Posted on 01/15/2012 2:28:02 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
I’ve heard this happening to a few service members over the last several years. Horrible thing, losing all of that family history. One case I read about, they were able to get some things returned - family photos and a few other things.
Wisconsin Military Storage Tragedy Ping
Please, good people. If you bought a piece of this lady’s life at a West Bend garage sale, please contact her and give it back. I don’t care how much you love it, or what you paid, just give it back. Her son’s military sword should have his name on it. Likewise the family Bible.
This lady has been serving our country and this insult never should have happened.
We went to Okinawa during Nam and stored a house full of furniture, big appliances etc
No problems
Our things were in good shape 3 years later..
We were USAF though
happened to my daughter when she was on WESPAC a few years ago
Am i misunderstanding the story? Shouldn’t the navy be on the hook as well?
He arrived at the airport in Miami and we led him to the parking lot where our grandfather was waiting with a brand new Ducati.
So...............
I worked with a guy who left east coast and came to Germany. He stored (at AF expense) over 10k pounds of household stuff. No issues. At the end of three years...he was offered another assignment (totally separate deal) for four years, which was on the same base, and he accepted. So he comes to the end of seven years on this base and is calling up this storage company. At the end of the first assignment, he was supposed to call up the company and give them another copy of his orders, or deliver to assets somewhere. He hadn’t done this. So they had sold off everything. He tried to get compensated by the Air Force for this...but they told him that it was part of his process for the second orders, that he was personally responsible for, so they paid nothing.
Every one who handled it should be on the hook. The problem as far as correction is all the ones involved were likely civilian employees or contractors. Meaning if they screw up not much happens unless they own the company.
I can not believe the storage company did not know about the legalities involved though. Any company doing business either with service members or those contracted for such by the military on their behalf knows about the sermembers civil relief act. It seems the Commander made it an issue which is great. Their needs too be accountability and immediate correction.
Yes
while we were in Okinawa the oppotunity to be stationed next in Hawaii occurred (Hickam)
We would have had to do new paperwork for our stored stuff if we had gone to Hawaii (another overseas assignment) instead of returning to the US mainland at the original expected time...
That was standard proceedure...
you secured your stored belongings..
I can’t really blame the storage company. They make their money by renting space and when somebody stops paying rent, the storage company has to do something about that stuff. They did take the extra step to phone the military about it and didn’t just arbitrarily auction it.
I also can’t really blame the military. It’s not their stuff and the military has made it clear that you are responsible for your possessions.
If I were in that situation, I’d probably have somebody I could trust, like a relative, look after these matters and let the storage company know who to contact over these things.
Love the tag line!
“Navy officials stopped paying for her storage in 2010 and told the West Bend company it could sell off the goods - though the Navy bureaucrats and even the storage business could have easily learned that Roberts was deployed and protected from such an action.”
The navy itself set this in motion. This is awful. The military owns plenty of land. Storage should be handled in house and not out.
Schloemer said that within a few weeks of the problem's discovery, two people who worked at Great Lakes' Personal Property Office retired, and within a couple of months, the whole operation was closed and transferred to Norfolk, Va.
Whoa, Ducati! Outfriggingstanding.
I never owned anything more than I could pack in my duffle and awol bag.
I agree and don’t understand why a relative and/or friend was not in charge and/or at least listed as a contact. Suppose something happened. No one would know about the goods??
I know of somewhat similar cases where service people leave their goods in storage under a spouses or friend’s name.
Girlfriend doesn’t want to be girlfriend anymore and quits paying the storage bill. How’s the guy to know since the unit is in her name?
He comes home, no girlfriend, no nothing. Now that would fry your bacon.
That was the first bike I ever rode on. Didn’t know it was such a big deal until I told a friend. Guess it was a real rare baby besides. The guy did restoration work.
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