Of all the shitty things this nation has done to it’s military families over the 13 years since we invaded Iraq in March of 2003, this one has got to be right at the top of the list.
I caught a tweet regarding this story out of the L.A. Times tonight, by David S Cloud: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses a decade after going to war
Do you remember when you first learned about the Stop-Loss program, which forced active duty military to involuntarily extend their enlistment? That was outrageous.
But this? I’m outraged at a level 15 on a scale of 10.
So when the Stop-Loss program kept thousands of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines in or recalled to Active Duty to fight the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars wasn’t enough; when our Military needed more bodies to throw into the grinder — they started sending American National Guard members to War.
Yeah, the people Americans needed at home to respond to emergencies and disasters, to help Americans survive such things. These folks got shipped over seas to fight alongside their brothers and sisters in Uniform.
When THAT wasn’t good enough, what did the Military do?
They offered HUGE bonuses, up to $15,000 to National Guard active or reserve members to re-enlist into the active Military and go back the War front. Thousands of people in California took up this challenge and did exactly that. Left their families and their jobs and their lives and went to War. Again. Some of them for multiple Tours of Duty.
Now? Because of some mistake on the part of bean counters, these people are being told they need to PAY THAT MONEY BACK.
“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.
Susan Haley, a Los Angeles native and former Army master sergeant who deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, said she sends the Pentagon $650 a month — a quarter of her family’s income — to pay down $20,500 in bonuses that the Guard says were given to her improperly.
“I feel totally betrayed,” said Haley, 47, who served 26 years in the Army along with her husband and oldest son, a medic who lost a leg in combat in Afghanistan.
I’ve had enough of this shit.
These people didn’t make the decision to start those Wars, but they put their lives at risk to fight them.
If they were overpaid for re-enlisting, more than they were promised? IT WASN’T NEARLY ENOUGH.
Please join me in telling President Obama to put a stop to this, as Commander in Chief, he clearly has the authority to stop it.
That is all.