If you had not seen the story that broke in the Los Angeles Times, get ready for head shaking. “Nearly 10,000 California National Guard soldiers have been ordered to repay huge enlistment bonuses a decade after signing up to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
According to the story:
“The Pentagon demanded the money back after audits revealed overpayments by the California Guard under pressure to fill ranks and hit enlistment goals. If soldiers refuse, they could face interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens.”
“Faced with a shortage of troops at the height of the two wars, California Guard officials offered bonuses of $15,000 or more for soldiers to reenlist.”
“A federal investigation in 2010 found thousands of bonuses and student loan payments were improperly doled out to California Guard soldiers. About 9,700 current and retired soldiers received notices to repay some or all of their bonuses with more than $22 million recovered so far.”
From the story details, it appears that almost none of the recipients had any idea a decade ago that they were receiving bonuses they should not have. One key National Guard sergeant in the bonus program has pled guilty to improperly using the bonuses to fill quotas.
Anyone familiar with the typical bonus rules knows that they are often very complex and it is unreasonable to expect soldiers not in the Personnel Department to be able to determine if they meet the exact requirements. Typically, they depend on those specialists to run the programs; the inducements come as invitations. The recipients genuinely thought they were eligible for the bonuses and they did their bit in return, often extended tours in Iraq and/or Afghanistan.
This is ridiculous. They were given an offer, a bonus for risky service; they did the service and now the Pentagon wants the money back. Well, I have a solution.
First, if a soldier was an innocent victim and fulfilled their part of the deal, the debt should be forgiven – period. The government has to take some responsibility for its errors and for failing to audit the program for a decade. We cannot give them back the years they gave or make the wounds go away. Those recipients did not get anything for free.
If a soldier was an innocent victim, but did not fulfill their part of the deal (take the deployment) through no fault of their own, then they should have the debt reduced and repay it on an extended plan with no interest or penalties. This is a government that is often reducing tax evasion penalties just to get some money, it’s the least we can do.
If it can proved that the bonus recipient knew they were not entitled to the bonus when they took the deal or did not fulfill their obligation through their own fault (such as misconduct), then is it fine to recover the funds as soon as possible with interest and penalties.
“At the end of the day, the soldiers ended up paying the largest price,” Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, deputy commander of the California Guard told the Times. “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.”
Well, let’s not break the law; that would be terrible.