This is pretty disgraceful

[roadrage]

Soldiers caught in loan crackdown

Join the military on promises, sign a contract, and have the Government you fight to uphold re-nigh on them. I don't care if the recruitment office was fraudulent or not. Punish them, not the soldiers. It makes me sick.

I remember when I was in, I had to fight to get my sign on bonus. I was three years in, out of four, before I got my $7,000 that was past due. I actually had to scam the retention officer into believing I would re-enlist if they paid me what was owed. If I hadn't done that, I bet I'd still be waiting. Joke was on me after I had completed my active term and had been in civilian life for a year and just gotten married. I got a FED Ex packet with orders to report for duty in 30 days for another deployment of at least 12 months but not more than 18.

 

[psycho]

I never got a bonus of any kind when I signed up.

 

[roadrage]

But did they promise you a bonus to get you to sign up? Did they put it in your contract and then garnish your pay to take it back? That is what is being taken from them. If you got the GI Bill to pay for college, that is also an enlistment incentive. Imagine if you were taking classes using your GI Bill, and then the Government just stopped paying for it, and then they stripped your paycheck to get back what they had already paid? That is wrong.

These California National Guardsman are having money garnished from their pay to compensate for "overpayment" because they received money that was part of their enlistment incentives. GI Bill money is included in what is being taken back from these soldiers. That, to me, is disgraceful.

 

[w2ibc]

wow, this is disgraceful

 

[Shockwave]

No offense but silly you for thinking Uncle Sam was really going to have your back covered in 2013. They wouldn't take care of our guys with body armor or armored vehicles on the way into war. What makes you think they would put more effort into doing the right thing once you're not needed anymore?

Today the focus has shifted to taking as much as you're willing to give with as little as possible in return. When you're done giving you're time, they hold you hostage with the "stop leave act".

God forbid if you run into a serious problem as a result of your service like Gulf War Syndrome or HIV at the VA getting a routine exam. Then you'll really see what you mean to them when they leave you hanging and avoid responsibility.

People seem to be less willing to do the right thing unless you fight for it or can embarrass the hell out of them in the press. Only then does a light bulb go off in their heads saying " I better not try and get away with this one".

 

[psycho]

But did they promise you a bonus to get you to sign up? Did they put it in your contract and then garnish your pay to take it back? That is what is being taken from them. If you got the GI Bill to pay for college, that is also an enlistment incentive. Imagine if you were taking classes using your GI Bill, and then the Government just stopped paying for it, and then they stripped your paycheck to get back what they had already paid? That is wrong.

These California National Guardsman are having money garnished from their pay to compensate for "overpayment" because they received money that was part of their enlistment incentives. GI Bill money is included in what is being taken back from these soldiers. That, to me, is disgraceful.

In these times that makes no sense, a promise is a promise. When I enlisted after high school, E-1 pay was $110 a week!

 

[roadrage]

No offense but silly you for thinking Uncle Sam was really going to have your back covered in 2013. They wouldn't take care of our guys with body armor or armored vehicles on the way into war. What makes you think they would put more effort into doing the right thing once you're not needed anymore?

Today the focus has shifted to taking as much as you're willing to give with as little as possible in return. When you're done giving you're time, they hold you hostage with the "stop leave act".

God forbid if you run into a serious problem as a result of your service like Gulf War Syndrome or HIV at the VA getting a routine exam. Then you'll really see what you mean to them when they leave you hanging and avoid responsibility.

People seem to be less willing to do the right thing unless you fight for it or can embarrass the hell out of them in the press. Only then does a light bulb go off in their heads saying " I better not try and get away with this one".

When I arrived in Iraq, I was scheduled for missions and they gave me 1 can of .50 cal. ammo. I was told that it was all they could ration to me. So I scrounged from the outgoing unit, 1/67th of 4th inf division, that we were relieving. As they were packing up to redeploy, I went to all the tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles and asked for any ammo they could spare. I got some nasty, dirty, rusted crap but it was ammo. That sucked stripping each individual round, from each link, then wire brushing each link, and cleaning each round. Then re linking them together to make it servicable. But as much as it sucked, I just thought of it as part of the job. Adapting and overcoming a problem. Besides, I was just a lowly bullet catcher and it really didn't matter. I never really expected to be anything other than an expendable asset. That is just the way it is for a soldier, and I can accept that. But you can't give an incentive and take it away. I don't care if the recruiter was giving fraudulent incentives or not. That isn't the soldiers' fault. The recruiter is a representative of the military and they should be accountable for the fraudulent actions they used to meet their quotas. The government should honor the promises made on their behalf, by their chosen representatives.

