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Pentagon Official on Wounded Vet Story: "We're Not Sure What Happened"
Yesterday, we noted a story about Iraq veterans who were being asked to return part of their enlistment bonuses because their injuries prevented them from completing their tours. The story focused on one vet in particular, Jordan Fox from Pittsburgh.
Well, the story kicked up something of a firestorm, so Brigadier General Michael Tucker, deputy commanding general of Walter Reed (he was tapped after the scandal broke), showed up on Fox News early this morning.
Reacting to Fox's case, he said, "We're not sure what happened but we're gonna fix it." Here's the clip:
The problem goes far beyond just that one soldier, though. No numbers are available, but the story yesterday quoted estimates by veterans groups that this sort of thing happened to "thousands" of others.
Tucker said that army policy "is that soldiers who are wounded in combat or have line of duty investigation injuries... we will not go after a recoupment of any bonuses they receive." Recouping bonuses, he said, "doesn't pass the common sense test."
But notice that phrasing. While that policy, if implemented, would prevent injured soldiers from having to pay back bonuses they'd already received, they might still not receive their full enlistment bonus. That's because the Army could still withhold parts of the bonus on the basis that the soldiers didn't complete their full tour due to the injury.
Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA), who introduced a bill last month that would require the Pentagon to pay bonuses to wounded vets in full within 30 days after discharge for combat-related wounds, said he was "heartened" by Tucker's announcement this morning that the Army won't seek repayment of bonuses. He added:
“However, I am disappointed that the policy does not go further by stating that wounded soldiers will also receive the remaining balance of future bonus payments. It is preposterous for our government to have a policy that says that a soldier who has sustained serious injuries in the field of battle has not fulfilled his or her service obligation."
Pentagon rules, Altmire says, prevent enlistees from receiving their full enlistment bonus unless they fulfill their entire military obligation.
Comments (27)
Altmire has more common sense than the DoD.
Where are the rest of the vets in Congress?
November 21, 2007 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Vonnegut couldn't have come up with something like this in Catch-22!
November 21, 2007 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Using a football metaphor, "if one elbow inbounds equals two feet," shouldn't one or two eyes, one or more limbs or half a stomach equal an enlistment? Where do these half assed people come from? It's, what have you done for me lately? Just kick them to the curb. Pitiful.
November 21, 2007 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank God that the Bush Administration and the Repuglicans support our troops as much as they do.
November 21, 2007 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um. That'd be Joseph Heller with Catch 22.
November 21, 2007 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
MM, That was Joseph Heller not Vonnegut - but, yeah, you're right.
November 21, 2007 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um. That'd be Joseph Heller and Catch 22.
November 21, 2007 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
And he trots right off to faux news to set the record straight....Please. I'm so tired of the asswipes. America needs to wake up and get rid of all of them. The soliders are "units" to them and therefore disposable. They obviously don't give a damn about them or their families when they become of no use to them.
November 21, 2007 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I suppose the natural followup would be, "WHY aren't you sure what happened?" I mean, isn't it like half the job of military people to know and maintain the chain of command?
November 21, 2007 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Woops, mixed up my American novelists.
November 21, 2007 1:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yer paid to stop a bullet.
It's a soldier's job, they say.
So then you stops yer bullet,
And then they stops yer pay.
La plus ça change...
November 21, 2007 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Its a setup to blame on Dems for not rolling over on Bush
...who of course is bottling up war funding bill in Senate.
No more money for chimpy!
November 21, 2007 1:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
you're not sure what happened ???
well, let me tell you what happened
some fucking pinheaded, scum sucking mouth breather decided to try and revoke the lawful payments to people who have risked their life and limbs for their country
I'm pretty sure that this is gonna reveal that THE SCUM SUCKING MOUTH BREATHERS have also siezed money from the families of soldiers who HAVE GIVEN THE LAST FULL MEASURE OF DEVOTION to our country
so who really supports the troops, you scum sucking mouth breather
November 21, 2007 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
General Tucker doesn't know what happened because, like everything else this administration does, "it's classified"...
November 21, 2007 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sure they're getting to the bottom of this.
(Paging Jeff Gannon...)
November 21, 2007 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've posted this in several places, but it's still not in the thread of the discussion. Confirmation of pervasiveness of problem can be found in this document:
http://www.pccww.gov/docs/0618esi-2.doc
It's a Word Document with testimony to the Dole/Shalala commission on veterans' treatment.
