Wounded vets asked to return signing bonuses.

[dragon]

Hey, I'm fine with this.


Provided they give the soldiers big-ass payouts for lost limbs like would happen if they lose anything in the workforce. Though I'd honestly still prefer they keep their sign on bonus in addition to getting some pay-off from losing their fucking arm/leg.

Severance pay is based on the precentage of disabality and your remining time in service. Now if the percentage is high enough you receive disability pay that is based on your rank and you also get medical care from the VA. These are usally given in place of the servence pay.

[Alex Moon]

If a soldier is kicked out, the army can demand the remaining portion of their signing bonus back. Things get tricky when it comes to dealing with wounded soldiers, and it's likely that some of them actually were kicked out for various offenses. The others simply were unlucky to be caught in the system. Hopefully, the situation will be corrected without much fuss.

[RogueIce]

Wounded Warriors Entitled to Keep Bonus Payments
Nov 21, 2007
BY J.D. Leipold

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Nov. 21, 2007) – Soldiers who become ill or are wounded while on active duty are entitled to keep all recruitment bonuses due them.

The Army reiterated that policy today, after a Wounded Soldier inadvertently received a letter from the Army that stated he would be required to pay back any enlistment money he received.

“If you are ill or were injured while on duty, the Army will not ask you to repay any portion of your recruitment bonus,” said Brig. Gen. Mike Tucker, assistant surgeon general for Warrior Care and Transition. “This money will stay in the hands of our Soldiers.”

Army policy prohibits what is described as “recoupment” when it would be contrary to equity and good conscience, or would be contrary to the nation’s interests. Those circumstances include, for example, “an inability to complete a service agreement because of illness, injury, disability or other impairment that did not clearly result from misconduct.”

The Army is looking into the specifics behind former Soldier Jordan Fox, who was injured while serving in Iraq. Mr. Fox told news media he had received a letter from the Army stating he would be required to repay a $3,000 enlistment bonus.

The general said Soldiers who have received letters from the Army asking for repayment of a recruitment bonus should contact the Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline to report the issue as soon as possible.

“If there’s a problem, we are going to fix it,” Brig. Gen. Tucker said. “We are committed to honoring our Warriors and Families in transition.”

The hotline is staffed by subject-matter experts 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help speed the resolution of issues pertaining to wounded Soldiers and their Families. Callers will receive responses within 24 hours. For those who reside within the United States, the hotline can be reached at 800-984-8523.

Soldiers and Families may also call from overseas assignments via the Defense Switch Network 312-328-0002 and within the U.S., 328-0002.

The hotline also receives messages via email at: wsfsupport@conus.army.mil.

Dragon's right: they're allowed to keep the money. Apparently this wasn't supposed to happen. So I'm guessing this is a fuckup somewhere along the line.

[dragon]

In an organization the size of the U.S. military/goverment you're going to have mess ups somewhere, I am glad though that this one was caught before to much trouble happened.

[Sephirius]

Wounded Warriors Entitled to Keep Bonus Payments
Nov 21, 2007
BY J.D. Leipold

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Nov. 21, 2007) – Soldiers who become ill or are wounded while on active duty are entitled to keep all recruitment bonuses due them.

The Army reiterated that policy today, after a Wounded Soldier inadvertently received a letter from the Army that stated he would be required to pay back any enlistment money he received.

“If you are ill or were injured while on duty, the Army will not ask you to repay any portion of your recruitment bonus,” said Brig. Gen. Mike Tucker, assistant surgeon general for Warrior Care and Transition. “This money will stay in the hands of our Soldiers.”

Army policy prohibits what is described as “recoupment” when it would be contrary to equity and good conscience, or would be contrary to the nation’s interests. Those circumstances include, for example, “an inability to complete a service agreement because of illness, injury, disability or other impairment that did not clearly result from misconduct.”

The Army is looking into the specifics behind former Soldier Jordan Fox, who was injured while serving in Iraq. Mr. Fox told news media he had received a letter from the Army stating he would be required to repay a $3,000 enlistment bonus.

The general said Soldiers who have received letters from the Army asking for repayment of a recruitment bonus should contact the Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline to report the issue as soon as possible.

