Pub. L. 84-569, tit. I, sec. 102

Sec. 102. (a) As used in this Act— (1) The term “uniformed services” means the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, the Commissioned Corps of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service. (2) The term “member of a uniformed service” means a person appointed, enlisted, inducted or called, ordered or conscripted in a uniformed service who is serving on active duty or active duty for training pursuant to a call or order that does not specify a period of thirty days or less. (3) The term “retired member of a uniformed service” means a member or former member of a uniformed service who is entitled to retired, retirement, or retainer pay or equivalent pay as a result of service in a uniformed service, other than a member or former member entitled to retired or retirement pay under title III of the Army and Air Force Vitalization and Retirement Equalization Act of 1948 who has served less than eight years of active duty as defined in section 101 (b) of the Armed Forces Reserve Act of 1952. (4) The term “dependent” means any person who bears to a member or retired member of a uniformed service, or to a person who died while a member or retired member of a uniformed service, any of the following relationships— (A) the lawful wife; (B) the unremarried widow; (C) the lawful husband, if he is in fact dependent on the member or retired member for over one-half of his support; (D) the unremarried widower, if he was in fact dependent upon the member or retired member at the time of her death for over one-half of his support because of a mental or physical incapacity; (E) an unmarried legitimate child (including an adopted child or stepchild), if such child has not passed his twenty-first birthday; (F) a parent or parent-in-law, if the said parent or parent-in-law is, or was at the time of the member’s or retired member’s death, in fact dependent on the said member or retired member for over one-half of his support and is, or was at the time of the member’s or retired member’s death, actually residing in the household of the said member or retired member; or (G) an unmarried legitimate child (including an adopted child or stepchild) who (i) has passed his twenty-first birthday, if the child is incapable of self-support because of a mental or physical incapacity that existed prior to his reaching the age of twenty-one and is, or was at the time of the member’s or retired 70 Stat. 251 member’s death, in fact dependent on him for over one-half of his support, or (ii) has not passed his twenty-third birthday and is enrolled in a full-time course of study in an institution of higher learning as approved by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and is, or was at the time of the member’s or the retired member’s death, in fact dependent on him for over one-half of his support. (b) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall administer this Act for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps and for the Coast Guard when it is operating as a service in the Navy, and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall administer it for the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Public Health Service, and for the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy.