Lawmakers Come To The Aid Of Soldiers Being Forced To Pay Back Their Bonuses
[guest post by Dana]
Yesterday I told you about how, as a result of a military screw-up, nearly 10,000 California National Guard soldiers who accepted signing bonuses a decade ago when there was a shortage of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, are now being forced by the Pentagon to pay back the enlistment bonuses.
It’s an outrageous story, and infuriating as hell that many combat veterans would be told they have to pay back money that the government gave them if they went and fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Well after the story drew lots of media attention, California lawmakers are now as outraged as the public. On my way home from work tonight, I heard Rep. Darrell Issa speak about the issue on a local radio show. He said that this demand for soldiers to pay back the bonuses will not only be stopped, but lawmakers will also be making sure that any soldier who has paid back the bonus in part, or in full, will be getting their money back. He sounded quite convincing. And he has already taken steps to stop the madness:
Further, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy called the practice “disgraceful,” and promised a full investigation:
“The Department of Defense should waive these repayments, and I will be requesting a full brief from Army and National Guard leadership,” McCarthy said in a statement. “The House will investigate these reports to ensure our soldiers are fully honored for their service.
“Our military heroes should not shoulder the burden of military recruiters’ faults from over a decade ago,” McCarthy said. “They should not owe for what was promised during a difficult time in our country.”
Democrats were also appalled:
“These service members — many of whom were sent into combat — are now being forced to make difficult and painful decisions to pay back thousands of dollars they never knew they owed,” said Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside), a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. “The solution to this ridiculous situation is an act of Congress.”
“I am appalled by the California National Guard’s effort to claw back bonuses and benefits improperly paid to service members 10 years ago,” Takano added.
As a reminder, there are several whitehouse.gov petitions that you can sign here and here.
I hope everyone contacts their Congressmen and women, and keeps the pressure on them to do right by these brave men and women, many who have been permanently injured in service to their country. I’m afraid if there isn’t constant pressure from the public, lawmakers may stop the collections but not restore the thousands of dollars veterans have already paid.
Oh, and for the record, President Obama, who is in California today and tomorrow to speak at a $100,000-per-person fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, as well as make an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, hasn’t said boo about this situation because, you know, Hollywood...
–Dana
I am hopeful lawmakers will follow through with this, and restore any and all bonuses back to the soldiers.
Dana (d17a61) — 10/24/2016 @ 6:05 pmThis only happened in California? Why? Was this a bonus offered by the state and if so what has the SecDef got to do with it?
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 10/24/2016 @ 6:27 pm.President Obama
Kishnevi (b58549) — 10/24/2016 @ 6:28 pmHe won’t know anything until he reads the LATimes. Have they run a story yet?
Never mind the business about heroes, patriots, wounded in action, and all that.
Eric Wilner (3936fd) — 10/24/2016 @ 6:55 pmThese people were offered a Deal by the government. They accepted it in good faith, and carried out their end of the bargain.
Now, long after the fact, the government has reneged on the Deal, and is demanding its money back. No due process of law; not even an assertion that those from whom repayment is demanded have done anything wrong.
That ain’t right, no matter who the targets of the claw-back are.
As I understand it, Hoagie, crooked California National Guard recruiters took federal money and illegally paid enlistment bonuses to California National Guardsmen in order to supply troops for the Shrub’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and meet their recruitment quotas. My surmise is that the money was federal money because the National Guardsmen were being mobilized as part of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Now, the right way to do this is to make the State of California pay back the stolen money to the federal government since it was their agents, California NG recruiters, who misappropriated it. But good luck with that.
nk (dbc370) — 10/24/2016 @ 7:12 pmActually, the rightest way to do this is to dump the stupid Abrams system of having the bulk of America’s cannon fodder in the National Guard and reserves and go back to a professional standing army of full-time soldiers.
nk (dbc370) — 10/24/2016 @ 7:24 pmwell that’s one way of looking at it, the other is kicking our once and future soldiers in the face,
narciso (d1f714) — 10/24/2016 @ 7:29 pmWhat I remember most about these National Guard and Reserve mobilizations under Bush is the National Guardsmen and Reservists protesting: “You mean we’re going to have to go and actually fight? I didn’t know I had signed up for that.” Which might explain the “necessity” of the enlistment bonuses.
nk (dbc370) — 10/24/2016 @ 7:31 pmwell they saw some pretty heavy action in places like ramadi, with the 124th, who managed to pacify that capital of anbar, for a year,
narciso (d1f714) — 10/24/2016 @ 7:33 pmWell, yeah, it’s bad policy and bad politics to go after the soldiers for the money. After all, they kept their end of the bargain.
nk (dbc370) — 10/24/2016 @ 7:34 pmI agree with Dana on that.
nk (dbc370) — 10/24/2016 @ 7:35 pmIf it is California’s problem then I find it silly that the federal government, which grabs 3 trillion a year in taxes off 140 million Americans can’t grab every dime of California’s money just like they’d do ours if we did something illegal. I call bull crap. You wanna get Cali’s attention? Seize their employee payroll account. The unions will have those soldiers paid before the banks close for the day.
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 10/24/2016 @ 7:49 pmWhat is interesting is that nobody involved thought there’d be a problem with the optics.
Richard Aubrey (472a6f) — 10/24/2016 @ 8:14 pmWTF?
they hate active reserve, and everything in between, did you not hear the catcalls at the convention?
narciso (d1f714) — 10/24/2016 @ 8:15 pmOh, yeah. Heard from the spouse of a Florida Guardsman in Astan. They didn’t get absentee ballots because they’d be home in time to vote. Only it looks as if they won’t be. Home in time to vote.
Richard Aubrey (472a6f) — 10/24/2016 @ 8:16 pmWhat happens if maybe twice as many military votes are in the shredder as in 2000?
We need a Bonus Army that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as de-funded…
Pinandpuller (4aea77) — 10/24/2016 @ 8:22 pmBarack’s going to get to the bottom of this like he got to the bottom of the VA scandals.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 10/24/2016 @ 8:38 pmHe loves the troops — especially the corpsemen!
it’s not really a surprise, as matthews put it ‘they are on the other side’ he has said that armies and navies don’t have a major place in determining historical events,
narciso (d1f714) — 10/24/2016 @ 8:40 pmRope. Tar. Feathers. Lamp-posts.
Fred Z (b0a041) — 10/24/2016 @ 9:32 pmhere’s another example,
http://www.weeklystandard.com/washington-post-tells-readers-to-ignore-the-inconvenient-facts-of-the-iran-deal/article/2005048
narciso (d1f714) — 10/24/2016 @ 9:49 pmHoagie, the National Guard and the Reserves are funded by the Defense Department. This year, the Army budget for active personnel is $40.9 Billion (460,000 soldiers), National Guard $8.0 Billion (335,000 soldiers), and Reserves $4.6 Billion (195,000 soldiers). The National Guard is organized by state, but the Army has been using them rather freely in overseas missions, at least here in Washington State.
And the perpetrators of the unauthorized enlistment bonuses are surely of flag rank in the Pentagon. We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorized expenditures over a period of years, and these can’t happen without someone in authority knowing about it.
BobStewartatHome (a52abe) — 10/25/2016 @ 2:30 amThink of all the money this Cash-For-Clunkers Administration has blown. But they got to go after underpaid soldiers because they hate them.
AZ Bob (f7a491) — 10/25/2016 @ 7:18 amThe NYTimes reports that Paul Ryan is on board this train now, too.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 10/25/2016 @ 12:46 pm