When Jordan Fox was serving in Iraq, his mother helped organize Operation Pittsburgh Pride, which sends thousands of care packages to U.S. troops from his hometown, which prompted a personal “thank you” from the White House. When Fox was seriously injured in Iraq, the president sent what appeared to be personal note, expressing his concerns to the Fox family.
But more recently, Fox received a different piece of correspondence from the Bush administration.
The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.
To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.
Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.
I watched the report from the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, and I kept thinking, “This can’t be right.” Apparently, it is.
In Jordan Fox’s case, he was seriously injured when a roadside bomb blew up his vehicle, causing back injuries and blindness in his right eye. He was sent home, unable to complete the final three months of his military commitment.
Last week, the Pentagon sent him a bill: Fox owed the government nearly $3,000 of his signing bonus.
“I tried to do my best and serve my country. I was unfortunately hurt in the process. Now they’re telling me they want their money back,” Fox said.
(snip)
One more reason to be ashamed of the Bush administration.
Only your comments are shameful!!!!!!!!!!! Bush is right! Our Troops, Our Country, and Our President need our support! if you wanna read into all the negative then it's you mam that are shameful. How about all the schools and hospitals being built. All of the Iraqi people who are experencing hope for the first time in their lives. Theses people long for the freedoms we take for granted everyday. They want a safe place to raise their children that have the oppurtunities we have. Our enemy over there are cowards using sick and twisted methods to kill our soldiers. I LOVE and Respect every soldier fighting in this war as well as the Bush administration.
Shame on you for discounting our Troops And President!! Oh, but that's right you're all for killing babies. Where exactly are your priorities?? Yep, mama your priorities are on the dog realitiy show. GOOD GRIEF!!!
So what are you gonna do now? Call the aclu, jesse, al, or some wicked liberal trial lawyer to file suit against me. Oh Please! Maybe you can get the media to tell you who I am so you can attack me personally!!
You know the above story does sound harsh and I hope that action is being taken to address this issue by the appropiate people. But to lay the blame for it at the feet of the Bush administration is wrong.
I served in the Air Force from 1973 to 1977. My dad retired from the Navy in 1973 after 22 years. I knew what military life held in store for me when I signed up. I didn't stay in the military because that was not the life I wanted. I served honorably and left.
When I enlisted I signed a contract with the Air Force and when it came time for me to re-enlist I was offered another contract along with a good bonus. While I don't recall what that re-enlistment contract said I would bet that there is a clause in it that stated that if I was unable to complete my term of service I would have to return a pro-rated portion of that bonus.
My point here is that Bush and his administration wasn't around when this contract was written. Yet he is to blame for that clause being in the contract. A little unfair don't you think?
No, I don't think it's unfair at all. Though it's true that Bush wasn't around when this contract was written, back in the nineties during Daddy Bush's reign, he signed into law The Americans with Disabilities Act. As you know, this is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.
Now, I'm thinking that Spc. Kaminski now has a disability considering that he's blind in one eye and has back problems that forced him out of completing his military obligation. To then discriminate against him by asking him to return money that he had to forfeit through no fault of his own is unconscionable…and, possibly, illegal.
At least we've got an intelligent Congressman who has introduced a bill that would change this ridiculous policy that punishes our soldiers who are discharged early because of combat-related injuries. As the article says, "…. Mr. Altmire’s legislation, the Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act, would require the Defense Department to pay bonuses in full within 30 days to veterans discharged because whof combat-related wounds."
It's very hard for me to imagine that anyone who reads this article would agree that wounded soldiers are not entitled to money they accepted in good faith and an with an obligation they had every intention of fulfilling had they been able to.
And as far as Bush not being around when the original contract was written...well, he's here now and has no problem whatsoever manipulating our laws and constitution whenever he chooses and as he sees fit. A compassionate person would think that this is just such a time to step up and intervene.
If you think back a few months to the scandal at Walter Reed, in which hospitalized veterans were housed amidst filth in ramshackle facilities, then it shouldn’t surprise you that the military wants to be equitable when it comes to dispensing misery.
