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posted by martyb on Thursday October 27 2016, @11:31AM   Printer-friendly
from the Between-Scylla-and-Charybdis dept.

The Pentagon recently asked nearly 10,000 soldiers to repay excessive bonuses they were given for re-enlisting in the California National Guard between 2007 and 2009 amid the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress was notified of the problem in 2014, but representatives failed to pass a provision that would allow the Defense Secretary to waive the repayments.

Some representatives claim that the California National Guard failed to convey the scale of the repayments issue or make it a congressional priority. An outraged and bipartisan group of legislators have called for quick action and full forgiveness of the overpayments (estimated to be around $70 million). On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and President Obama have promised to resolve the issue, even as officials acknowledge that the issue may extend to other states:

President Obama has told the Defense Department to expedite its review of nearly 10,000 California National Guard soldiers who have been ordered to repay enlistment bonuses improperly given a decade ago, but he is not backing growing calls for Congress to waive the debts, the White House said Tuesday. The comments by White House spokesman Josh Earnest suggest the administration is running into legal and policy roadblocks as it struggles to handle a public relations headache for the Pentagon, the National Guard and members of Congress who were caught off guard by the scope of the problem.

[...] California Guard officials say they informed California lawmakers about the scale of the debts in 2014, telling them in a list of legislative priorities sent to each House office and the House Armed Services Committee that "thousands of soldiers have inadvertently incurred debt, through no fault of their own because of faulty Army recruiting or accounting practices."


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:19PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:19PM (#419389) Journal

    Yes, there is. We only wish that were true. If we want that to be true, we have to make it true.

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    Washington DC delenda est.
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  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday October 27 2016, @04:24PM

    by sjames (2882) on Thursday October 27 2016, @04:24PM (#419461) Journal

    Actually, there isn't. Right and wrong are about morals and ethics. If the government plays by different rules, that just makes it willfully unethical.

    Had OP said lawful and unlawful instead, your statement would be correct. We have to press our government to align lawful and unlawful with right and wrong.