Apparently soldiers can incur debts to the government. Perhaps, there was a snafu and the soldier was overpaid. Or, the soldier didn't have receipts for expenses. Or, perhaps, she damaged government property. Whatever the reason, some soldiers leave the service owing money to the government.
The only way the military forgives this debt is if the soldier has died in battle. If the soldier has been wounded, the Department of Defense (DOD) will still go after the soldier to collect the debt. As of September 2005, the General Accounting Office (GAO) found that 1300 separated soldiers who were injured or killed in Afghanistan or Iraq owed a total of $1,500,000.
The GAO studied 19 cases in detail. 16 of the 19 could not pay basic household expenses, yet DOD initiated collection procedures, so that their debts were reported to collection agencies and impacted their ability to get credit. For example, a sergeant who lost a leg and owed DOD the grand total of $2231 spent 18 months trying to get DOD to acknowledge that the debt was not valid; in the meantime, his mortgage application was refused. Similar cases were reported.
What kind of a country have we become?
1 comment:
I stumbled over from Sparrow Chat and have read several of your posts. I must say that I agree with 99% of what you've written. I'll be back, and soon. P.S. I have a tie to Massachusetts as well. My family owns a home in East Falmouth on the Cape. If not for the winters, I'd live there year-round.
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