Soldiers still waiting for stop-loss bonuses

[unhappycamper]

Soldiers still waiting for stop-loss bonuses
By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Monday Feb 23, 2009 15:45:35 EST

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 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 fiscal year 2009, which 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.

“It is unacceptable that the Department (of Defense) has failed to construct a plan for issuing these payments,” said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a former Marine who chairs the House Appropriations Committee’s defense panel. “Stop-loss is nothing more than a backdoor draft, and ... if the Defense Department is going to insist on holding service members under stop-loss orders, then they should be compensated for their service.”

Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/gns_army_bonuses_022309/%2e