“If there’s a problem, we are going to fix it,” Brig. Gen. Tucker said. “We are committed to honoring our Warriors and Families in transition.”

The hotline is staffed by subject-matter experts 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help speed the resolution of issues pertaining to wounded Soldiers and their Families. Callers will receive responses within 24 hours. For those who reside within the United States, the hotline can be reached at 800-984-8523.

Soldiers and Families may also call from overseas assignments via the Defense Switch Network 312-328-0002 and within the U.S., 328-0002.

The hotline also receives messages via email at: wsfsupport@conus.army.mil.

Dragon's right: they're allowed to keep the money. Apparently this wasn't supposed to happen. So I'm guessing this is a fuckup somewhere along the line.

Bullshit, I bet someone thought they could try and make as much money back from those who aren't as smart until someone notices.

[Flagg]

Dragon's right: they're allowed to keep the money. Apparently this wasn't supposed to happen. So I'm guessing this is a fuckup somewhere along the line.

Bullshit, I bet someone thought they could try and make as much money back from those who aren't as smart until someone notices.

Yeah, I don't think it's overly cynical to presume that this was simply a ploy to funnel money into continuing the war. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that it was just a small collection of dipshits who are responsible for it, though.

[CmdrWilkens]

Dragon's right: they're allowed to keep the money. Apparently this wasn't supposed to happen. So I'm guessing this is a fuckup somewhere along the line.

Bullshit, I bet someone thought they could try and make as much money back from those who aren't as smart until someone notices.

Yeah, I don't think it's overly cynical to presume that this was simply a ploy to funnel money into continuing the war. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that it was just a small collection of dipshits who are responsible for it, though.

Honestly speaking while I don't doubt its a possible motive the value of money which could be recouped from every medically terminated enlistment wouldn't fund the war for a day so I don't see it as much more than the normal bureacratic stupidity. I would wager that something on the guy's discharge paperwork got entered into a computer wrong and triggered an automated leter. That's all it would take and its a situation (give the risk/reward for doing this deliberately) where stupidity seems incredibly more likely than malice.

[Flagg]

Bullshit, I bet someone thought they could try and make as much money back from those who aren't as smart until someone notices.

Yeah, I don't think it's overly cynical to presume that this was simply a ploy to funnel money into continuing the war. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that it was just a small collection of dipshits who are responsible for it, though.

Honestly speaking while I don't doubt its a possible motive the value of money which could be recouped from every medically terminated enlistment wouldn't fund the war for a day so I don't see it as much more than the normal bureacratic stupidity. I would wager that something on the guy's discharge paperwork got entered into a computer wrong and triggered an automated leter. That's all it would take and its a situation (give the risk/reward for doing this deliberately) where stupidity seems incredibly more likely than malice.

From what Olbermann was saying the other night, this isn't an isolated thing. In fact IIRC, legislation was already being written to counter it. This one incident just made national news.

[Alex Moon]

From what Olbermann was saying the other night, this isn't an isolated thing. In fact IIRC, legislation was already being written to counter it. This one incident just made national news.

And? Anyone in the military knows how screwed up the pay system can be. They are famous for their ability to suddenly discover that you owe them money. It's just that they usually can garnish your wages because you're still in.

[Flagg]

From what Olbermann was saying the other night, this isn't an isolated thing. In fact IIRC, legislation was already being written to counter it. This one incident just made national news.

And? Anyone in the military knows how screwed up the pay system can be. They are famous for their ability to suddenly discover that you owe them money. It's just that they usually can garnish your wages because you're still in.

I was just saying that from my recolection of the way it sounded on the broadcast of Countdown, it was more than an isolated fuckup. It was enough of an issue for a member of congress to have already drafted legislation opposing it before this incident made national news.

It sounded to me like it was a situation where some beurocrat in the Pentagon thought he was being smart and tried to save money by fucking these injured servicemembers out of their signing bonuses.

[Flagg]

After doing some more checking, the members of congress began talking about legislation after this became national news. So that's my fuckup, there.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Army pay cashiers invented "Red Tape", a refrence to the red ribbons your documents had to be bound in, in order to get your back pay, and disability from the Civil War. which was made to be next to impossible for anyone to claim it.

History is still a disturbing refrence to current history.