Pentagon to Pay Troops' Travel Expenses

[Judi Lynn]

Pentagon to Pay Troops' Travel Expenses

By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press Writer
Posted December 3 2003, 12:20 AM EST

WASHINGTON -- In an effort to bolster military morale, the Pentagon soon will begin paying travel expenses for troops to get all the way home on leave from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The cost of that extra leg for tens of thousands of soldiers: $55 million.

Until now, the largest R&R program since the Vietnam War has flown soldiers only to three cities in the United States and two in Germany, leaving them to pay airfare for connecting flights if they want to go farther.

Some airlines offered discount fares to help, and a congressman started a program in which Americans donated millions of their frequent flyer miles for service members to use to get home.

But officials said Tuesday they were working up a plan for the Defense Department to begin reimbursing troops for the connecting flights with the $55 million authorized recently by Congress for the coming year. (snip/...)

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top12dec02,0,476270.story?coll=sns-newsnation-headlines

[Forkboy]

1. Gee,how nice of them

[Don_G]

2. Halliburton Wanted To Be Nice This Christmas?

Or are they planning on ways to keep the money and announced this as a PR move before the Holiday?

[shamanstar]

3. oh no they didnt!

my sis asked for a loan from the military to pay for her way back to the states to get her kids to their grandparents before she had to go to iraq and they denied her loan request. luckily my parents had the money to cover her plane fare otherwise her kids would be sitting in germany alone while their mom was at war in iraq.