DA demanding repayment of Re-up Bonus

I'm conflicted.

As a staff sergeant, I was paid a $15,000 that I did not rate do to a change in employment. The bonus manager should have caught it, but he didn't (because he was inept, but that's another story). I immediately notified my unit and paid back the $10,500 that actually hit my account. Then I received "no pay dues" for a few months until tax season the following year, when I could get the rest of the $4,500 that went to taxes back. As you can understand, there was some hardship involved, so I am sympathetic to pay problems.

With that said, the CA NG is widely known to be crooked, look at the scandal their Air Guard just went through double paying pilots. Most of the people referenced in the story were senior NCOs and officers, and, frankly, should have known better. The chiro that received a bonus plus student loan repayments is a prime example of someone who I bet knew exactly how illegal his payments were.

 

Yep. I had a back and forth with finance over my adjusted COLA after I got married which resulted in me getting garnished for four four months until they realiz d that I was right and then gave it all back at once. Leaders need to counsel and ensure that people understand and review their LES.

 

I don't care if they are an overpayment at all. If these men re-enlisted and went into combat then it should be left alone. Period. Any demand of repayment is absurd.

 

Yeah no. I know you are trying to be an advocate and everything but people get what they are owed.

 

I would have to take these case by case.

15K for 6 year re-enlistment was pretty much standard for the Guard during this time frame.

But reading through the article, that's not the types of bonuses they're talking about. It's more about sign on bonuses, accession bonuses, and loan repayments. And these programs all have severe restrictions on who qualifies. I fear that a great many of these troops knew exactly what was going on.

And at some point individual responsibility comes into play. A captain should not be complaining about bonuses, as a senior leader they should know.

 

I can't make a completely informed opinion, because I've heard different claims as to what the bonuses were for. But I can weigh in and say that anytime I saw extra money in my account (and it happened a couple of times), I didn't touch it until I found out exactly why it was there. Uncle Sam WILL get his money back if he wasn't supposed to give it to you.

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