US Soldiers not getting Paid

Soldiers still waiting for tour bonuses

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has not started complying with a law requiring the payment of monthly bonuses of up to $500 to soldiers forced to remain on active duty beyond their enlistment period, military officials said.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman acknowledged the five-month delay in paying the bonuses and said the Defense Department is working on a plan to start paying the almost 13,000 soldiers currently under the Army's stop-loss orders. Although Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to end the policy, the number of soldiers affected has risen since the middle of 2007.

Congress added $72 million to pay for the bonuses in its plan for the budget year that started Oct. 1. The money was to be paid after the Pentagon submitted a plan outlining how the payments would be made.

But no plan has been provided, Rob Blumenthal, a spokesman for the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Friday.

www.usatoday.com...


This was pay for stopploss.....

Wooo....we are going (no we have) to have some upset Marines...Military.

I hope they sort this fubar out.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. soldiers forced to return to active duty haven't received the pay bonuses they were promised five months ago, advocates say.

The 13,000 soldiers, who were made to remain on active duty beyond their enlistment period by so-called stop-loss orders, are entitled to monthly bonuses of up to $500 under a plan approved last year by Congress and was set to take effect Oct. 1. But the soldiers are still waiting to see the bonuses, USA Today reported Monday.

www.upi.com...

They can't afford to pay the soldiers bonuses?
AWW poor diddums, I didn't get much of a bonus this year either , and I work for a bank , I thought banks were supposed to be getting money hand over fist?.
Maybe if the military didn't spend $60 billion a year on propaganda and 'recruitment drives' then maybe they'd have enough to pay the troops.

Originally posted by DataWraith
They can't afford to pay the soldiers bonuses?
AWW poor diddums,

I didn't get much of a bonus this year either , and I work for a bank , I thought banks were supposed to be getting money hand over fist?.
Maybe if the military didn't spend $60 billion a year on propaganda and 'recruitment drives' then maybe they'd have enough to pay the troops.

Holy.

A little pissed off are we?

These are the guys you don't want mad....theyve been trained for Urban Warfare and have had some extra practice with no pay.....meanwhile the old lady back home has decided that she can't stand it any longer...he gets his dear John letter...gets back home with very little money and no girlfriend then we have one big stinky pile of pissed off kaka waiting to spread the joy.

At that point you can kiss your bankrs butt goodbye. lol

This is just the tip of the iceberg, there are other pay issues as well. One of my buddies, stationed at Fort Hood with me, was in the Army about a year. He wasn't getting paid, this is after we got back from Iraq of course.

Any way more to the point, he was in my Platoon, just in another section. Some how the finance dept was tracking him as having PCS'ed to another duty station and got out of the Army.

Now he never left Fort Hood, and still has like two years left on his contract. But they messed up so bad on his paper work, that they really thought he had left.


This is not an isolated incident, it has happened to other people, with varying circumstances. Each soldier that had pay issue was being told something else, different reasons for their pay being all messed up.

So it is not jut the money not being there, due to expenditures, there are some seriously ligit messed up finance issues.

Just my $.02

Of all people to piss off. Don't piss off those who protect the country.?!

This is like asking your cousin for a date in front of her brother....you just don't do such things. lol


WTF do they expect. Gratitude?

Makes you wonder about the wisdom of those keeping watch at the gates.

Originally posted by DataWraith
They can't afford to pay the soldiers bonuses?
AWW poor diddums,

I didn't get much of a bonus this year either , and I work for a bank , I thought banks were supposed to be getting money hand over fist?.
Maybe if the military didn't spend $60 billion a year on propaganda and 'recruitment drives' then maybe they'd have enough to pay the troops.

This kind of statement amazes me!.. I cant stand your ignorance... you work for a bank??? your the reason we are in this!

Maybe you should be saying thank you to the people you are calling diddums, or maybe get off your a$$ and do your time in the sand box!

[edit on 23-2-2009 by Smokinbbl]

I hope the retirement pay comes on time and that there's no problems with it. We really depend on that, especially with the threat of my husband getting laid off.

Actually pissed off soldiers losing faith in the government they are defending is a good thing for the US public.

At least with our armed forces losing faith in Uncle Sugar, there is less chance they will obey orders telling them to police Americans - or worse yet, fire upon them.

