News Thousands Of Soldiers Forced To Repay Enlistment Bonuses A Decade After War.

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Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses a decade after going to war


http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-national-guard-bonus-20161020-snap-story.html

“These bonuses were used to keep people in,” said Christopher Van Meter, a 42-year-old former Army captain and Iraq veteran from Manteca, Calif., who says he refinanced his home mortgage to repay $25,000 in reenlistment bonuses and $21,000 in student loan repayments that the Army says he should not have received. “People like me just got screwed.”

In Iraq, Van Meter was thrown from an armored vehicle turret — and later awarded a Purple Heart for his combat injuries — after the vehicle detonated a buried roadside bomb."

...."Richmond conducted hundreds of missions against insurgents over the next year. In one, a roadside bomb exploded by his vehicle, knocking him out and leaving him with permanent back and brain injuries.

He was stunned to receive a letter from California Guard headquarters in 2014 telling him to repay the $15,000 and warning he faced “debt collection action” if he failed to comply.

Richmond should not have received the money, they argued, because he already had served 20 years in the Army in 2006, making him ineligible."

.....“It’s a legal foot-dragging process to wear people out and make people go away,” said Strother. “It’s overwhelming for most soldiers.”

Indeed, some have just given up, repaying the money even before exhausting their appeals.

“It was tearing me up, the stress, the headaches,” said Van Meter, the former Army captain from Manteca who paid off his $46,000 debt by refinancing his mortgage. “I couldn’t take it anymore. The amount of stress it put us through financially and emotionally was something we wanted to move past.”

Source: above noted

 

[Friday]

Situation Normal. All f*cked Up.

They were trying to avoid a draft, and came up with or started using (again) RE-enlistment bonuses, Stop Loss, and dozens of other smaller schemes... And now some bean counter is throwing their weight around looking for every legal loophole they can to get around keeping their end of the bargain. Yay American politics. BOHICA.

 

[hodge]

Holy crap! This is outrageous!!

 

[Iamsensative]

This is crazy!

 

[hodge]

I bet if we all paid a measly $5 more in income tax, that would cover these debts. I for one am more than willing to do that for these guys. Where do we sign up?

 

[Gs172003]

Situation Normal. All f*cked Up.

They were trying to avoid a draft, and came up with or started using...

Screw. That.

 

[Gs172003]

When people quit joining because they are sick of this kind of crap we're screwed.

 

[Stickler]

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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.

Apparently, the guard officials allowed improper payments, and the soldiers are being ordered to repay them, a decade later.

This is totally wrong, and I am outraged.

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I'd personally appreciate it if you'd pass word of this petition around, as forcing the individual soldiers to repay the improper payments needs to stop.

Moderator edit to add: This link (by @lostforgottensoul) is a petition for the same issue, but it's further along in signatures. It must make 100,000 signatures to move forward - so, consider signing this one as well: Link Removed

 

[Cornnuts]

just signed it! it's crap

 

[EveHarrington]

Gee, if they reenlisted and are no longer with us, are these blood suckers going after the families?!? This is just totally ridiculous. I'd like to know what legal loophole allows this!

 

[Cornnuts]

Gee, if they reenlisted and are no longer with us, are these blood suckers going after the famili...

I read some people have had to leave the state or refinance homes in order to pay back... people's lives are being completely rearranged and destroyed because of this.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

This is a different petition but it looks like if is for the same issue? If not, it's another demand to re-pay:

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