This is not how we should treat our vets - Army straps vets
Flaws in pay system lead to Dunning, Credit trouble
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JoeUser Forums
Today's (Friday, October 14, 2005) Washington Post has an article in it that sickens me. The beginning of the article details what has befallen a vet that took heavy damage -- including the loss of a limb -- in Iraq, wound up shipped stateside for a long recovery period, and then finds himself presented with bills because of differences in combat pay versus regular duty pay, and debts related to equipment that might have been lost or is unaccounted for.
We (the citizens of the U.S.A.) owe much better than this to our citizen soldiers and other service people. Anyone that is in service to our nation, or to our allies, is owed a debt by all of our citizens. These people risk life and limb in following the orders they are given, and they most certainly should not be risking their financial lives at the same time.
Read on for a clip from the original article. I highly recommend reading the full article. It is an important topic, and one which we need to see that our political leaders address and correct.
For Injured U.S. Troops, 'Financial Friendly Fire'
Flaws in Pay System Lead to Dunning, Credit Trouble
By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 14, 2005; Page A01
His hand had been blown off in Iraq, his body pierced by shrapnel. He could not walk. Robert Loria was flown home for a long recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he tried to bear up against intense physical pain and reimagine his life's possibilities.
The last thing on his mind, he said, was whether the Army had correctly adjusted his pay rate -- downgrading it because he was out of the war zone -- or whether his combat gear had been accounted for properly: his Kevlar helmet, his suspenders, his rucksack.
But nine months after Loria was wounded, the Army garnished his wages and then, as he prepared to leave the service, hit him with a $6,200 debt. That was just before last Christmas, and several lawmakers scrambled to help. This spring, a collection agency started calling. He owed another $646 for military housing.
"I was shocked," recalled Loria, now 28 and medically retired from the Army. "After everything that went on, they still had the nerve to ask me for money."
Although Loria's problems may be striking on their own, the Army has recently identified 331 other soldiers who have been hit with military debt after being wounded at war. The new analysis comes as the United States has more wounded troops than at any time since the Vietnam War, with thousands suffering serious injury in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"This is a financial friendly fire," charged Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, which has been looking into the issue. "It's awful." Davis called the failure systemic and said military "pay problems have been an embarrassment all the way through" the war.
Army officials said they are in the process of forgiving debts for 99 of the 331 wounded soldiers, all now out of the military. The other cases have not been resolved, said G. Eric Reid, director of the U.S. Army Finance Command. Complex laws and regulations govern the cancellation of debts once soldiers leave the service, he said.
Part of the problem is that the government's computerized pay system is designed to "maximize debt collection" and has operated without a way to keep bills from going to the wounded, Reid said. In the past seven months, a database of injured troops has been created to help prevent that. Now, he said, the goal is to make "a conscious decision . . . on the validity of that debt" in every case.
... much more at original article (please see the original article for complete story)
Again, this is a story that needs to see a much better ending than this. It makes me wonder just how many debts have been stuck to widows of service members by the Army itself, and not just by the creditors that were owed before the service member was called to duty.
We (the citizens of the U.S.A.) owe much better than this to our citizen soldiers and other service people. Anyone that is in service to our nation, or to our allies, is owed a debt by all of our citizens. These people risk life and limb in following the orders they are given, and they most certainly should not be risking their financial lives at the same time.
Read on for a clip from the original article. I highly recommend reading the full article. It is an important topic, and one which we need to see that our political leaders address and correct.
For Injured U.S. Troops, 'Financial Friendly Fire'
Flaws in Pay System Lead to Dunning, Credit Trouble
By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 14, 2005; Page A01
His hand had been blown off in Iraq, his body pierced by shrapnel. He could not walk. Robert Loria was flown home for a long recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he tried to bear up against intense physical pain and reimagine his life's possibilities.
The last thing on his mind, he said, was whether the Army had correctly adjusted his pay rate -- downgrading it because he was out of the war zone -- or whether his combat gear had been accounted for properly: his Kevlar helmet, his suspenders, his rucksack.
But nine months after Loria was wounded, the Army garnished his wages and then, as he prepared to leave the service, hit him with a $6,200 debt. That was just before last Christmas, and several lawmakers scrambled to help. This spring, a collection agency started calling. He owed another $646 for military housing.
"I was shocked," recalled Loria, now 28 and medically retired from the Army. "After everything that went on, they still had the nerve to ask me for money."
Although Loria's problems may be striking on their own, the Army has recently identified 331 other soldiers who have been hit with military debt after being wounded at war. The new analysis comes as the United States has more wounded troops than at any time since the Vietnam War, with thousands suffering serious injury in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"This is a financial friendly fire," charged Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, which has been looking into the issue. "It's awful." Davis called the failure systemic and said military "pay problems have been an embarrassment all the way through" the war.
Army officials said they are in the process of forgiving debts for 99 of the 331 wounded soldiers, all now out of the military. The other cases have not been resolved, said G. Eric Reid, director of the U.S. Army Finance Command. Complex laws and regulations govern the cancellation of debts once soldiers leave the service, he said.
Part of the problem is that the government's computerized pay system is designed to "maximize debt collection" and has operated without a way to keep bills from going to the wounded, Reid said. In the past seven months, a database of injured troops has been created to help prevent that. Now, he said, the goal is to make "a conscious decision . . . on the validity of that debt" in every case.
... much more at original article (please see the original article for complete story)
Again, this is a story that needs to see a much better ending than this. It makes me wonder just how many debts have been stuck to widows of service members by the Army itself, and not just by the creditors that were owed before the service member was called to duty.