 

[Mudfoot]

Sometimes the enlistee is very much aware that the incentive is not legitimate. The National Guard has a history of such things.

 

[roadrage]

Sometimes the enlistee is very much aware that the incentive is not legitimate. The National Guard has a history of such things.

Fair enough. I guess I never thought of that aspect. If they did know they were committing fraud against the government, then that is equally shameful.

 

[Mudfoot]

I enlisted in the Army in May of '78. After my 4 years, I slid right into the Air Force with no break in service.

After my 8 years of active duty, I was a wondering bum in the Air Force reserve, Air National Guard and Army National Guard. I had 11 years total in the reserves. I would join a unit and take advantage of the free training, transfer out and repeat the process. In total, I have 8 occupational specialties.

The biggest advantage of my military service was in being able to buy my service time towards my public employee retirement.

During my various adventures in the different reserve and guard components, I got to see some pretty wild shit. The guard was definitely relaxed and did things there own ways. Let's just say... We had a lot of fun, except the times I was being shot at.

The guard was famous for pencil whipping stuff. I think they have more oversight nowadays, but they still do things their own way. Theft was really rampant while I was in.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Theft was really rampant while I was in.

So you're saying it was rampant while you were in but got better when you were out? :blink: Hmmmm.............






JK:laugh:

 

[Mudfoot]

Lol...

 

[roadrage]

Yes, when I was re-activated from civilian life, they attached me to a guard unit from Connecticut. I wasn't ever in the guard, so it was a different experience than being active duty in an airborne infantry brigade. There was good and bad in that.

With my 6 1/2 years I had in, all I'm qualified to do in civilian life is be angry, divorced, and not sleep.

 

[psycho]

When I arrived in Iraq, I was scheduled for missions and they gave me 1 can of .50 cal. ammo. I was told that it was all they could ration to me. So I scrounged from the outgoing unit, 1/67th of 4th inf division, that we were relieving. As they were packing up to redeploy, I went to all the tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles and asked for any ammo they could spare. I got some nasty, dirty, rusted crap but it was ammo. That sucked stripping each individual round, from each link, then wire brushing each link, and cleaning each round. Then re linking them together to make it servicable. But as much as it sucked, I just thought of it as part of the job. Adapting and overcoming a problem. Besides, I was just a lowly bullet catcher and it really didn't matter. I never really expected to be anything other than an expendable asset. That is just the way it is for a soldier, and I can accept that. But you can't give an incentive and take it away. I don't care if the recruiter was giving fraudulent incentives or not. That isn't the soldiers' fault. The recruiter is a representative of the military and they should be accountable for the fraudulent actions they used to meet their quotas. The government should honor the promises made on their behalf, by their chosen representatives.

A trillion dollar budget and you had to scrounge for ammo? And I thought things sucked in the last couple of years of the 70s and first 3 years of the 80s.

 

[roadrage]

To be honest, there was nothing in my contract that guaranteed ammo, body armor, weapons, etc.
It sucked when I served my active term honorably, completed my active enlistment obligation, got out, got married and then got recalled because it was cheaper to pull me out of civilian life than to train a new, willing volunteer. It cost me my marriage. That also was unfortunate and deviously abusive, but totally within the boundaries of the enlistment contract I signed.

However, when I was guaranteed a sign on bonus and they tried to screw me out of it. That pissed me off. I started contacting my state Rep and Sen. I was on the verge of filing with an attorney for breech of contract once my deployment was over. I did several finance inquiries. What got my money was telling the retention officer "how can you offer me a re-enlistment bonus when I never was even paid my sign on bonus? I would consider re-enlistment if I was given my back pay." Funny how quickly that worked.

But the ammo thing was due to a poor supply plan by the unit we replaced. It wasn't long after my battalion completed the hand over and I had more ammo than I knew what to do with. And it wasn't old crap, but shiny new. I liked watching the silvery flash of .50 cal API on impact. Funny that I never realized how squared away my battalion was until I saw another unit to compare it to.