He lost an arm in Iraq; the Army wants money

[RhodaGrits]

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2004/12/10/abandon1.htm

Now this wounded soldier is being discharged from his company in Fort Hood, Texas, without enough gas money to get home. In fact, the Army says 27-year-old Spc. Robert Loria owes it close to $2,000, and confiscated his last paycheck.

<snip>

A Separation Pay Worksheet given to Loria showed the numbers: $2,408.33 for 10 months of family separation pay that the Army erroneously paid Loria after he'd returned stateside, as a patient at Walter Reed; $2,204.25 that Loria received for travel expenses from Fort Hood back to Walter Reed for a follow-up visit, after the travel paperwork submitted by Loria never reached the correct desk. And $310 for missing items on his returned equipment inventory list.
"There was stuff lost in transportation, others damaged in the accident," Loria said of the day he lost his hand. "When it went up the chain of command, the military denied coverage."
Including taxes, the amount Loria owed totaled $6,255.50. The last line on the worksheet subtracted that total from his final Army payout and found $1,768.81 "due us."

<snip>

[sniffa]

1. i bLame john kerry

[UpInArms]

6. no, it's the Clenis's fault ........... eom

[Supersedeas]

16. noooo, Dan Rather took this true story and forged the dollar sign

[okieinpain]

2. yeah, but I bet he voted for bush. he wants to win the war on terror

so tell him to quit bitching.

[ElectroPrincess]

5. Cut 'em a little slack?

Gosh, even I was hoodwinked (raised in a RW family) to vote for Reagan (only once!) before I made my own way in this world.

A large number of these troops are IMHO "very young" (under 21 y.o.). I can forgive them for buying into all the Rah, Go Army hype that is thrown at them. They are receiving their wake up calls. I'm willing to show them compassion and welcome their presence as part of our Anti-War Team.

[Deja Q]

15. We're in an ideological war as well. Betweens Repukes and humans.

If he voted *, I say "tough marshmallows on him".

If he's a human, I pity him and would suggest he fight.

If we are in his place and vice-versa, he'd say the same thing.

[AndyTiedye]

17. He May Have Voted for Kerry, But...

...all the Kerry votes were sent through Fallujah in an un-armored HumVee and
well, you know...

[0007]

3. The cheapness of The United States of America is appalling

The U.S. has become a pariah of the world!!

[MODemocrat]

19. I believe this government hates the military

After seeing how Max Cleland,John Kerry and John McCain (to name a few), have been put down and spit upon, I'm convinced they only use the military for their own political gain. It's a shame that so many of the military still vote for the Bush gang.
:cry: :shrug: :grouphug:

[LynnTheDem]

4. It's not good to hate...

But if one is a real human being, there simply is NO OTHER RATIONAL EMOTION to feel towards bush as COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE US MILITARY AND THUS THE BUCK STOPS WITH HIM, whether he thinks so or not, & his Cartel; they got their hate the old fashioned way;

THEY EARNED IT.

And they keep on earning it every single day.

[Demit]

7. I like what his wife told the newspaper:

 "I am up here and he's there. That's 1,800 miles away," she said. "I had to call his chain of command and scream at them."
   Their reaction she said, was "very mature."
   "If he feels that way, why is his wife talking for him? Why doesn't he come talk to us himself?" she remembers them asking her.
   "Because on some level, he still respects you," she answered. "I don't have that problem."


Good for her!

[demnan]

8. Good for her! She's a fighter!

I think it's appalling that someone can have such a grave injury, one that changes your life forever and the military is worried that his wife got a couple thousand dollars extra pay. What have we come to in this country that we have so little regard for the young people we send into battle?

Shame, shame!!!!

[MADem]

30. It wasn't even OVERPAYMENT so much as

It was unreturned gear. You know how that shit works--when stuff is short, and your pal gets medevac'd, you grab the shit and use it yourself.

He failed to turn in his tent and his whatnots....

I'll tell you, a measure of a military is the effectiveness of the pay and personnel system management. They are doing a SHITTY job right now, there are way too many horror stories like this coming out. Someone needs to be taken to the woodshed.

