Early on a summer morn, before the heat takes over the day, as the sun slowly paints the sky, even a place like central Oklahoma, close to Lawton, can be beautiful. The way the barren landscapes of the moon or Mars can be beautiful. A body can stand in the rural Oklahoma sands, catch a soft breeze, and see for miles. The birds chase each other around in the wind, and a kind of peace washes over you.
Until the drill sergeant notices you've messed something up. . . .
California? California? You say you're from California? I don't even like the SOUND of "California"! Drop and give me 20! Better yet, how about some grass drills? Front! Back! Front! Back! Frontbackfrontbackfrontbackfrontback! You better catch up, recruit!
You people are as messed up as a football bat! So the Pentagon needed soldiers a decade ago, right? And offered bonuses for NCOs in intel and other important jobs in the California National Guard. Sounded like a good deal, right? Grunts re-upped for years and more tours of duty overseas, in combat, because of the bonuses and debt forgiveness.
Well, well, well. If the brass didn't fubar all that up. Must've been officers involved! Stop slapping at those sand fleas! They gotta eat too!
Illegal payments upwards of $15 million! And instead of writing off the money--$15 million is a rounding error on the monthly fuel bill at the Pentagon--the brass is billing the troops for the overpayments! One soldier who re-upped for the bonus, was sent to war and wounded, was given a bill for $46,000 when he got back! And they tacked on a 1 percent processing fee!
Not only that, but they gave him a limited time to pay off the debt! He was making $1,300-a-month payments!
Did you polish those boots with a Hershey bar? There's three parts of a boot that needs shining, recruit: The toe, the heel, and the rest of the boot!
The papers say almost 10,000 guardsmen have been told to pay back these bonuses! Everybody's finding somebody else to blame.
The California Guard blames the feds. The DoD says the affected soldiers can "petition to have the debt waived." Welcome to the Army, kids, where paperwork is king! Of course, some of these soldiers have, ahem, petitioned for relief multiple times. And the brass keeps kicking their requests back.
You must have a twin brother in this company! Because no one person can be that stupid!
Next up: Wage garnishments! Tax liens! Interest charges! Credit dings! All because the paper-pushers didn't have their stuff squared away! Somebody tell me this isn't a government operation!
If it takes an act of Congress to clean up this mess, then an act of Congress it'll hafta be! But until then, the letters will keep a-coming at mail call. The government has messed this up. Somebody needs to de-mess it. And not un-de-mess it!
I swear! Somebody get Congress on the phone. It appears as though common sense is rare at the Pentagon these days. . . . But in this man's Army, that's SOP.
Editorial on 10/26/2016