If you repaid "bonus" money DOD needs to give it back

Great news for the wounded who already had to pay back their money! Thousands of them should not have had to pay one dime back but they all got letters just like Fox did.

DoD: No repaying bonuses for wounded
Staff and wire reportsPosted : Tuesday Nov 27, 2007 12:53:38 EST

If you are wounded in combat and discharged as a result, you will not have to pay back your enlistment bonus, Defense Department officials said Monday.

“Bonuses are not recouped simply for one’s inability to complete an enlistment or re-enlistment agreement through no fault of the military member,” according to a policy statement cited in an American Forces Press Service story.

The policy statement was issued one day after Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., held a press conference criticizing the Pentagon for dunning wounded troops to pay back their bonuses, a practice the senator said affected hundreds.

He said that when the case of Pfc. Jordan Fox, an Army sniper partially blinded by a roadside bomb in Iraq, was called to the Pentagon’s attention, officials replied that the demand for him to repay $2,800 was a “clerical error” and canceled the debt. But what about the others, he asked, standing in front of a World War I memorial.

“When you talk to the Pentagon, you get different answers from different people,” he said.
Schumer called on the Defense Department to conduct an internal investigation and audit to identify recently wounded personnel who received the dunning letters and assure them that repayments were not necessary.

He also said he would support proposed legislation, to be called the Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act, to require full payment of bonuses to enlistees within 30 days of discharge from the service due to combat-related injuries.

The statement came after Fox appeared on local and national TV and radio shows to talk about the letter.

Fox, 21, from Mount Lebanon, Pa., was partially blinded in his right eye and sustained a back injury in a roadside bomb explosion in Baqubah in May. He returned to the U.S. two months later and received a discharge.

In late October, Fox got a letter from the Army seeking repayment of part of his enlistment bonus because he had only completed about a year of his three-year service.

Another letter arrived a week later warning he could be charged interest if he didn’t make a payment within 30 days.

“I was just completely shocked,” Fox said. “I couldn’t believe I’d gotten a bill in the mail from the Army.”

“Department policy prohibits recoupment when it would be contrary to equity and good conscience, or would be contrary to the nation’s interests,” according to the Defense Department policy statement. “Those circumstances include, for example, an inability to complete a service agreement because of illness, injury, disability or other impairment that did not clearly result from misconduct.”

According to the DoD story, Army officials said Fox will not be required to pay back any enlistment money he received.

Anyone who does have an issue can call the Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline at (800) 984-8523.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/military_payback_bonus_071127w/

Now if they will do something about the wounded who had to pay for their meals and lost equipment, they will be on the right track of doing the right thing.