Minn. guardsmen could receive bonuses for long deployment

Minn. guardsmen could receive bonuses

By Patrick Condon - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Feb 16, 2010 5:42:07 EST

MINNEAPOLIS — The Pentagon has committed to paying bonuses to 2,500 Minnesota National Guard soldiers who are still owed them after a long deployment to Iraq several years ago.

Military officials told members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation Monday that the Pentagon has closed a loophole that hung up payments of about $10 million in the bonuses to soldiers in Minnesota’s “Red Bull” 34 Infantry Brigade. Those soldiers began a 22-month deployment in 2005 that kept them in Iraq for 16 months, the longest deployment of any infantry unit since World War II.

“We’re glad this is done, but I certainly hope there’s no one pounding their chest over it,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, a Democrat from Minnesota who was one of several members of Congress to get involved in the issue. “It should have been done a long time ago.”
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Minn. guardsmen could receive bonuses