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Wednesday, November 21, 2007
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Are You Kidding Me?!

I heard about this while I was accidentally watching the first few minutes of the O'Reilly Factor:

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.
...
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.

Of course, the reason they can't finish their commitments is because they were wounded in battle!  So Uncle Sam is now saying, "thanks for serving your nation, sorry about your back and eyes, now where's my money?"  This policy needs to be reversed ASAP.  It's disgusting, and an insult to those who have served honorably and sacrificed for everyone.

# Posted at 8:43 AM by Nick  |  Comment Feed Link 4 Comments  |  No Trackbacks

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Wednesday, November 21, 2007 11:02:30 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
It would be interesting to see what the contracts say that they signed when they received their signing bonus. I wonder if it stated right in there that they'd have to give it back if they were unable to fulfill their contracts.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 1:04:53 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
This just seems so ridiculous that I'm wondering if it might be the result of a clerical error or mis-programmed automation. For instance, maybe their system just kicks out all the names of soldiers who didn't fulfill the commitment without regard for why they didn't.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 1:25:12 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
That could be. It would certainly keep in line with the usual ineptness of the government to do anything reasonably sane.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 1:29:31 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
I certainly hope that's all it is Casper. Knowing computer systems as we both do, it wouldn't surprise me. But then, when you hear things like "The Pentagon refused to comment"... it doesn't sound good. If it was a computer glitch, then you come out and say it... apologize to the solider, and tell him that they'll work around it. You don't stonewall.
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