Thousands of Veterans Forced to Repay Enlistment Bonuses CPT (r) Tyler Merritt October 24, 2016 Veteran Inspired 8 In the military, we’re regularly asked to perform tasks that endanger our personal safety, our future and even our basic sanity. We’re asked to spend long periods of time away from the family, often in rough and war-torn areas of the world. That’s what goes into the forming public outcry over the LA Times’ revelation this past week about the Pentagon’s forcing soldiers to repay enlistment bonuses that were, apparently, not supposed to be paid out. The Issue at Hand There are a lot of factors which go into this. The LA Times focuses the article on California soldiers simply because the size of the California National Guard is extensive, being the second largest in the country and has historically had a greater relative problem of paying out incentive programs to soldiers who didn’t qualify. In 2011, there was a federal investigation into the incentive programs and one California Guardsman, MSG Toni Jaffe, who served as the California Guard’s Bonus and Incentive Manager. She was convicted of making false claims against the United States, sentenced to both 30 months in a federal penitentiary and a fine of $15.2 million for authorizing bonus and student loan forgiveness payouts that the soldiers in question were not authorized to receive. During the height of the Global War on Terror, there were several incentive programs put into place in order to recruit new soldiers that were badly needed — especially into the Army National Guard, a state-funded, federally trained reserve component in which thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have served. If it were a matter of individual criminality, it might be easier, but many prospective recruits were mislead. Now, the Pentagon is looking to recover those funds and is employing some unsavory tactics to that end. Many soldiers have been sent threatening letters indicating that they have been sent to collections should they be unable to pay. The Human Cost The LA Times interviewed several officer and enlisted personnel whose lives were being upended by this action. One former Captain and Purple Heart recipient, Christopher Van Meter, noted that “people like me just got screwed.” He is having to refinance his home in order to pay back bonuses and student loan repayment that the National Guard had offered. Others had far more intense reactions. Susan Haley, a former Master Sergeant and Afghanistan veteran in 2008 comes from a family of veterans. Her husband and son also served in uniform — her son losing a leg in the process. She’s worried that she will have to sell her home to repay the debt. According to the Times, she said, “They’ll get their money, but I want those years back.” Another veteran and Special Forces soldier, former Sergeant First Class Robert Richmond, left the California Guard to ensure that the funds couldn’t simply be docked from his paycheck. He was laid off recently and has been fighting to have his loan forgiven. Suffering injuries to his back and brain, he had been involved in some of Iraq’s heaviest fighting. There is a class action suit still underway regarding this issue, but to date, it still has not been decided. Lawmakers’ Response There has been wide condemnation reported by the LA Times in a follow up story. Several lawmakers, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He personally said that the House would be launching an investigation into the matter, saying, “Our military heroes should not shoulder the burden of military recruiters’ faults from over a decade ago.” Representative Mark Takano, a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said that “the solution to this ridiculous situation is an act of Congress.” He said also that he was “appalled” by the effort to “claw back” these payments. But who is responsible is a murkier area. Many recruiters and others involved have been prosecuted in this matter and Major General Matthew Beevers, deputy commander of the California Guard, noted, “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.” This seems to indicate that it’s only lawmakers who can make a difference here. Let’s hope that cooler heads prevail and that congress rectifies this terrible injustice toward our community.
