Want to feel ill and angry? Read this...

[KansDem]

Hundreds of Battle-Injured GWOT Soldiers Have Struggled to Resolve Military Debts

I read through page 7, then I had to calm down. I'll try to read the rest later...:(

Yet, we as a nation can give $400,000,000 retirement packages to Exxon CEOs

[deutsey]

1. Even more ill and angry than I've been since November 2000?

I don't think I could handle it.

:evilfrown:

[Deep13]

2. "Want to feel ill and angry? Read this..."

That's a hell of a sales pitch!

[mrcheerful]

3. Anyone thats been recently disabiled and filing for SSDI and SSI could

tell you that. Theres now a 24 month waiting period before your case is decided. Reason why, Iraq wounded are being denied disibility and are having to fight the government for it.

[Mabus]

4. Too bad the government isn't as aggressive going after contractors

Halliburton and the rest can rip off the government and get away with it meanwhile a solider and their family are hounded for a drop in the bucket? Yep, this adminstration does everything it can do to support our troops - inadequate armor, inadequate training and an inadequate system that culminates with our troops being unable to pay their household bills when they come home.

Our case studies showed that some battle-injured soldiers forfeited their final separation pay to cover part of their military debt and they left the service with no funds to cover immediate expenses while facing collection action on their remaining debt. Due to their lack of income, 16 of our 19 case study soldiers told us that they had difficulty paying for basic household expenses. For example, the Army’s failure to record separation paperwork in the pay system and other payment errors resulted in over $12,000 of debt for one severely battle-injured soldier. Although the soldier’s family expected that he would receive retirement pay when his active Army pay stopped upon his separation, the soldier had no income for several months while the Army attempted to recover his military debt. As a result, the soldier’s family was unable to pay household bills, the utilities were shut off, and the soldier’s dependent daughter was sent out of state to live with relatives. In addition, three soldiers told us that they were erroneously listed as absent without leave (AWOL) by their units while they actually were in the hospital or receiving outpatient care for their war injuries. The AWOL status for at least two of these soldiers created debt because it appeared that the soldiers received pay while they were not in duty status when, in fact, the soldiers were receiving medical treatment for their war injuries. When these soldiers did not respond to formal debt notification or pay their debts, many of their debts were reported to credit bureaus, private collection agencies, and TOP.

excerpt from top of page 9 of the pdf.

[jbnow]

5. You know how offended

and angry Lou Dobbs can sound. He is angry and offended about this. OK, the transcript is up. Here is part and a General with the obvious answer:. But what I hope is he stays with this cause, really hits on it because he is good at being angry and gets things attention.

DOBBS: Troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan harassed by the federal government and its debt collectors. At a Capitol Hill hearing today, angry troops describe a bureaucracy that can't keep track of their pay, and after leaving the service, facing endless collection notices and ruined credit ratings.
Pentagon computers also list 400 of our troops who were killed in combat as owing money to the government.
Joining me now for more on this, General David Grange. General, how do you react when you hear that?

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Lou, it's inexcusable. This nation has a great history of keeping soldiers alive on the battlefield, great medical care, and what happens is when you return to the United States, something seems to drop off the edge of the cliff.

There's a lot of problems in pay, there's a lot of problems on benefits, and this is just another example. The solution? When it doubt, take care of the soldier, the G.I. Let the government take the hit on the money, sort if out between the government entities.

DOBBS: Absolutely. Well, this general's staff has a lot to account for in the Pentagon, the fact that they can't take care of this, the delays in body armor, up armoring Humvees, responding to the IED threat, the fact that we're three years into this insurgency.

Is it time that this Congress decided to exercise its oversight responsibilities and said what in the world are these generals doing with our finest young men and women in combat, deserving our full support in Iraq and Afghanistan, and being treated like this, and the American people being asked by the generals -- General Pace, General Casey -- to be patient?