‘I Feel Bad Because There Is WAR’ : Making a Will Is High Priority for Soldiers

John Lyons left his home Saturday to report for duty in the Army.

Although Lyons, 24, a reservist, had no indication he would be sent to the Persian Gulf, the Army advised him to draw up a will. He gave his wife, Joanne, power of attorney over his property. Now the Lyonses, high school sweethearts who have been married five years, are convinced he will be in the Gulf within six weeks.

“Everything we have is in my name,” said Joanne Lyons, 24. “All of our property. I was very and am still very upset about it. He’s probably going. You just try to think positive. You try to think what are the chances of him getting reassigned, but you know deep down in your heart that he’s going to go.

“It’s getting to the point where I can’t watch the news because all my girlfriends’ husbands are over there.”

Taking care of the details of death is grim business; all branches of the service provide legal assistance to draw up wills and power-of-attorney documents. Since the United States began massing forces in August for what was then Operation Desert Shield, military attorneys have been overwhelmed.

“What we’re trying to do is get Marines ready because once they get there, they will have other things to think about,” said Capt. James Black, an attorney for the joint legal assistance office at Camp Pendleton for the last two years. “It’s (a will) a good thing to have whether or not you deploy. You don’t know when your time is going to come.

“The family service center here at Camp Pendleton is in charge of support for those deploying as well as their dependents,” said Black. “The family service center calls the legal assistance office and tells them to send an attorney.

“We do wills and powers of attorney, and we talk to them about life insurance and tell them to get their legal affairs in order before they go. The wills are done on a computer and tailored for each individual and will be recognized in all 50 states.”

Although Black would not disclose how many wills and powers of attorney the legal assistance office had completed in the last six months, he did note that “it would be safe to say that there’s been a sharp increase since Desert Shield began.” Half of the completed wills have specified that a survivor have general power of attorney; the other half have given a special power of attorney, Black said.

General power of attorney allows the person named to act on behalf of the serviceperson overseas in all matters, Black said. Most of the Marines being deployed overseas are giving their wives general power of attorney. Most single men give their parents power of attorney.

Special power of attorney gives a survivor power over something specific, like a car or a boat. Many young Marines have so few possessions, Black said, that they don’t need wills or powers of attorney.

Additionally, if both parents are deployed, they usually name grandparents or siblings as guardians of their children, Black said.

Under the 1940 Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Relief Civil Act, anyone on active duty is offered some further protection. Said Black: “The act temporarily suspends all civil legal matters, including divorce, repossessions and property foreclosures. All these may be taken up when they return.”

Reservists such as John Lyons who are called to active duty can get interest payments on credit cards and mortgages reduced to 6%. (But the act doesn’t apply to accounts opened after the date a reservist has been called.)

“The classic example is a doctor in La Jolla who has a beautiful house and was called to active duty,” Black said. “He will now be making about $40,000 a year. That act protects him from losing the house and reduces his mortgage to 6%. Whether his wife can make the payments is speculative.”

Local representatives of the Navy and Army would not comment on legal assistance procedures, but acknowledged that they are swamped with requests for wills.

For now, Joanne Lyons is waiting and cutting back on TV news. She plans to move from Orange County to be closer to family and friends and wait some more--something she said she hates.

Before her husband left, she compiled the love letters she has sent him over the years and gave them to him.

“We’ve been separated a lot during the years,” Joanne Lyons said. “They’re pretty mushy. So that should keep his spirits up.”