WP: For Injured U.S. Troops, 'Financial Friendly Fire'

[sabra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/13/AR2005101302166.html

For Injured U.S. Troops, 'Financial Friendly Fire'
Flaws in Pay System Lead to Dunning, Credit Trouble

By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 14, 2005; Page A01

His hand had been blown off in Iraq, his body pierced by shrapnel. He could not walk. Robert Loria was flown home for a long recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he tried to bear up against intense physical pain and reimagine his life's possibilities.

The last thing on his mind, he said, was whether the Army had correctly adjusted his pay rate -- downgrading it because he was out of the war zone -- or whether his combat gear had been accounted for properly: his Kevlar helmet, his suspenders, his rucksack.

But nine months after Loria was wounded, the Army garnished his wages and then, as he prepared to leave the service, hit him with a $6,200 debt. That was just before last Christmas, and several lawmakers scrambled to help. This spring, a collection agency started calling. He owed another $646 for military housing.

...

"This is a financial friendly fire," charged Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, which has been looking into the issue. "It's awful." Davis called the failure systemic and said military "pay problems have been an embarrassment all the way through" the war.

[marmar]

1. It's scary to think...

about the physical, emotional, financial and relationship damage done to these soldiers as a result of the war, especially the National Guard troops. It's going to take a generation to rebuild the military.

[flowomo]

2. that is simply disgusting....

no words can describe the meanness behind these tactics.

[brentspeak]

3. Meanwhile, Halliburton gets more billions for not providing services.

Greatest graft scandal in this nation's history.

[progressivebydesign]

4. How much money have we given the Pentagon?? there is NO excuse..

for an "outdated computer sytem" that cannot catch this. I frankly think it's more than a computer glitch. Reservists have gotten astoundingly bad treatment after being wounded in George's War. This is a disgrace.

[shanti]

5. my god...

did this EVER happen to vietnam vets??

[kath]

6. Speechless.

[54anickel]

7. Support our troops!!! Shrubie says America's behind them 100%

Yeah, whatever...:eyes:

This is so sad. They can put up a freakin' website asking for donations for rebuilding Iraq, (might as well contribute directly to Hellaburnin) but they do nothing to support the troops.

[LynnTheDem]

8. Friendly fire isn't.

REPUBLICANS AND BUSH DO NOT SUPPORT OUR TROOPS.

No Bankruptcy Protection for Troops

U.S. Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to shield military personnel from changes to bankruptcy law that would force more debtors to repay their creditors.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aamWalvvBr.8&refer=us

Veterans' Benefits "hurtful" to National Security, says Pentagon

The Wall Street Journal describes the pittance set aside for veteran’s benefits as "Congress’ generosity," even as the Republican-controlled Congress and Bush Pentagon get set to slash billions more from Veterans Administration’s (VA) programs. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (1-25-05), Pentagon official David Chu, in a mockery of the contribution of veterans, defended a new round of cuts by ironically describing funding for programs like veterans’ education and job training, health care, pensions, VA housing and the like as "hurtful" to national security.
http://classwarnotes.blogspot.com/2005/01/veterans-benefits-hurtful-to-national_26.html

Back from Iraq - and suddenly out on the streets

An increasing number of veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan ending up homeless. Psychological trauma, high housing costs, gaps in pay between civilians and the military which mean ex-servicemen cannot save for deposits and the lag in getting VA assistance all contribute to this growing problem.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0208/p02s01-ussc.html

Bush Budget Raises Drug Prices for Many Veterans; more than DOUBLE

President Bush's budget would more than double the co-payment charged to many veterans for prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using government health care, administration officials said...

The government had no immediate estimate of how many veterans would be affected if the user fee and co-payment proposals were adopted. But veterans' groups said that hundreds of thousands of people would end up paying more and that many would be affected by both changes
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0E12F8355F0C748CDDAB0894DD404482

Soldiers dying for lack of $20 tourniquets

Since at least a month before the war in Iraq began, medical experts in the Army and other services have called on the Pentagon to equip every American soldier in the war zone with a modern tourniquet. The simple first-aid tool - a more sophisticated version of the cloth-and-stick device used by armies for centuries - could all but eliminate deaths caused by blood loss from extremity wounds, the most common cause of preventable death in combat, they argue. The cost would not likely exceed $2 million, or about two-thousandths of a percent of the $82 billion proposed for the war this year.

Yet many of the nation's soldiers - tens of thousands, some doctors and Army medical officials estimate - continue to enter battle without tourniquets. And some bleed to death from battlefield injuries that would not be life-threatening if a proper tourniquet were available, according to more than a dozen military doctors and medics...
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-to.vigil11jul11,1,7580607.story?coll=bal-iraq-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true

[Solly Mack]

9. and to add to that: the military requires that you "waive" your

disability in the event of an amputation - if you want to remain within the military.

All amputations are worth a percentage of disability - certain amputations are worth an automatic 50% - but if you "elect" to remain in the military- and reassigned or not- you must sign a waiver forfeiting ALL disability on that claim. (amputation)

If you're "fit" enough to remain in the military - you're too fit for disability ( the gotcha) - no matter where you left your leg or arm.

and if you don't make it to retirement (which keeps changing), then you're without retirement as well as disability (on that claim).


You may or may not qualify for disability on another injury, but the one you "waived" is gone.

And some soldiers with amputations sign that waiver for the medical care and family expenses - rock and a hard place.

Then to add insult to injury, they tout you as a success story - here's this wounded soldier who stayed in - ain't we grand?

[NVMojo]

10. time for Dick ass Cheney to donate his money from his Halliburton

stocks to a worthy cause ...the soldiers whose lives he's destroyed.

[leveymg]

11. The Court would be happy to make those arrangements for him

All that's required is indictment, trial and conviction. Maybe Dick won't be enjoying that $2.9 million estate he just bought in St. Mary's County, Maryland.

That's okay. The Court would be glad to find him alternative housing arrangements. For life.:evilgrin: