Posted on 10/22/2016 7:15:19 PM PDT by Chode
Thousands in California, many of whom served in Iraq and Afghanistan, called on to return enlistment bonuses amid reported ‘widespread overpayments’
Thousands of soldiers in the California national guard, many of whom served active duty tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, are being asked to pay back large enlistment bonuses they received as much as 12 years ago.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday that nearly 10,000 soldiers may be affected by the demands, after audits “revealed widespread overpayments by the California guard at the height of the wars last decade”.
Christopher Van Meter, a 42-year-old former army captain and Iraq veteran, told the Times he refinanced his home to pay $46,000 in bonus money and student loans which the army said he never should have received.
“These bonuses were used to keep people in,” Van Meter told the paper. “People like me just got screwed.”
In the mid-2000s, as wars continued in Afghanistan and Iraq, military officials throughout the US felt pressure to boost enrollment. At the peak of the simultaneous offensives, generous enlistment bonuses were one of the ways officials tried to solve the problem.
Overpayments occurred in every state during this period, according to the National Guard Bureau, the Pentagon agency that oversees state guard organizations. But payments were especially unwieldy in California, which is home to the country’s second-largest state guard.
In 2012, a former bonus and incentive manager for the California national guard, retired master sergeant Toni Jaffe, was jailed for 30 months for filing false claims.
In her guilty plea, the US attorney’s office for the central district of California said, Jaffe “admitted that she submitted claims to pay bonuses to members of the California national guard whom she knew were not eligible to receive the bonuses and to pay off officer’s loans, even though she knew the officers were ineligible for loan repayment”.
Rather than forgive the loans, the California state government embarked on an audit of more than 17,000 soldiers who received a combined 25,000 disbursements worth about $100m.
The audit process concluded last month, with roughly 9,700 current and retired soldiers having been told to repay some or all of their bonuses. The state has recovered more than $22m so far, the LA Times reported, but collections are likely to continue for several years.
In a class action suit filed in February, one of the affected guardsmen calls the affected soldiers “victims of one of the most egregious mass frauds in US military history”.
The plaintiff, Bryan Strother, alleges that the payments were laid out in binding contracts and that the statute of limitations for the state has long passed.
Strother has asked for all the money collected to be paid back, and for an injunction against the state collecting any more. The case is in federal court and a ruling is expected in January.
Even state guard officials acknowledged to the Times that the attempt to collect was unfair.
“At the end of the day, the soldiers ended up paying the largest price,” Maj Gen Matthew Beevers, deputy commander of the California guard, told the Times. “We’d be more than happy to absolve these people of their debts.
“We just can’t do it. We’d be breaking the law.”
Not arguing with you, just them.
Whatever the contract says is what is required. If the contract doesn’t say what you meant for it to say, too bad.
But when they received the extra bonus payments, they didn’t think there was anything strange or worth reporting? I imagine I’d recognize that receiving $20K when I’d been promised $10K was off a bit. No one reported their overpayment>
damn... i even did a search on National Guard but came up blank, was it under a different name?
at least you got it out twice, thx
They are vastly underpaid for what they do for us.
A young relative of mine served as a Marine, got out last year and had nearly nothing to his name, got acute appendicitis, and lost all his savings and more to pay the doctors for saving his life. This was mere months after his enlistment. Now, why can’t We The People, give our veterans free healthcare? Great free healthcare, not the crap they get now. This young marine took a huge hit financially after this incident and had to return to his family, unable to afford his own rent anymore.
Trump will treat our troops and veterans with the respect they deserve.
They have our eternal gratitude. They should be paid very well for what they do. They are our best and bravest and brightest.
It pains me my cousin served so well, yet had not a penny left after his emergency operation and had to return to his parents.
And yet, Illegals can claim an earned tax credit for 9 kids in Mexico, without proof, receive thousands of dollars, and nothing is done from our corrupt government.
One hand washes the other. They kiss up to their supporters. Didn’t fail ME.
Oooooh, it looks like a shake up is on the horizon
If the promise and what was delivered diverged, I’d have to ask how.
Would there not be checks cut to particular parties for particular purposes — and one would have to file forms asking for them? Unless the beneficiary purposely claimed an amount too large, but there shouldn’t be any way for him to know that it would be honored rather than (at best) running into red tape and delay and the need to refile all over again.
I just recall that back in the mid aughts one of my sons signed up for the Army (not the Guard), and there were significant bonuses offered, depending on what MOS the recruit chose. Memory is that they ranged from $10K to $50K, and would be paid out (again as I recall) half at the halfway point of the term of service and the balance upon completion of the four years. If I were one of those recruits I would know full well what the amount offered was and what I collected.
But, the MSM will not cover this story. I saw it on Drudge, but CNN viewers or CBS News listeners or NY Times readers will not see it, certainly not before Nov. 8.
I’d certainly think that some people would ask whether this was real, if that was what happened. It would be like an egregious IRS refund error, most would know enough to not spend it all. But even ONE such soul should have resulted in the problem being investigated years, years ago.
But more and more people are looking at alternative reporting, having already discovered that CNN etc. are giving them warped, biased, and even lying coverage.
Good point.
I think there is an outside chance Trump himself might talk about it.
That is my hope, anyway.
/s
There is something wrong with this story (other than the obvious). An E8 goes to jail and ordered to repay 15M, but skimming the story, I see no word on her commanding officer(s) going to jail? Someone signed off on her NCOER every year.
No worries bro.
would you put me in your ping list?
government employees can have their student loan debt forgiven. just sayin’.
Good luck government.
i think i see part of the problem here
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