Yes, that is total BS.
I still had 1 year of education benefits under the GI bill when 'powers that was' terminated it.
It was 'supposed' to be a lifetime benefit.
IIRC it was in in 1989 or so
Can't find it today but it still chaps my ass.😡
Only congress can fix this. It is a legal matter that the DOD must follow the current law. Congress could have fixed this when they knew about it years ago. Emphasis added by me in the quote below.
“We did uncover about 100 people that were involved in outright fraud,” said Maj. Gen. Matthew P. Beevers, the deputy adjutant general of the California National Guard. “The challenge now is that the vast majority of the soldiers involved got improper bonuses because they relied, to their detriment, on people they thought knew what they were doing.”
“If I had a magic wand and could fix all this for the soldiers who thought they were being told the truth, I would do it, but I can’t do that,” General Beevers said. “
It relies on action from Congress and the secretary of the Army.”
"
The California National Guard asked Congress to pass a bill erasing the debts in 2014, he said, but lawmakers balked at the cost. On Monday, General Beevers said several lawmakers had called and pledged their support for such a bill. “I’m more optimistic now than I have been since this started four and a half years ago.”
Pentagon officials declined to comment on Monday afternoon."
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/25/us/national-guard-bonuses-california.html?_r=0
Thanks should go to the LA Times for the original story shining the light on this and making it a national story. It would seem that the California congressional delegation dropped the ball on this. Congress can pass an immediate spending bill for flood relief in bumfuk, WV or a hurricane in Florida, but this one dies on the vine while people's credit and lives are ruined by scam artist recruiters and congress who are focused on crap.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-bonus-guard-20161024-snap-story.html
"California Guard officials say they do not have the legal power to waive repayment. Soldiers can appeal to the National Guard Bureau, the Pentagon agency that oversees state Guard organizations, and to an Army Board for Correction of Military Records. In some cases, they say, those entities can waive some or all of a soldier’s debts."
“Unfortunately, the CalGuard has no ability to relieve debt, only the Army or Congress can short-circuit this process,” Mueller said in the email to lawmakers."
"The Pentagon appeals process was a “bottleneck” that “often takes more than a year” and “obviously creates extreme frustrations with the soldiers and their families,” he added."
"Mueller said the California Guard had previously “recommended that Congress speed up this Army process” and had sent draft legislation to do so to each California congressional office in 2014. In the interview, he said Congress had not acted at the time because of the cost. "