Search it and you will find the following exchange:
"I have to mention there’s only been one incident that truly has outraged us: the military’s failure to pay Jason the second half of his enlistment bonus. They’re citing that because Jason was retired, even though it was a 100 percent service connected, he’s not entitled to the remainder of his enlistment bonus.
SEN. DOLE: He’s not entitled to what?
MS. ESTES: The remainder of his enlistment bonus. He got half when he finished basic training and so they owe him the other half right now. At no time did the recruiter mention that if a soldier is injured in the line of duty, he or she is not entitled to that promise. That’s just wrong.
SEN. DOLE: Yeah, that’s really incorrect. That’s happened to a lot of them."
If this is a "mistake", the mistake has "happened to a lot of them".
November 21, 2007 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Housekeeping -
There is a comment section at the bottom of the Sargent article saying that McClellan's publisher exonerates the President. But Comments are not allowed on that article.
Consider removing the Comments section.
November 21, 2007 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely, mo2.
Re; Scootie McBoing-Boing+his publickers,
Ipso et expost facto est!
Whoda thunk?
Quel surprise!
"If he did do-do, run-run."
November 21, 2007 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I saw it on Fox, it must be true!!! It was just a one time mistake, Fox says so, it must be true!!! Problem fixed we can all go on about our business, Fox said so, it must be true!!! Fox and Friends are America's friends, Fox says so, it must be true!!!
November 21, 2007 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like "electronic surveillance," all that needs to be done is to pass a bill that redefines "military obligation."
November 21, 2007 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gen. Tucker is correct. The Army will not seek recoupment of bonues paid to an injured soldier. The Army will only seek recoupment for unreturned body armor and equipment...
November 21, 2007 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is a sad unfortunate extension of aan earlier controversy I discovered and wrote about in May of this year. The extent that the Pentagon has gone to in colusion with the VA runs alot deeper and I am sure they will come up with something else equally as outragious.
http://www.idealthoughts.com/2007/05/coservatives-delusional-beliefs-of.html
November 21, 2007 6:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where the heck are all these billions of DOD dollars going?
November 22, 2007 3:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Re:Bribes
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, September 4, 2007; A01
....Still, the Dora market is a Potemkin village of sorts. The U.S. military hands out $2,500 grants to shop owners to open or improve their businesses. The military has fixed windows and doors and even helped rebuild shops that had burned down, soldiers and others said.
"We helped them a lot. We gave them money, security, even the locks on their doors," said a 36-year-old Iraqi interpreter at the outpost whom U.S. soldiers call Jimmy for security reasons. He asked that his real name not be used. "Everything we gave them. That's why the violence has stopped. That's why they cooperate with us."
Some shopkeepers said they would not do business in the market without U.S. support. "The Americans are giving money, so they're opening up stores," said Falah Hassan Fadhil, 27, who sells cosmetics.
1st Lt. Jose Molina, who is in charge of monitoring and disbursing the grant money, said the U.S. military includes barely operating stores in its tally. "Although they sell dust, they are open for business," said Molina, 35, from Dallas. "They intend to sell goods or they may just have a handful of goods. But they are still counted."
http://tinyurl.com/2hlbrw
November 22, 2007 10:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
So we're supposed to believe this happened all by itself! That not a single person in the military finance centers didn't recognize this for the screwup it is, bring it to the attention of the higher ups, and fix it.
That probability is just another mountain of bullshit to add to the mountain range of bullshit the pentagon and this administration has heaped upon the American people. What is it going to take before congress and the citizens of this country come to recognize the difference between mere coincidence or incompetence, and repetitive and intentional and often criminal conduct? Support the troops my ass. When it comes to telling such whoppers as that I'd estimate this administration has told more than any other ten administrations combined. And in most instances the result has been grevious harm to Americans and to the country. Numerically speaking, accidents of this frequency and consequence are not accidents. Impeach Bush and Cheney and throw them in prison where they truly belong.
November 23, 2007 3:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Spend $2.5bn per week on your friends, nickel and and dime the troops to death.
November 23, 2007 8:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
I say take away the bonuses and let the Free Market rule! The prospect of loosing their enlistment bonus due to injury will incite greater workplace safety. Free Market Warfare Theories have taken root in every other aspect of Prime Minister Cheney's armed forces, why not here?
November 26, 2007 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink