U.S. Soldiers Must Pay For Their Own War Expenses

Guardsmen, Reservists Foot Own War Expenses

This is absolutely unbelievable to me. I cannot understand how the U.S. can not pay it's soldiers on time. Guardsmen and Reservists have been pulled away from their lives and their families during this time of war, yet the government cannot even reimburse them for expenses in a timely enough manner to avoid causing serious negative credit? We have obvisouly sunk lots and lots of money into this war, so why do we not see the impact of the $$$?

This reminds me of the stories about soldiers building their own tank reinforcments, and digging through landfills to find supplies. Where the heck is all this money going?

And Cheney's! I would image you will find them and their friends are getting rich as hell.

Yeah, I bet Halliburton has some jingle they could loan them..

Or how about the Saudi's? They own 8% of the US anyways, maybe they could float our troops a loan?

Originally posted by cohiba

This is absolutely unbelievable to me. I cannot understand how the U.S. can not pay it's soldiers on time. Guardsmen and Reservists have been pulled away from their lives and their families during this time of war, yet the government cannot even reimburse them for expenses in a timely enough manner to avoid causing serious negative credit? We have obvisouly sunk lots and lots of money into this war, so why do we not see the impact of the $$$?

I have a cousin that went to Iraq in January and he hadn't got paid since October. He went every day the week before he got on the plane to go over there to try to resolve the problem, but nothing happened. Now since he wasn't getting paid, he wasn't even insured. If he had got killed, his family wouldn't have received any benefits. He didn't even have medical insurance for his family. He tried to get the problem resolved over there and couldn't get anywhere. He finally told his boss that he was going to turn in his equipment and sue them for breech of contract. At that point he was told that he didn't have to go past the base gates until the problem was resolved and he started getting his pay. He told me that that didn't do a lot of good because the came under mortar attack every day. When he still didn't get paid he went back and told them that he wanted a plane ticket and his money. They got him calmed down again and made more promises, but nothing ever happened. When he called me for help, his wife had about a weeks worth of food in the house, no insurance on the truck she was driving, all the bills were behind with threatening calls from creditors every day. I started calling senators and congressmen and the whitehouse (202)456-1414 or(202)456-1111. I couldn't do anything myself because I was not a spouse or have power of attorney, but I got the right people to call his wife to get it the ball rolling. You can do a google search to find the senator or congerssman in your area. About three days later he called and said that he didn't know what I had done, but he had got a letter from the whitehouse with a promise that the problem would be resolved quickly. Well, he got his check a day early, March 31. He hasn't got his back pay yet because they said that it would take a while to calculate it. There is something wrong with the system for this problem to go on as long as it did without something being done about it. If you are in a battle zone and being shot at every day, you don't need to be worried if your children have enough food to eat. Not only is your life in danger, but the people around you are in danger too. A mistake by one person can get many others killed also.

Yeah, they should not be expected to fight unless they are paid.This,IMO, nullifies any agreement between soldiers and Gov.

Originally posted by Trustnone
Yeah, they should not be expected to fight unless they are paid.This,IMO, nullifies any agreement between soldiers and Gov.

Good thing you aren't a slodier.... Pay issues are not new to the military, this is primarily due to the sheer number of people and processes that are taken to ensure pay is correct. In fact, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) is the worlds largest accounting firm.

It's unfortunate that some people experience pay issues - but they will be paid correctly. And when soldiers swear to protect the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic - they do not add "as long as I am paid correctly and on time"

heh, and since iraq was not an enemy that pretty much nullified his contract right there, like it or not. hate to talk bad about the gov. but they went to an illegal war, whats stopping them from not paying either?

Originally posted by Starwars51

Originally posted by Trustnone
Yeah, they should not be expected to fight unless they are paid.This,IMO, nullifies any agreement between soldiers and Gov.

Good thing you aren't a slodier.... Pay issues are not new to the military, this is primarily due to the sheer number of people and processes that are taken to ensure pay is correct. In fact, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) is the worlds largest accounting firm.

It's unfortunate that some people experience pay issues - but they will be paid correctly. And when soldiers swear to protect the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic - they do not add "as long as I am paid correctly and on time"

mabe they should add that clause into the pledge. if they did perhapse they would learn not to shortchange those that are doing their bidding. i wonder how the government would react if like a lot of industry the army went on strike for not paying them? isn't it bad enough that personell have to face the possibility of death and serious injury without adding in bankruptsy? it is bad enough that they are fighting a war that many arround the world see as a war of agression? then they might not even get paid for it. gee i'm glad i'm not them, both moral and finantual worries as well as whether they will make it home alive.

A honest mistake is one thing, but he went fiive months without a check all the time trying to get the problem resolved. There is NO excuse for it going on as long as it did.

And the problem continues...


From Drudge Report Developing Story Link

Hundreds of soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq have been improperly billed for service-related debts as a result of systemic errors by the Pentagon's Defense Finance and Accounting Service, according to documents obtained by U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT.

Almost 900 Army soldiers were assessed debts totaling $1.2 million between 2001 and 2005, according to two draft reports from the Government Accountability Office that were obtained by the magazine; 73 percent of the debts assigned to the soldiers were the result of Pentagon payroll errors.

The GAO reports identified "331 battle-injured soldiers whose military-service debts were undergoing collection action, including at least 74 soldiers whose military debts had been reported to credit bureaus and private collection agencies."

So, they can't get paid on time, and now the Pentagon is improperly billing and attempting collection...