Pentagon: No Repayment of Erroneous Enlistment Bonuses Paid to California National Guard
Bonuses paid between 2004 and 2010
Last year, we blogged about California trying to force National Guard members to repay enlistment bonuses that had been paid to them in error. The Pentagon quickly reacted to the pushback and stopped collection of these erroneously distributed bonuses, pending further review.
The review is complete, and the Pentagon has announced that it will not require the repayment of enlistment bonuses.
More than 17,000 California National Guard soldiers won’t have to payback more than $190 million in enlistment bonuses and other payments that had been handed out in error between 2004 and 2010, the Pentagon said.
The decision comes several years after an audit revealed the Guard was overpaying bonuses as it faced pressure to hit enlistment goals during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
California lawmakers in Congress successfully pushed for the Pentagon to waive any repayments unless it could provide evidence a solider knew or should’ve known they weren’t eligible for the money.
“I am pleased that an overwhelming majority of the service members affected by the California National Guard’s bonus clawback will be able to get their bonuses back,” Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said in a statement. “These enlistment bonuses and other benefits were accepted in good faith and were given in exchange for serving the nation.”
A report by the Pentagon found that a vast majority of the 17,485 soldiers that got bonuses or loan aid won’t have to repay it or will be refunded if they already did. The report, given to the U.S. House and Senate Armed Services Committees on July 31, was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
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Comments
They should take it from the pay of the turkeys who made the “error”.
One of the major reasons for the obscene expense of government is that there is no penalty imposed for errors or incompetence, no matter how gross. The future would look much rosier—or at least more economical—if that changed. All it takes is a stroke of the bureaucratic pen.
typical CA ARNG FFTs… some of the most useless SPOTs i ever met while in uniform.
this ranks right up there with the cabal that was stealing all the school money for years and years.
they F up, and the troops have to pay for it. i need to go kiss my 20 year letter & my transfer orders to the Retired Reserve again.
there’s a lot of good people in the Guard, but very few of them are AGR. hell, the guy who recruited me was caught a few years later, stealing paychecks mailed to the armory (80’s) and cashing them.
he got busted by the staff at Nix’s Check Cashing in Inglewatts, not by anything the Guard did.
And yet people who get welfare overpayments have to pay them back as soon as the error is discovered.
yeah, because re-enlisting in the military during wartime, and likely being deployed somewhere you can get killed or wounded is EXACTLY the same as collecting a welfare check sitting on your butt @ Ft Living Room.
the Soldiers signed a contract in good faith, and performed their part of it, only to have the government renege, and then use the force of government to recoup its mistake.
you’re an a55.