and signatures obtained. And driving around on expired tags is, well, illegal. So I did not choose that option. Call me silly.
Grr. It's
the little things. Don't get me wrong. I understand that a rule is a
rule and I'm not mad at the woman at City Hall for not bending the rule
for me. It's basic algebra, really.
If A=B and B=C then A=C.
A: Military members and vehicles in their name are eligible for a military exemption on registration tax.
B: I am married to said military member and, were he here, I could have his name added to the title and registration of my car.
C: Marriage to said military member should extend benefits to me and the rest of his family.
On
a related note, I was talking with a friend of mine about the attitude
of entitlement. I try my best to avoid seeing the world or the Army as
though it owes me something. Don't get me wrong - if I am due
something, if I have worked for and earned something then I will demand it. It is
rightfully mine. But I do not expect things to be given to me just
because I exist or because of the fact that I am married to a man in the military.
A few months ago I attended a town hall
meeting and listened to a woman complain that the Army wasn't doing
enough to compensate her for the fact that her husband was being
extended. She wanted the Army to provide her and her family with free
plane tickets back to the mainland so that she could go visit family
while her husband was deployed. I just shook my head. If you read our
deployment orders, they read that the deployment will last "365 days or
until the mission is complete."
The Army owes us nothing beyond that for which Congress and the DoD have already provided.
What
would be NICE is this: in the event of a deployment and upon possession
of said deployment orders, dependents of the deployed servicemember
should be eligible to remain at a Category III status regardless of
whether the servicemember is present. In other words, the deployment
orders should act as a literal stand-in for the servicemember. It would
be a wonderful gesture and an incredible help for families who do not
live on the mainland during a deployment (or for those who desire a
Hawaiian getaway during a deployment!). Flying my family to the
mainland is expensive and therefore only happened once. It would have
been great to have been able to fly (on a Space Available basis) back
to the mainland to see family.
Another help would be to
allow families to be able to fly SpaceA to any SpaceA destination on
the mainland rather than just to the first mainland destination they
come to. For someone whose family resides on the west coast, this is
not a problem. The majority of flights from here go to either Travis
AFB, McChord AFB, or North Island. Sucks to be someone whose family
lives on the eastern seaboard.
I'm not looking to milk the
system or the Army for more than I deserve. I just see ways that the
lives of military families could be made easier by utilizing the system
in different ways. The adjustments to the Category status of families
of deployed soldiers would not cost anyone money.
But it sure would
make life easier.
