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Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses

latimes.com

61–70 of 155 posts

Re: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses

#61
post #42
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But fraud on the part of the California Guard is an internal matter. If I form a contract with a company that says they will pay me some amount of money, but the company representative was committing fraud internally then too bad. The company needs to deal with that. It can't reneg on its agreement years later after having already fulfilled the terms of the agreement.

If you buy a piece of electronic equipment from a dealer at a flea market, and it is later found out that the merchandise was stolen, you have to return the merchandise to the original owner. Even if there was a valid contract between you and the dealer that sold it to you. I think this is seen as something similar -- the people giving out the bonus money basically "stole" it, so it wasn't theirs to give. Kind of lik…

[deleted]

Re: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses

#62
It sounds like this was not at all limited to California, just that there were more cases there due to various reasons (population, individuals, policies/incentives).

I'll be writing to my representative (Duckworth), both candidates to replace her, and her Senate opponent (Kirk). I expect responses at least from the two named since both are former military.

Re: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this merely a reflection of general American population that views the army as a major drain on national resources that can be better spent elsewhere. Or is there something more sinister going on inside the National Guard.

Support from the American populace consists of flag-waving and slapping "Support our Troops" yellow ribbon magnets on their cars. Unless they're personally related to someone in the military, servicemembers and veterans are invisible at best, or seen as deranged reactionary boogiemen at worst. EDIT: I should really note that this depends on where you live. Support is certainly more sincere in the South, over here on…

[deleted]

Re: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses

#64
This smells like recruiters gaming the system while under pressure from the top to fill quotas. In the same vein as Wells Fargo.

Hit this impossible target or you're fired. We can't tell you to lie/cheat people to hit the numbers but we will promote the people who do and PIP the ones who don't. Meanwhile we will go through the motions of legal compliance.

Everyone gets what they want and the higher ups can come back later and act like it is a huge surprise to them that the people they hired and trained were gaming the system.

Re: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses

#65
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking down Wikipedia's list of active conflicts ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_armed_conflict... ), it's hard to believe that money is a primary cause of any of them. I'm sure someone somewhere is making a profit, but that's different from the conflict being "about money".

It would be poor press to announce that a war is about money, but the veneer of pretense is thin. The Syrian war, especially given Russia's involvement is almost certainly about securing passage for natural gas pipelines. Who thinks the Iraq war was actually about Freedom? That might have been the rallying cry but it was about securing access to oil and securing massive re-building contracts and/or reparation money.…

Oil and Money are definitely on the minds' of the higher ups regarding the wars in the Middle East. So much so, private groups with oil interests hold tight court with governments officials and do not hesitate to strongly suggest foreign policy strategy.

https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/26083

Re: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Support from the American populace consists of flag-waving and slapping "Support our Troops" yellow ribbon magnets on their cars. Unless they're personally related to someone in the military, servicemembers and veterans are invisible at best, or seen as deranged reactionary boogiemen at worst. EDIT: I should really note that this depends on where you live. Support is certainly more sincere in the South, over here on…

As someone who has traveled the country pretty extensively, I can't agree. As someone who grew up in a large western coastal city, I would agree that perception is accurate to that locale.

Maybe I just need to leave California, then.

Re: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses

#67
post #42
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But fraud on the part of the California Guard is an internal matter. If I form a contract with a company that says they will pay me some amount of money, but the company representative was committing fraud internally then too bad. The company needs to deal with that. It can't reneg on its agreement years later after having already fulfilled the terms of the agreement.

If you buy a piece of electronic equipment from a dealer at a flea market, and it is later found out that the merchandise was stolen, you have to return the merchandise to the original owner. Even if there was a valid contract between you and the dealer that sold it to you. I think this is seen as something similar -- the people giving out the bonus money basically "stole" it, so it wasn't theirs to give. Kind of lik…

Dealing with stolen goods is something that's specially handled by the law (e.g. fencing is a separate crime).

All these are situations where due to actions of person A a situation has occurred where either person B or person C must be harmed. The general principle is that the solution should harm that one of them who was more negligent to allow such a situation to occur.

Re: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this merely a reflection of general American population that views the army as a major drain on national resources that can be better spent elsewhere. Or is there something more sinister going on inside the National Guard.

Support from the American populace consists of flag-waving and slapping "Support our Troops" yellow ribbon magnets on their cars. Unless they're personally related to someone in the military, servicemembers and veterans are invisible at best, or seen as deranged reactionary boogiemen at worst. EDIT: I should really note that this depends on where you live. Support is certainly more sincere in the South, over here on…

30 years ago the Army wasn't quite so concentrated in the states of the former Confederacy.

Re: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses

#69
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you buy a piece of electronic equipment from a dealer at a flea market, and it is later found out that the merchandise was stolen, you have to return the merchandise to the original owner. Even if there was a valid contract between you and the dealer that sold it to you. I think this is seen as something similar -- the people giving out the bonus money basically "stole" it, so it wasn't theirs to give. Kind of lik…

But if the dealer was known he would have to reimburse me, no? Also what if I where no longer in possession of the good?

> But if the dealer was known he would have to reimburse me, no?

Yes, but even if you've caused a judgement against him to be passed there'd likely be nothing to collect from (because you're not the only person in such a situation and he's likely had used the money).

Re: Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses

#70

"Robert D’Andrea, a retired Army major and Iraq veteran, was told to return a $20,000 bonus he received in 2008 because auditors could not find a copy of the contract he says he signed." How is this possible? If private businesses could do this, it would be mayhem.

Always always keep your paperwork..
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