We can always count on the .gov to do exactly what it takes for things to backfire on them

How in the hell can they even let a single day pass without our soldiers, who die for reasons they may not even support, not get their money?

What a freaking disgrace of a government we have.

DISGRACE.

We need to throw the politicians on the front line...SOB'S!

This ought to be one of the most shameful things The US has done. No words to say. Pay the kids who protect us!

reply to post by DataWraith

You work for a bank?
Wow, id keep that quiet, dont know who's pitch fork you could end up on the end of.
Secondly,
Id much rather see your wages limited to $0.00, if it meant the soliders get paid.

After all, they were stop lossed, in a war no one needed..... they deserve every penny any banker ever made.

[edit on 23-2-2009 by Agit8dChop]

reply to post by PammyK


Damn politicians send them to war, make them serve longer than their original term was supposed to be, then reward them with not paying them?

Unbelievable. It doesn't get much more disrespectful than that.

Just sickening.

Originally posted by David9176
We need to throw the politicians on the front line...SOB'S!

I bet they would get their pay when they were supposed to get it.

reply to post by Jenna


Oh yeah, you KNOW they'd get paid.


It's one thing to have the public get ripped off, but to have US soldiers who are laying in sand in 100 degree weather, dodging bullets and trying to stay alive and to disrespect them like this is completely unacceptable.

wow...I mean...just wow.....when you have all the banks lining up for trillions on bailout dollars and we cant even pay our soldiers. I will say this however and datawraith although came off cocky does have a point. If there wasnt billions spent in propaganda and and other wasteful spending that money could easily go to the soldiers. There is a lot of waste in the military and Im not talking about the soldiers Im talking the people in charge.....

[edit on 23-2-2009 by tjeffersonsghost]

I have a really good friend who has been stoplossed. He was supposed to have retired last November and he's still there in the sand pit and won't be released to return home for another 4-6 months. He's on his 4th tour.

Mr Banker dude .... that's all I can say to you. SHAME!

I haven't had an opportunity to talk to him recently but I'm sure if this is going on with others it's going on with him too. Not only that but there was a period of about 2 months he didn't get his pay at all because they screwed up his paperwork and had him showing as home when he was in Iraq!

But yeah, don't wanna piss these guys off. They're out there risking their lives for this war that they didn't ask for and alot of them don't really believe in. Don't diss the soldiers!

reply to post by David9176


They'd get paid, get paid the bonus, and still manage to sit in an office somewhere so they wouldn't get sand in their panties.

And I completely agree, it's bad enough they are stopping them from getting out when they are supposed to. Not paying them what they are supposed to be getting paid is just adding insult to injury.

Originally posted by ADVISOR
This is just the tip of the iceberg, there are other pay issues as well. One of my buddies, stationed at Fort Hood with me, was in the Army about a year. He wasn't getting paid, this is after we got back from Iraq of course.

Any way more to the point, he was in my Platoon, just in another section. Some how the finance dept was tracking him as having PCS'ed to another duty station and got out of the Army.

Now he never left Fort Hood, and still has like two years left on his contract. But they messed up so bad on his paper work, that they really thought he had left.


This is not an isolated incident, it has happened to other people, with varying circumstances. Each soldier that had pay issue was being told something else, different reasons for their pay being all messed up.

So it is not jut the money not being there, due to expenditures, there are some seriously ligit messed up finance issues.

Just my $.02

Every once in a while congress screws up and they don't get paid at all. Remember when the budget wasn't approved for the military then congress took a 2 week vacation ya that sucked.

Several times while I was in I never saw a paycheck because of budget concerns normally around this time of year so I'm not all that surprised.

You would get fair warning or at least I was always told beforehand to be prepared because we may not get paid.

They should be glad it's just the bonus this time. But ya I would be ticked if it was because they refused to let me get out at the end of my enlistment. I'm sure for that reason it's going to hit the fan very soon.

reply to post by Jenna


What's even worse is that it's only 500 dollars? That's all they get for being forced to serve out there longer?

I had no idea.

Our government sucks. I have a hard time even finding something good to say about them. They screw up everything they touch and screw over most of the people they should be helping.

Trillions and trillions wasted and they have the nerve to let this kind of crap happen.

I wish we could bring them all home.

reply to post by David9176


I didn't know the bonus was that low either. Granted it adds up over time, but it certainly isn't worth it.

This is what happens when we elect the same greedy people back into office and expect a different outcome.