But in all fairness, can we say this is the fault of W? Granted, he is the “Decider,” and as such he could probably issue an executive order to stop the military from being Indian givers with the signing bonuses. I think the only reason he hasn’t done this already is because his pen is out of ink from writing all the signing statements on laws he doesn’t feel like obeying.
It could be that because so many thought Iraq was going to be a “cakewalk,” (and because during any cakewalk I’ve ever attended nobody got their legs blown off,), maybe the top brass was more liberal in handing out signing bonuses than they would have been otherwise. Now they’re feeling the pinch.
But is it discrimination to ask these disabled vets to give the money back? I think so, because none of the dead soldiers can fight anymore either. To be fair, perhaps the military should dig them up and ask them to return their signing bonuses as well.
Hmmm... I can just feel the love for GW Bush filling the air...
I suppose that since he IS the commander in chief that he has the final responsibility.
But really folks, this is something he inherited just like all the presidents before him. Did he have knowledge of this particular injustice? Nope... Not a chance. No way he could know about this.
But now that he does know about it, the question is what is he going to do about it? I think that we must wait and see before we start throwing stones because of this.
I think the only reason he hasn’t done this already is because his pen is out of ink from writing all the signing statements on laws he doesn’t feel like obeying.
Pow! Zing! KaBoom!
Shared disgust for our leader warms the cockles of my heart.
What is a cockle anyway and why is it nice when they're warm?
The day after NAB posted this, newsweek posted an article at http://www.newsweek.com/id/71814 saying he won't have to pay the money back and the Army is investigating if other injured soldiers received similar letters. I'm glad to hear this has been resolved.
Ok... Since I didn't know the answer to your question nab I had to go look it up. Here is what I found..
One of the meanings of "cockle" is the chamber of a kiln: in reference to the heart, it refers to the chambers, of which there are four (two atria and two ventricles). The heart has always been associated with emotions, especially love, excitement and fear, probably because when we feel a strong emotion we feel our heart thumping and beating faster. So when something "warms the cockles of our heart", it is a reference to something pleasant that makes our heart beat faster and makes us feel good. It is probably also the origin of the saying that something gives us that "warm and fuzzy feeling".
John Frith, Paddington
Learn something new every day...
As for President Bush, while I don't agree with everything he's done I just don't understand the hatred he has engendered in so many people.
Thanks for looking that up, Wayne, I've been waiting on tenterhooks for the answer. Now if I only knew what a tenterhook was.
As for why W is despised with the white-hot vehemence of an exploding gas stove, you might recall 4 to 6 years ago when W was the National Savior, Unifier, and the American Civic Pontifex Maximus.
Now to me, the POTUS is just a glorified civil servant whose office has accrued more power and importance than the Founding Fathers ever intended. But from some reason, folks seem to want to endow semi-divine status on it. There is nothing great about getting 51% or more in an election.
It makes sense then that if people are going to bestow hysterical but undeserved adoration and moral authority on someone, that person will alternately inspire an equal amount of enmity and contempt.
As for me myownself, I have no special scorn for W, at least no more than I hold for any of the other gas bags that have occupied that office. His bad luck was being president during the age of the Internet, when it is harder to keep your corruption and ineptitude a secret, and you can fact check any statement instantly. Saint Abraham and Saint Franklin would have faired just as bad.
WOW! Its nice to have a day off to actually reply to some of this.
I have a different perspective on the war than most people due to the fact that my best friend is from Israel and her husband was very high placed in the American embassy in Israel when they met. I have heard the personal side of the story of the middle east. How it has touched peoples lives, and how it continues to touch and destroy lives every day (on both sides).
While my friend and her husband fully support the war and the president, myself, I have to say that I support the troops. What was done to the soldier was a callous clerical error. It was probably set up for people that left the military under different circumstances and the wounded soldiers got mixed into the paperwork.
When dealing with government agencies you have to realize that there is never a gray area until you make a fuss and show them that sometimes BLACK and WHITE mixed together will always make gray (basic art class ).
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