Lesson in the Evils of Government, number 11,897,654,365,114,701: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses a decade after going to war. The LA Times:
Short of troops to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan a decade ago, the California National Guard enticed thousands of soldiers with bonuses of $15,000 or more to reenlist and go to war.
Now the Pentagon is demanding the money back.
Nearly 10,000 soldiers, many of whom served multiple combat tours, have been ordered to repay large enlistment bonuses — and slapped with interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens if they refuse — after audits revealed widespread overpayments by the California Guard at the height of the wars last decade.
Investigations have determined that lack of oversight allowed for widespread fraud and mismanagement by California Guard officials under pressure to meet enlistment targets.
But soldiers say the military is reneging on 10-year-old agreements and imposing severe financial hardship on veterans whose only mistake was to accept bonuses offered when the Pentagon needed to fill the ranks.
“These bonuses were used to keep people in,” said Christopher Van Meter, a 42-year-old former Army captain and Iraq veteran from Manteca, Calif., who says he refinanced his home mortgage to repay $25,000 in reenlistment bonuses and $21,000 in student loan repayments that the Army says he should not have received. “People like me just got screwed.”
…
The problem offers a dark perspective on the Pentagon’s use of hefty cash incentives to fill its all-volunteer force during the longest era of warfare in the nation’s history.
Even Guard officials concede that taking back the money from military veterans is distasteful.
“At the end of the day, the soldiers ended up paying the largest price,” said Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, deputy commander of the California Guard. “We’d be more than happy to absolve these people of their debts. We just can’t do it. We’d be breaking the law.”
The soldiers were paid, paid the price, and then got screwed. That pretty sums up the ordinary run-in with the state.
This story serves as a stark warning. The California Guard, the Army, the Pentagon, the Treasury, and the rest of Washington are simply not to be trusted. Ever. With anything. Believe nothing they say. Do nothing the ask. Accept nothing they offer. Flee them. They are evil.
And the line about “breaking the law” is a bullsh!t excuse. They didn’t mind breaking the law to go to war without a declaration. Or based completely on lies. They didn’t mind breaking the law when the banksters needed people to die so they could illegally profit from funny money not controlled by Congress. Only now, and only concerning the little people, is the law and honesty in finance important.
How much, total, could these bonuses have cost? $15 Million? $50 Million? $1 Billion? Why so much effort and persecution over so trivial an amount – if they even know how much they’re after. This is, after all, the same sorry outfit that cannot account for $6.5 Trillion, misplaced they know not where. No matter, except where the pennies of the soldiers are concerned.
The soldiers should be concerned. First, with their paid status. “Soldier” means, from the ancient Roman world, one who is paid to fight for the government. The term derives from the Latin, solidus, “solid” currency, as was the pay to the legions.
“We’ll just need this back after your legs are blown off and your kids are in college.” Fallon.
The Founders favored militias as a superior form of defense. Militiamen, literally fighting for their homes and families, are the best way to defend a Republic or a free state. Paid, professional soldiers are the tools of monarchs, tyrants and empires. And our Empire pays, then demands the money back. Indian giving, to be politically incorrect.
Second, those California guardsmen and the rest of the concerned public, should look at the employment status of the Guard as a whole. A few still maintain the lie that the N.G. is the modern militia. In truth it is only a reserve force for the regular, standing Imperial military. About the same time the several States foolishly traded their representation, tax authority, and currency to the charlatans on the Potomac, they also legally gave up their militias. The replacement “defense forces” generally serve as little more than traffic directors and storm cleanup agents. All of the power went to D.C.
So it was, that in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina came calling, the people of the Gulf found themselves short on first responders. The Louisiana Guard, being at the time in federal service, was far away keeping the world safe for banking profits. Pathetically, but still thankfully, the first military assistance came to New Orleans from Mexico and Canada.
The third consideration is the usage of the professional military – not for defense, but for profiteering and international meddling.
The final consideration, obviously, is the lying, cheating, back-stabbing ways of the government. Why any can still come to volunteer for this fraudulent force is a mystery. They can’t all be in it for the transgender benefits.
As this story serves as a warning, so let it serve as a call to action for all those who “support the troops”. They should shake the halls of Congress until the injustice is abated.
They won’t. They will make less murmur than they did about the underlying illegal wars themselves – wars we’re still fighting fifteen years later and with no end in sight. Millions will march on, enthusiastically paying their taxes and voting to continue the fraud.
Perhaps these lessons are learned by a few.