[Solly Mack]

9. This is not an uncommon story

unfortunately.

[saigon68]

10. ANOTHER SHEEP WILL TAKE HIS PLACE

"LET'S KILL RAG-HEADS" </SARCASM>

[Historic NY]

11. Its a damn shame he lives near me........

We got the paper at 0300 am at work and both my co-worker and I said lets go get him and bring him home. We had one leaving us for the same base right after Christmas and another friend getting assigned there. I'd take the few remaining days I have but am in the mist of a family health crisis right now. The idiots would make me burn valuable time but both of us figure we could drive him home in a couple of days. We don't know all the details but I'm going to see if my PBA would cut a check for an airline ticket.

[gratuitous]

12. Damn, we're burning a billion dollars a day on defense

And the military is going after a guy with one arm for a couple of thousand dollars.

Meanwhile, didja see that Halliburton got another fat, no-bid contract? And Dick Cheney "earned" over $175,000 from them last year.

Why doesn't anyone in a position to do so asked why our priorities are so fucked up?

[tsuki]

24. Where is his "tax cut?"

[texpatriot2004]

13. Hey maybe Halliburton could pitch in, they have made over

10 billion dollars from this war...billion, with a "B."

[Greylyn58]

14. This Makes Me Weep

at the sad state this country has fallen into.

My God...has this country become so petty that it would go after a man who served his country and was disfigured in its service for less than $2,000.

Bush's venom has spread throughout every part of our government and we need to take it back before that poison kills it and us with it.

[barb162]

18. ditto

[djack23]

20. djack23

This is appalling.

[KamaAina]

21. New Rovian Talking Point: "One-Armed Bandit" Ripping Off Army

Bad KamaAina! No poi! :spank:

[maddezmom]

22. Hinchey, Schumer and Clinton get him home for X-mas,

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (news, bio, voting record) and Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton (news - web sites) interceded on behalf of the 27-year-old veteran after his wife, Christine Loria, told the Times-Herald Record of Middletown about the problem.


Loria was wounded in February. But as he was about to leave the Army this month, officials told him he had been overpaid for his time as a patient at a military hospital in the Washington area, and said he still owed money for travel between the hospital and Fort Hood, as well as $310 for items not found in his returned equipment.


Instead of a check for nearly $4,500, Loria was told he had to pay nearly $1,800.


"Christmas is coming up, and we are severely overdrawn because of this," his wife said. "It turned out his getting wounded wasn't the worst thing this year to happen — this was."


Clinton, Schumer, and Hinchey said Friday the Army had dropped the billing demands and would allow Loria to return home on leave before he is discharged.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=10&u=/ap/20041210/ap_on_re_us/soldier_s_pay

Army looking at 19 similar cases. :eyes:

[tsuki]

25. Dropped...Allowed...piss on all those POS, overworked and underpaid.

[saigon68]

23. Show this Fucking story to Potential enlistees

Here is what the big green machine will do to you son.

Wait until you are 50 and the PTSD closes in on you and you put the MUZZLE OF A 38 cal special in your mouth and PULL THE TRIGGER.

I've seen them do it.

[Disturbed]

26. Killing for Amerika...

is praised until the killers are no longer of use to the Killing Machine.

[VegasWolf]

27. bush doesn't Support Our Troops. n/t

[Cronus Protagonist]

28. It's Bill Clinton's fault

If only he didn't make it so the military was so broke they have to do this... /sarcasm

Poor guy. If I were him, I would file a lawsuit and see how fast they settle. All he needs to do is request a jury of his peers and he'll be squared away.




http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13
Buttons for brainy people - educate your local freepers today!

[iamjoy]

29. There Are Numbers You Can Call

Senators, etc. to tell them to take action. They are at the bottom of the article.

Personally, I'd rather just send a few bucks his way, see if that will help. You never know though, some people are insulted by what they see as charity.

(corrected grammar on edit)

[genieroze]

31. Cannon fodder is worthless to Bushco.