Well, to keep as many Nation Guard soldiers as we could the military started offering signing bonuses left and right. Only...not so much.
Nearly 10,000 soldiers, many of whom served multiple combat tours, have been ordered to repay large enlistment bonuses — and slapped with interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens if they refuse — after audits revealed widespread overpayments by the California Guard at the height of the wars last decade.
Investigations have determined that lack of oversight allowed for widespread fraud and mismanagement by California Guard officials under pressure to meet enlistment targets.
Good times. Over ten years later, after having accepted the terms and doing the time fighting a war they shouldn't have had to, someone figured out that someone fucked up and now the soldiers have to give the money back.
Like almost anything, there's no mustache twirling villain who thinks this is a good idea, instead a massive unmoving bureaucracy.
Even Guard officials concede that taking back the money from military veterans is distasteful.
“At the end of the day, the soldiers ended up paying the largest price,” said Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, deputy commander of the California Guard. “We’d be more than happy to absolve these people of their debts. We just can’t do it. We’d be breaking the law.”
...
Though they cannot waive the debts, California Guard officials say they are helping soldiers and veterans file appeals with the National Guard Bureau and the Army Board for Correction of Military Records, which can wipe out the debts.
But soldiers say it is a long, frustrating process, with no guarantee of success.
Well...and shame on the article being shy on the details here, maybe the National Guard Bureau...
In 2010, after reports surfaced of improper payments, a federal investigation found that thousands of bonuses and student loan payments were given to California Guard soldiers who did not qualify for them, or were approved despite paperwork errors.
Army Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe, the California Guard’s incentive manager, pleaded guilty in 2011 to filing false claims of $15.2 million and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Three officers also pleaded guilty to fraud and were put on probation after paying restitution.
Instead of forgiving the improper bonuses, the California Guard assigned 42 auditors to comb through paperwork for bonuses and other incentive payments given to 14,000 soldiers, a process that was finally completed last month.
Roughly 9,700 current and retired soldiers have been told by the California Guard to repay some or all of their bonuses and the recoupment effort has recovered more than $22 million so far.
Retired Commander Francis McVey of the US Navy makes a good point...
“It certainly hurts the credibility going forward if we can’t depend on the promises that were made to us when we volunteered to put our life on the line,”
There are two ways out of this. There's legislation-
The California National Guard believe it is under fire and it also looking for legislative help. A spokesperson wrote, “The California National Guard does not have the authority to unilaterally waive these debts., However, the California National Guard welcomes any law passed by Congress to waive these debts.”
But in order for that to happen, congressional 'support our troops' would have to against practice actually be support for troops instead of just meaning 'stop criticizing foreign policy you liberal pussy'. Or a bill to relieve this debt will be tied to repealing Obamacare and defunding ACORN just for nostalgia.
And then there's the natural class action lawsuit, better explained by the Snopes article on the LA Times article...
The Guard has reportedly recovered nearly $22 million in bonuses. However, a federal court could put a stop to the collection efforts by January 2017, when it rules on a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Sgt. 1st Class Bryan Strother.
Strother filed the suit after a dispute with the Guard over $25,010.32 in bonuses, saying the organization conned him (and other members) into re-enlisting using the promise of bonuses. The suit calls for an injunction stopping future collection efforts and for bonus money that has already been recovered to be returned.
However, federal officials have filed a motion to dismiss Strother's suit, arguing that it was rendered moot when the Pentagon Defense Legal Services Agency ruled that Strother did not have to repay his bonus.
Strother's lawsuit is appropriately complicated-
Shortly after signing his re-enlistment contract in 2006, Strother says he was sent to Iraq and finished out the terms of his deal with honor and even appeared on a National Guard magazine. Three years later the government sent him a letter saying he shouldn't have received an enlistment bonus because he changed his military occupational specialty while serving in Iraq.
Strother says his military record shows he didn't change his classification and regardless, the statute of limitations on his bonus expired years ago. He says defendants are attempting to recoup bonuses from more than 16,000 soldiers in similar positions.
The class of veterans claims the National Guard and defendant the Department of Defense are notorious for failing to keep proper records and are known to "plug in to documents whatever they wish."
"Plaintiffs do not owe any monies to the California Army National Guard because the running of the statute of limitations makes the matter moot," the complaint states.
In the 20-page complaint, Strother says he wasn't allowed to contest the recoupment letter despite providing defendants records proving he didn't change his military occupational specialty.
"The refusal to acknowledge plaintiff Sgt. Bryan James Strother did not change his military occupational specialty is either intentional or shows a complete lack of understanding by the Department of Defense," the complaint states.
Neither the Defense Department nor Strother's attorney returned phone calls requesting comment Friday afternoon.
According to the complaint, the United States Department of Defense has mismanaged $8.5 trillion and that it uses computer software dating back to 1959. The "archaic accounting systems" helped contribute to defendants' decision to recoup bonuses from veterans.
As a snide aside, I can't get software from five years ago to work properly on my computer, so that last bit is kind of impressive. Where are they getting computers with punchcard drives?
So. Soldiers are still paying the price of the excesses of war ten years ago.
Which remedy is best? Which iceberg in the glacier drag race of bureaucracy will crash awkwardly on the solution first, the courts or the legislature? Who really should be on the hook for these payments? See, question marks. It's legit. Pitchforks and torches are $5 a piece, lines form in the back.
