National Guard Troops Denied Benefits?
National Guard Troops Denied Benefits After Longest Deployment Of Iraq War Rhonda Erskine, Online Content Producer Created: 10/3/2007 2:39:29 PM Updated: 10/3/2007 5:32:02 PM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (NBC) -- When they came home from Iraq, 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard had been deployed longer than any other ground combat unit. The tour lasted 22 months and had been extended as part of President Bush's surge.
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Anderson's orders, and the orders of 1,161 other Minnesota guard members, were written for 729 days.
Had they been written for 730 days, just one day more, the soldiers would receive those benefits to pay for school.
"Which would be allowing the soldiers an extra $500 to $800 a month," Anderson said.
That money would help him pay for his master's degree in public administration. It would help Anderson's fellow platoon leader, John Hobot, pay for a degree in law enforcement.
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Both Hobot and Anderson believe the Pentagon deliberately wrote orders for 729 days instead of 730. Now, six of Minnesota's members of the House of Representatives have asked the Secretary of the Army to look into it -- So have Senators Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman.
Lest anyone who has never been in the military misunderstand something let me explain.
Benefits authorized by Congress are often contingent on a minimum amount of time served on active duty. The law has changed over the years dependent on Congress's desire to spend money on the benefits the military receive. It is VERY common to cut orders for National Guard troops such that they will end just prior to the soldiers qualifying for benefits that the state must pay from their federal funds and thus cut into the money they have to spend on other things. It is also common for the National Guard Bureau (a federal sub-organization of the DOD) to direct federalization orders (orders bringing individuals or units to active duty) are written to minimize the federal government's committment to benefit payments.
So, that this happened as noted in the article is very believable and actually to be expected. I'm certain the command or at least the full-time members of the unit's command structure were aware that this was part of the reason the orders were so written.
I don't think this is the right thing to do. Some bean counter officer (perhaps a clique of bean counters) got carried away and forgot that these men (and women) actually served a longer time in theater than some of our WWI soldiers served in Europe in 1918-1919! These soldiers DESERVE the benefits and I see no reason why Congress can't re-write the law again to ensure that they get the benefits they earned.
Labels: Military
