G.L. Man says Iraq Duty Cost Him Custody of Son
By Stacey Range
Lansing State Journal

Army National Guard Spc. Joe McNeilly hasn't been the same since he returned from Iraq in March.

But it's not flashbacks to explosions and injured soldiers that haunt him most. It's that he lost shared custody of his 10-year-old son while he was serving his country.

"You want to make a soldier cry, you take his son away," McNeilly, 33, of Grand Ledge, said last week as he blinked back tears. "It's devastating."

McNeilly believes he lost custody of Joey because he was in Iraq for 15 months.

There's debate over whether that's true.

Joey's mother, her lawyer and the Ingham County Friend of the Court say McNeilly lost custody because of his parenting skills, not his deployment.

But others, including guard officials and one state lawmaker, disagree.

"He would still have his son if he hadn't been deployed," said Maj. Dawn Dancer, public affairs officer for the Michigan National Guard.

The case is among the latest - and some say most disturbing - in a national trend of custody battles in which soldiers say they are being punished by family courts because they were called to duty.

And it's prompted state Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, to begin work on legislation aimed at barring courts from using soldiers' absences for active duty against them in custody hearings. Jones hopes to introduce his bill as early as Wednesday.

"This man went and served his country and in return had his rights trampled," Jones said.
"He should be praised, not punished."