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Obama to Pentagon: Stop Asking California Soldiers to Repay Bonuses

Copyright: woodkern / 123RF Stock Photo
Obama to Pentagon: Stop Asking California Soldiers to Repay Bonuses
Bernadine Racoma

Many soldiers in all the states of the U.S. were erroneously given reenlistment bonuses. It occurred around the mid-2000s at the time when the defense force was struggling to fill the need due to the overseas wars in the Middle East. Most of the soldiers who responded to the call reside in California.

A federal investigation in 2010 brought the problem to light. The auditors from California started a payroll review and began to request refunds from veterans and soldiers who were issued the bonuses even if they were not yet qualified to receive them during that time.

While the payback requests were ongoing, officials of the California Guard informed Congress about the problem and suggested that a legislation be passed to stop the request but there was no action from the lawmakers.

Thousands of soldiers affected

It’s been two years now since California-based soldiers started requesting their representatives in Congress to do something about the issue but nothing has been done. Out of the more than 10,000 soldiers who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, 9,700 were from California. Each of them is now required to repay about $15,000 in bonuses. Those unable to return the bonus are subject to wage deductions, tax liens and interest charges. While they can make an appeal, there are no guarantees that they will win. At the same time, the process will take a very long time.

In the rush to fill the demand for soldiers, overzealous recruiters spent around $70 million so that their quotas could be filled. This is the amount that Pentagon wants returned.

Many argue that the soldiers who put their lives and limbs on the line to serve the overseas interests of the U.S. definitely earned those bonuses. However, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service are saying that errors in accounting caused the improper payments or that the soldiers were not entitled to receive those bonuses, even if many of the soldiers went on multiple tours of duty.

Halt the payback request

President Obama told Pentagon to stop requesting the soldiers to pay back the bonuses. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in a statement on Wednesday, they must not hold the soldiers unfairly responsible for fraud or unethical conduct pulled by someone else. While the Obama administration wants to fast track the investigation, it still wants to recoup the money that was lost somehow.

Founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Paul Rieckhoff welcomed the news but he says more should be done. Veterans who honorably served now face financial difficulty. The payback requests are halted but their urgent needs are still not addressed. They have to wait for the results of the investigation in 2017. Pentagon should be paying back these soldiers with interest instead.

About $11 million a day is spent by the government in the war against ISIS/ISIL. With an annual military budget of about $600 billion, the Pentagon, over the past few decades, has lost around $8 trillion. Rieckhoff said that the Pentagon can afford to give that $70 million to those men and women in the armed forces who bravely defended the U.S. and the country’s overseas interests. It is a small sum compared to the amount spent on research, development and manufacture of the defective F-35 joint-strike fighter jet, a very problematic project that costs $400 billion, the most expensive project the Pentagon has undertaken so far.

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