Reply #6: Not to worry, Pentagon Collection Agency gearing up to plug those holes [View All]

[Laughing Mirror]

Marine Staff Sgt. Bill Murwin answered his country's call to duty in Iraq, was seriously wounded and lost part of his left foot. A grateful nation considers him a hero. The military, however, treated Murwin as if he were a deadbeat, threatening to turn his name over to a collection agency for an overdue debt.

Here is the most outrageous part of this story, which was reported by Times staff writer Bill Adair. The debt was for food Murwin ate while he was hospitalized, recovering from his war injuries. An obscure law passed in 1981 requires soldiers to reimburse the government for their $8.10 daily food allowance while in a military hospital because they are being fed for free.

Murwin had little choice where he ate. After a short stay in a hospital in Germany, he was transferred to a U.S. medical center. In all, he owed about $243 for hospital food that, he concedes, wasn't too bad. He got one of the bills in the mail, and three days later a warning that said the payment was overdue and would be referred to a collection agency.

When Rep. C.W. Bill Young and his wife, Beverly, heard about Murwin's plight, they helped pay his bill. And because Young is one of the most powerful politicians in Washington, he was able to do something else - file legislation to repeal the 1981 law.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/09/12/Opinion/A_different_GI_bill.shtml