Wounded US soldiers fighting off military debts: report

[deadparrot]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Hundreds of US soldiers wounded in Iraq have been hounded by bill collectors for military debts after coming home, US television reported.

In one case the Army demanded a soldier repay a 2,700 dollar enlistment bonus because he only served two years of a three year tour -- even though it was a mortar blast in Iraq that cut short his service, according to the ABC News report.

In another case, the army mistakenly continued paying a combat bonus to a soldier while he recuperated from a roadside bomb that nearly severed his leg -- then sought to get 2,000 dollars of it back.

"By law, he's not entitled to the money, so he must pay it back," Colonel Richard Shrank, the head of the US Army Finance Command, was quoted as saying.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usiraqmilitarydebts

[Up2Late]

1. "US Army Finance Command???" WTF?

This is F*cked up!:mad:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

6. The Army's version of a collection agency. Real nice.

[ShockediSay]

11. And how many of the poor bastards will end up homeless?

It's a national disgrace what we let our politicians do to our vets.

[IndianaGreen]

2. USAFINCOM's Col Shrank is a gem of a human being!

Let's send this desk jockey to Fallujah for an attitude adjustment!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. Absolutely.

He should go and be permenently assigned to walking point on patrol, to "get a feel" for what the average line grunt deals with.

You can bet your bottom dollar this pogue is one of Rummy's kind of guys.

[CAG]

3. Yes folks, the 532nd story about the * admin's disdain for the troops,

and the 532nd straight story that will not make a LICK of difference in the general public's mind about how repubs treat soldiers and veterans like dogs.

Just keep buying those yeller ribbons for your 10 mpg SUV's and hummers to show your support for those debt-ridden wounded soldiers, twisted selfish arrogant pharisee bastards.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

7. They have no respect for any human being.

[Cassandra]

4. I assume that Finance Command are the people...

who take money from the soldiers so they can give it to Halliburton.

[CAG]

25. Maybe they could outsource this to halliburton & cut out the middleman.

[barb162]

5. this was on ABC Nightly News today. It was a horrible story!

And there are hearings on it this week in Congress. Thejy showed this one soldier who had his leg blown off by a roadside bomb and he was being hounded for debts.

[Up2Late]

9. I think NPR did a story about this about a year ago...

...probably different wounded Soldiers, but I'll see what I can find.

[Festivito]

17. ABC link from DUer Swede.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=1894152&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

General Discussion
Swede (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-27-06 11:34 AM
Original message
Wounded Soldiers Fight Off Bill Collectors at Home
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1037741

[Up2Late]

10. Here's the NPR report from October 2005. Good to see ABC 's...

...right on top this issue. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4959370>

Pay Problems Plague Returning Soldiers

Listen to this story...(at link)
by Eric Niiler

All Things Considered, October 14, 2005 ·
Many wounded soldiers are fighting another battle at home: dealing
with pay problems created by the military. In many cases, the Army
is "adding" debt to soldiers' paychecks. The problem has continued for
years despite government inquiries and complaints by veterans groups.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4959370>

[salin]

12. geez.

send folks into combat often with inadequate training and/or equipment - and then when wounded - hound them.

Meanwhile agree to pay overcharges due to demonstrated fraud on no bid contracts to Halliburton.

[saigon68]

13. Pay overcharges to Halliburton

War Criminal Cheney grinning from ear to ear.

[bleedingheart]

14. So KBR and Halliburton can over charge by millions for stuff they don't

complete and soldiers must pay back bonuses because they are wounded...that is the GOP for ya

[Karenina]

24. You mean, like THIS???

Halliburton collected $100,000 a day for a pipeline it never built
April 25, 2006
Rebuilding of Iraqi Pipeline as Disaster Waiting to Happen

By JAMES GLANZ


When Robert Sanders was sent by the Army to inspect the construction work an American company was doing on the banks of the Tigris River, 130 miles north of Baghdad, he expected to see workers drilling holes beneath the riverbed to restore a crucial set of large oil pipelines, which had been bombed during the invasion of Iraq.What he found instead that day in July 2004 looked like some gargantuan heart-bypass operation gone nightmarishly bad. A crew had bulldozed a 300-foot-long trench along a giant drill bit in their desperate attempt to yank it loose from the riverbed. A supervisor later told him that the project's crews knew that drilling the holes was not possible, but that they had been instructed by the company in charge of the project to continue anyway.

A few weeks later, after the project had burned up all of the $75.7 million allocated to it, the work came to a halt.

The project, called the Fatah pipeline crossing, had been a critical element of a $2.4 billion no-bid reconstruction contract that a Halliburton subsidiary had won from the Army in 2003. The spot where about 15 pipelines crossed the Tigris had been the main link between Iraq's rich northern oil fields and the export terminals and refineries that could generate much-needed gasoline, heating fuel and revenue for Iraqis.

For all those reasons, the project's demise would seriously damage the American-led effort to restore Iraq's oil system and enable the country to pay for its own reconstruction. Exactly what portion of Iraq's lost oil revenue can be attributed to one failed project, no matter how critical, is impossible to calculate. But the pipeline at Al Fatah has a wider significance as a metaphor for the entire $45 billion rebuilding effort in Iraq. Although the failures of that effort are routinely attributed to insurgent attacks, an examination of this project shows that troubled decision-making and execution have played equally important roles.

The Fatah project went ahead despite warnings from experts that it could not succeed because the underground terrain was shattered and unstable.

It continued chewing up astonishing amounts of cash when the predicted problems bogged the work down, with a contract that allowed crews to charge as much as $100,000 a day as they waited on standby.

http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/7995892.html

[Bandit]

15. My only hope is they were Bush* voters

You reap what you sow....:shrug: This is the way the military works folks. If you want to be in the military and it is an all voluntary force then you must put up with how they operate. Not that I have no sympathy for these young men but they did volunteer....They knew the risks...

[Bridget Burke]

16. My only hope is that they get the help they need.

You assume that they voted for Bush & look down on them from your lofty righteousness.

Politically speaking, I doubt that many will vote Republican in the future.

[Bandit]

20. Whatever

:shrug: You know what a soldier's job is don't you? Do you think they are so stupid that they don't know? They volunteered for their job. "I was a soldier once and young". I know somewhat of their experiences.

[Bridget Burke]

21. Were you stupid when you volunteered?

Or were you too stupid to get out of the draft?

[Bandit]

22. The second one

I was to stupid to get out of the draft...

[Kailassa]

23. I've known many people who have joined the armed forces

under the impression that they would only be called on to fight in defence of their country.

Even if they voted Republican, many at that age are still to stupid to see past what their parents, friends and media are telling them. Readjusting to civilian life and finding work after fighting are difficult enough without this bullshit.

And having people who have been trained to kill put in an impossible situation when they are trying to return to civilian life will end up not being good for anyone.

[katinmn]

18. Is there any way they haven't abused the troops?

Lack of proper armor
Toxic sewage water supplied by Halliburton
Outdated food served by Halliburton
Dishonered by keeping their returning bodies a secret

And the biggest abuse: The war is based on a lie.

[Up2Late]

26. You forgot "...returned the wrong body to a family in Australia..."

Just happened a few days ago.

<http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/world/national/2006/04/27/Australia-body060427.html>

<http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/bosnians-body-sent-by-mistake/2006/04/28/1145861525017.html>

:cry:

[0007]

19. ...and these mindless whores wonder why they can't recruit

people into the Armed forces.