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CA Soldiers Forced to Repay Bonuses


rashore

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Short of troops to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan a decade ago, the California National Guard enticed thousands of soldiers with bonuses of $15,000 or more to reenlist and go to war.

Now the Pentagon is demanding the money back. Nearly 10,000 soldiers, many of whom served multiple combat tours, have been ordered to repay large enlistment bonuses — and slapped with interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens if they refuse — after audits revealed widespread overpayments by the California Guard at the height of the wars last decade

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-national-guard-bonus-20161020-snap-story.html

Second article from NBC: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/California-National-Guard-Soldiers-Forced-to-Repay-Bonuses-398132681.html

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How horrid for our government to be doing this to people who risked their lives for this country.  :no:

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This makes me sick. And this is one of the reasons why I don't support sending troops out to ever single problem on the planet. Because we treat them like **** once they come home. We provide little to no help. The VA system is a joke.

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Yet the money is there by the ton to pay these private security firms. Gotta love lobbyist that can squeeze money for their interests out of the government.  

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Seems to me that since the state "over paid" the state should pay it back...

However, having been in the military, I was subjected several times to "over-payments" and "pay adjustments" and had to pay it back... I remember a two month period when my pay stub said "No Pay Due"... Of course back then a months pay was less than $300....

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Where is Obama's "phone and pen" when we really need it?  As if we didn't already treat out veterans horribly, this just adds insult to injury.  I shop at Goodwill and they are always asking people to round up their change to help the veterans.  It's so sad that the government can spend our tax dollars on weapons and equipment and $500 hammers but charities have to beg for pennies to help the people who make it all work.  Meanwhile, we allow in illegals and invite in refugees and set them up in homes.  That needs to be stopped until no one can remember that there ever was a phrase such as "homeless veterans".

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I was reading this information the other day and I thought, what a government this is...?, they used these men to further the Military Complex wars!, they presumebly overpaid them, and after so many years, the government want reimbursement, unbelievable! 

Soldiers put their life on the line for the Financial Corporate World, at least, the government should valued them, my 2 cents.

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I think that pay for soldiers should be increased anyway.  I find it quite irritating that athletes and actors earn more money than soldiers.

Edited by Thorvir Hrothgaard
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Between this and the way returning Vets are tossed out like yesterday's garbage, it's a wonder any one would enlist. Disgusting behavior by this administration.

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this is just yet another example of why the U.S. Military is perhaps the most incompetent bureaucracy on the planet.

 

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20 hours ago, Why not said:

Yet the money is there by the ton to pay these private security firms. Gotta love lobbyist that can squeeze money for their interests out of the government.  

don't blame the security firms.  lay the blame at the door step of obama.  he could porden them and they wouldn't have to pay back.  which they shouldn't have tto to start with.

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we need to open our empty government buildings to the homeless vets.

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10 minutes ago, danielost said:

we need to open our empty government buildings to the homeless vets.

Good idea.  Also, the housing bust left many cities with an abundance of abandoned homes that they must now maintain or demolish.  I've said for years that we could solve two problems at once by giving them to homeless veterans.

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1 minute ago, Big Jim said:

Good idea.  Also, the housing bust left many cities with an abundance of abandoned homes that they must now maintain or demolish.  I've said for years that we could solve two problems at once by giving them to homeless veterans.

from what i understand they maintain and keep these buildings heated.

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1 hour ago, danielost said:

we need to open our empty government buildings to the homeless vets.

 

51 minutes ago, Big Jim said:

Good idea.  Also, the housing bust left many cities with an abundance of abandoned homes that they must now maintain or demolish.  I've said for years that we could solve two problems at once by giving them to homeless veterans.

It sounds like a good idea... but it kind of isn't. The kind of buildings the gov is holding on to aren't really suitable for habitation. Power plant buildings, warehouses, office spaces and so on- those would have to be refurbished into living spaces before they could be use. To my understanding there's also a lot of old unsuitable buildings- got asbestos and stuff- or are falling apart in some instances. And we can't house people in an old office building full of asbestos or old fire station with the roof caved in. And it's government properties, not just buildings that are part of that big heap of "unused"- and you can't really house anyone in a dead airstrip full of contaminants or dead back lots. There are some foolish reasons why the gov is so wasteful with it's unused properties- but a lot of those places really are not suitable for anything other than business/industrial use.

Again.. sounds like a good idea, but actually fairly cost prohibitive. It would be cheaper for them to go buy land and put up new construction rather than re-utilize existing properties to a large extent.

 

And logic like that aside... with our govs track record of how they handle veteran affairs and benefits... I'm not sure I would trust refurbished housing from the gov to vets. I can easily imagine pocket linings and construction pork leading to finding out an office building wasn't stripped of asbestos or a warehouse not stripped of it's lead pipes properly before putting in housing divisions in the building. :hmm:

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almost any place is better than sleeping in the snow.  i wasn't thinking about apartments just some place to get in out of the snow.

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7 minutes ago, danielost said:

almost any place is better than sleeping in the snow.  i wasn't thinking about apartments just some place to get in out of the snow.

The government should just pass out large cardboard boxes to show the appreciation it has for our vets.  

Oh you served in the military? Well here's your cardboard box.

Edited by Kurzweil
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1 minute ago, Kurzweil said:

The government should just pass out large cardboard boxes to show the appreciation it has for our vets. 

don't give them any ideas.

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This is totally disgusting.  We spend billions on helping illegals, refugees and foreign governments every year, some that won't even take their people back when we deport them, but when it comes to our soldiers our government turns into tight wads.  We have homeless soldiers with mental problems brought on by being in a war and homeless citizens that need help but it seems citizens fall behind anyone and everyone else with this administration.

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6 hours ago, danielost said:

don't blame the security firms.  lay the blame at the door step of obama.  he could porden them and they wouldn't have to pay back.  which they shouldn't have tto to start with.

I blame lobbyist. Thay are a huge problem in this country.  You can bet your last dime if the homeless vets had lobbyist, they would not be homeless.

 

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5 hours ago, rashore said:

 

It sounds like a good idea... but it kind of isn't. The kind of buildings the gov is holding on to aren't really suitable for habitation. Power plant buildings, warehouses, office spaces and so on- those would have to be refurbished into living spaces before they could be use. To my understanding there's also a lot of old unsuitable buildings- got asbestos and stuff- or are falling apart in some instances. And we can't house people in an old office building full of asbestos or old fire station with the roof caved in. And it's government properties, not just buildings that are part of that big heap of "unused"- and you can't really house anyone in a dead airstrip full of contaminants or dead back lots. There are some foolish reasons why the gov is so wasteful with it's unused properties- but a lot of those places really are not suitable for anything other than business/industrial use.

Again.. sounds like a good idea, but actually fairly cost prohibitive. It would be cheaper for them to go buy land and put up new construction rather than re-utilize existing properties to a large extent.

 

And logic like that aside... with our govs track record of how they handle veteran affairs and benefits... I'm not sure I would trust refurbished housing from the gov to vets. I can easily imagine pocket linings and construction pork leading to finding out an office building wasn't stripped of asbestos or a warehouse not stripped of it's lead pipes properly before putting in housing divisions in the building. :hmm:

I agree 100% with what you wrote rashore... I do however have one suggestion as a solution... Have the various state and/or city governments refurb abandoned (and suitable) housing in their areas and donate them to homeless (or nearly homeless) vets, and let the cost of that refurb (and maintenance) be deducted from the State or cities tax burden to the fed... That way there is no grossly over staffed, inefficient national bureaucracy overseeing the housing, the cities and states get involved and can even employ the vets to do the refurb/construction/maintenance... People take much better care of things when they feel ownership and responsibility for them...

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