Outrage of the Day

The military is now fuckin' with the pay of wounded veterans due to the military's own accounting mistakes. Go see this 8min video at ABC News.

Almost all vets have had pay issues at one time or another. Here's the way this latest one goes: the military takes its own sweet time figuring out they've overpaid a soldier for whatever reason, in most cases it's combat pay they give up when they get the shit blasted out of 'em and have to be evacuated to a hospital outside the combat zone. The military, ever slow to react, just keeps payin' 'em the danger bonus. Then when they finally figure it out, they go into high gear and take it back all at once by taking it out of his pay until it is paid back. Not a logical or compassionate amount like $20 or $50 or $100 a month, all his pay until his account is squared. It's punitive, as if the soldier was somehow scammin' 'em out of something.

This wasn't too big a deal in my day. Most of the guys were single, lived in the barracks, and ate in the chow hall. It was unpleasant to not have any money, but we got by. I made $212.50 a month at my loftiest rank, so it wasn't much money to begin with.

Today, an awful lot of, if not most, servicemen are married with families. They have to pay rent, buy food and clothes, make a car payment, all the usual stuff. It is not just "unpleasant", it's disastrous. They punish the soldier's family for their own bureaucratic turpitude.

The military is trying to fix this, but over 5000 soldiers (that they'll admit to) have been adversely affected aka screwed by DoD's selfishness and uncaring attitude.

Note to DoD Paymaster: it ain't your money, it's ours. Yeah, the soldiers didn't have the money coming and have to pay it back. Fine. It was your mistake, not theirs. Be a little more gentle and caring about how you go about it. Unlike you, these guys are real soldiers who got shot up in combat, not paper cuts behind a desk in Disbursing. Use some goddam common sense in applying the rule book.