Wounded Soldier: Military Wants Part Of Bonus Back

[BEK]

The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.
To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.
Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.
One of them is Jordan Fox, a young soldier from the South Hills.
He finds solace in the hundreds of boxes he loads onto a truck in Carnegie. In each box is a care package that will be sent to a man or woman serving in Iraq. It was in his name Operation Pittsburgh Pride was started.
Fox was seriously injured when a roadside bomb blew up his vehicle. He was knocked unconscious. His back was injured and lost all vision in his right eye.
A few months later Fox was sent home. His injuries prohibited him from fulfilling three months of his commitment. A few days ago, he received a letter from the military demanding nearly $3,000 of his signing bonus back.
"I tried to do my best and serve my country. I was unfortunately hurt in the process. Now they're telling me they want their money back," he explained.
It's a slap for Fox's mother, Susan Wardezak, who met with President Bush in Pittsburgh last May. He thanked her for starting Operation Pittsburgh Pride which has sent approximately 4,000 care packages.
He then sent her a letter expressing his concern over her son's injuries, so she cannot understand the U.S. Government's apparent lack of concern over injuries to countless U.S. Soldiers and demands that they return their bonuses.
While he's unsure of his future, Fox says he's unwavering in his commitment to his country.
"I'd do it all over again... because I'm proud of the discipline that I learned. I'm proud to have done something for my country," he said.
But Fox feels like he's already given enough. He'll never be able to pursue his dream of being a police officer because of his wounds and he can't believe he's being asked to return part of his $10,000 signing bonus.
KDKA contacted Congressman Jason Altmire on his behalf. He says he has proposed a bill that would guarantee soldiers receive full benefit of bonuses.

[lewisipso]

HORSESHIT! What a government. They dangled the carrot and took their chance. People get injured and diabled in a war? Whoda thunk it?

[Ducky]

Agreed, Lew. Uncle Sam wants to cut corners in all areas when it comes to our soldiers, and when those same guys get maimed on his time, he doesn't want to pay even what he promised to.

How about cutting excess government spending instead, rather than stabbing wounded soldiers in the back.

[Ender]

i said this a few days ago on GT, and i'll say it again.

it may be legal, but it sure as shit ain't right.

you sign somebody up, promise a bonus, etc etc.

then you ORDER them into a war zone, and want part of their bonus back because they got disabled in the war zone you ORDERED them to? absolute, no bullshit, fucking crap.

[Mac120]

I bet the turds that want that money back never set foot in a combat zone, pencil pushin cock smokes, all of 'em



-Semper Fi

[Tia]

There’s no way it can surprise anyone who’s been awake for the past fifty years or so.
America’s politicians are adepts in polemics and self-servitude and delusions of grandeur, but they’ve completely lost sight of the Revolution and what this Country is and is about.
NO ONE who understands what America is in Idea and Spirit and all her warriors have ever Stood, Fought & Fallen For, would permit such a ludicrous thought to cross their mind.

This is nothing more than one more testament to how estranged the government is – not only from the people, but even to the Idea of what this Country is and is about.

You do not take from those who have already paid most. You take them up and return all you can.
Jesus. Didn’t they even learn anything from the Reconstruction period politics?
No. They only ‘understood’ the seizure of Federalist power for its-own sake.

This is not the least bit surprising to me.
And not a whit less disgusting in its familiarity.

The same mentality that left our warriors in S.E.A. Who gives a hang? We took all we could from them. Most were conscripts anyway, etc …
Makes me sick …

The government is sound. The politicians are criminals above all statutes.
Thanks very much Mr. Stanton. Bastard primus inter pares.

[gozling]

wow there is something
very wrong with this

[213th]

time for me to go looking for news articles, cause i coulda sworn i saw one a few days ago saying that they reversed on this and won't be collecting

[Ender]

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...126-afps11.htm

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2007 –

If you are wounded in combat and discharged as a result, you will not have to pay back your enlistment bonus, Defense Department officials said here today. “Bonuses are not recouped simply for one's inability to complete an enlistment or re-enlistment agreement through no fault of the military member,” a policy statement said.

Pentagon officials re-stated their policy after a wounded soldier in Pennsylvania received a bill from the Army. Jordan Fox was a private first class in Baqouba, Iraq, when he was wounded in the explosion of an improvised explosive device. Fox suffered vision troubles in his right eye and suffered a back injury when the bomb went off in May.

Fox was medically discharged and went home to his town near Pittsburgh. The Army sent him a letter asking him to repay $2,800 of his $7,500 enlistment bonus. He received a second letter telling him the Army would charge interest if he didn't make a payment within 30 days.

“Department policy prohibits recoupment when it would be contrary to equity and good conscience, or would be contrary to the nation's interests,” according to the Defense Department policy statement. “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.”

Department policy on recoupment also establishes that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the secretaries of the military departments “shall remit or cancel any and all theater debt incurred by military members who were medically evacuated from a combat zone due to injury or illness, except in the event of clear misconduct.”

Army officials said Fox will not be required to pay back any enlistment money he received. “By all accounts, his case seems to be an isolated one,” Army officials said. Anyone who does have an issue can call the Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline at 1-800-984-8523.

----------------------------



now what do you want to bet they fully intended to take the money back, but the public reaction to it changed their minds?

[MacLean]

Always consider the source on these stories.

Who among you would put it past the media to stir up shit against the war by professing how evil we are being to our soldiers?

Oh wait, it happens every day.

[armsmaster270]

Hooray for the good guys That was way beyond fuc--- up.

[ex401mp]

It happened to me after I was discharged due to my injuries received in Mogadishu. The Army advised that I was overpaid my seperation pay and slammed my credit with a $6,000.00 unpaid bill. The bad part was that I was under paid on my seperation pay and this cost me from getting a house loan. I had a state senator contact them after five years of battling them. By the time he was done with them, I not only got that bill removed, but the Army paid me $10,000.00 (plus change), which was what they owed me, plus another $3,000.00 in interest. Sucks that I had to go through that crap though. It took me almost a full year to heal from my injuries, and I still am hard of hearing in my right ear. Now I am fighting to get my disability approved. This will take a while, I am sure.

[Tia]

Always consider the source on these stories.

Always sound advice to heed. Always consider the source of everything.
Especially if one be as jaded as I am and, admittedly, predisposed to think and believe the worst from the Government.
Especially x2 when as cynical with regard to the media.

[GaryArk]

Its easy to assume the worst from this bunch, remember our soldiers going into battle with inadequate armor?

Sometimes I don't know what to believe.

[MacLean]

Its easy to assume the worst from this bunch, remember our soldiers going into battle with inadequate armor?

Sometimes I don't know what to believe.

A HUGE part of that inadequate armor story was bullshit, too - if you are talking about the Dragonskin debacle.

The military is a machine, and a slow one - but ours actually works pretty well regardless of who's in the oval office.

[GaryArk]

A HUGE part of that inadequate armor story was bullshit, too - if you are talking about the Dragonskin debacle.

The military is a machine, and a slow one - but ours actually works pretty well regardless of who's in the oval office.

What I was thinking about was the HumVee door armor thing. I've seen demos of the ceramic plate armor that our guys currently use - very cool stuff!