Here's How To Save Money in Iraq

[e_dog]

Good thinking budget guys. Those wounded soldiers better turn over the cash or get off their asses (if they still have one) and get back into the fightin tha war.

Army Wants Wounded Soldiers to Return Bonuses
The Pentagon is forcing thousands of wounded veterans to return signing bonuses they received for joining the army. The military says the injured soldiers aren’t entitled to the money because they didn’t complete their full tour of duty. Jordan Fox of Pennsylvania left the military three months early after being hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq. He sustained back injuries and lost all vision in his right eye. Earlier this month he received a Pentagon letter asking him to return some three thousand dollars in sign-up bonuses. Fox and his mother had recently started a program to send thousands of care packages to servicemembers in Iraq.

DEMOCRACYNOW.ORG

[stilltrucking]

I found it difficult to believe that. So I googled it. I got 331,000 hits. I scanned through page after page of hits and there was no coverage of the story in the main stream media. Not by The Washingpost, The NYTimes, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC. Just places like The Daily Kos, The Drudge Report, Huffington Post.

Finally I found this from on USA TODAY on the eigth page of the google hit list. Date Line April 2006.

Injured soldiers being 'dunned' for debts
Nine hundred "battle-injured soldiers" who served in Iraq and Afghanistan officially owe the government $1.2 million. But many can't afford to settle the debts and the government's efforts to collect the money have "placed significant hardship" on some of the veterans, the Government Accountability Office reported today.

The Washington Post, which previewed the report this morning, wrote that soldiers have been "dunned for an array of debts related to everything from errors in paychecks to equipment left behind on the battlefield."

ABC News, which also got hold of the report in advance, told the tale of Army specialist Tyson Johnson. Seriously injured by a mortar blast, "his injuries forced him out of the military," ABC reported, "and the Army demanded he repay an enlistment bonus of $2,700 because he'd only served two-thirds of his three-year tour. When he couldn't pay, Johnson's account was turned over to bill collectors. He ended up living out of his car when the Army reported him to credit agencies as having bad debts, making it impossible for him to rent an apartment."

GAO recommends that Congress give the Pentagon more authority to forgive soldiers' debts.

Posted by Mark Memmott at 02:29 PM/ET, April 27, 2006 in Nation, Washington | Permalink
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