A wounded Iraq War veteran came forward last month to say the Pentagon asked him to repay a large chunk of his enlistment bonus, and Congress was outraged.
Lawmakers condemned the practice, and more than 250 signed on to sponsor legislation designed to right the wrong. They promised to rein in the heartless government bureaucrats who dared to implement a policy that could snatch soldiers' money away.
Problem is, there does not appear to be much of a problem.
Only a handful of cases have been found in which a wounded soldier was asked to repay a bonus, and those turned out to be clerical mistakes.
But Iraq is such an emotional issue that initial reports of mistreated veterans got many in Congress riled up.
"It's just a disgrace," said Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, estimating that the policy affected hundreds of veterans in his state alone.
"Unthinkable," said Senator Jeff Sessions.
It "shocks the conscience," said Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York Democrat and presidential candidate. "This policy is outrageous and should be reversed immediately."
Those watching such developments say the problem appears to have been wildly overstated.
"We're six years into a war. The military's been paying enlistment bonuses for a while, and we would have heard a lot about it" if it were happening, said Joe Davis, a spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars. "There are other issues that are more important for the Congress to be taking up."
The Pentagon says it has received just two complaints on the issue since a ``wounded warrior'' hotline was set up this summer.
Pentagon policy and practice for at least 20 years has been to fully pay enlistment bonuses to soldiers forced to leave the military early for reasons beyond their control, such as a combat injury, according to Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense.
Administrative lapses have occurred, however.
Most recently, Jordan Fox, an Army sniper from Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, who was partially blinded by a roadside bomb in Iraq, was mistakenly sent a letter asking him to repay US$2,800 of his enlistment bonus. A similar case, involving a veteran whose bonus payments were cut off, was found by a presidential commission formed earlier this year to recommend improvements in veterans' care.
In both instances, the Pentagon said the problems were administrative errors that would be corrected.
Fox, it turned out, will not be asked to repay his bonus.
Despite that, lawmakers have rushed to respond.
A bill was introduced in the Senate on Monday with sponsors including Clinton and fellow presidential candidate Senator John McCain of Arizona. In the House, members stepped up by the dozens after hearing Fox's story to sign on as co-sponsors of a similar bill introduced in October.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in