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Tuesday, October 25, 2016

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

Short of troops to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan a decade ago, the California National Guard enticed thousands of soldiers with bonuses of $15,000 or more to reenlist and go to war.

Now the Pentagon is demanding the money back.

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.

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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Essentially what happened was, recruiters gave bigger bonuses than allowed, but both the recruiters and the soldiers knew this.

Anonymous said...

These men and women risked their lives each day for this country. . What a disgrace to force them to pay this money back. . .how about asking some of these able bodied mend aND women who receive public assistance to pay that money back...leave the veterans alone. . They deserve every penny first their service especially with the current state of medical care for the veterans

Anonymous said...

Join the Trump Train get Off the Crazy Train (Hillary)

Anonymous said...

They have contracts. The contracts were fulfilled by the military members. The money is theirs. Oversight was missing when the offers were made? Too bad! Eat the mistake and learn from it.

Anonymous said...

If a refund is needed, suck it out of the illegal moneys that are being paid to the illegals.

Trump/Pence 2016

Anonymous said...

It is Only the Higher Ups Fault who Authorized it SO
the Gov't screwed up and should have to Eat it

All the Military is Grossely Underpaid anyway and the Gov't
Owes them Much more than this amount and so does the country

Hold the higher ups Responsible who did it and the Soldiers
should be Able to KEEP Every penny of it Period

Fire the Higher Ups Asses for fkkkkg up for a Change!!!

Anonymous said...

As a private employer try getting your money back from an employee once the check is cashed. Unless fraud was committed you cant do it. SO why can a government threaten people like this to repay money that was doled out under false pretenses?

12:35 it was not just over payments. Many of these people were later discovered to be ineligible which is something that should have been looked at before they gave anyone money. I believe that most of these people acted in good faith. Its not overly dramatic to say they put their lives on the line for that bonus.

LastMohican said...

If I was one of the soldiers that was asked to return a bonus, I would tell them "sure, right after killary gives back all those MILLIONS from foreign gov't's".

Of course we all know that wouldn't fly because there is one set of laws/rules for us and another set of laws/rules for killary.

Anonymous said...

Don't get it if a contract which is a binding legal agreement has been signed by both parties, how could the government legally ask this of those involved. It's like selling a home for $100k to a buyer. Then asking that buyer for more money for it years later cause you made a mistake... that's not how it works.

Concerned Retiree said...

Pentagon should have to eat their screw-up. They want the money back then get it from the ones who screwed -up not the soldiers.

Anonymous said...

Agreed, but thanks for the Trump voters Obama.

Anonymous said...

This is sickening!

Anonymous said...

2 weeks away and its time for a classic Wag the Dog news item. Get the attention off the elections and the audience upset about an injustice to our military members.

The gov't will fix this minor hiccup folks - stay on point!

TRUMP 2016!