Army: Wounded Vets Will Get All of Their Bonus Money

After learning from the media that a wounded Iraq veteran, Private First Class Jordan Fox of Pennsylvania, was asked to return his enlistment bonus when an IED prematurely ended his soldiering career, the Army has emphasized that its policy is not to recoup those bonuses. But it doesn’t know how the snafu occurred. And that raises concerns that other wounded soldiers might lose their benefits through a different bureaucratic mix-up.

Apropos of Paul’s good question on Wednesday about recruitment bonuses — are they paid up front, allowing them to be partially withheld if soldiers are unable to complete their tours? — we have an answer. Bonuses are paid incrementally, for the most part, except for military jobs facing a “critical shortfall” of personnel.

That means infantrymen are probably going to get their bonuses on the installment plan, though Army spokesman Paul Boyce — who has the unfortunate assignment of fielding reporters’ calls on the Jordan Fox story post-Thanksgiving — says that wouldn’t “necessarily” be the case. “It depends on the situation for the individual soldier,” he explains.

So what percentage of recruitment bonuses are paid up front? Boyce doesn’t know, and says that there isn’t a system in place for determining that percentage “at this time.”

Very well. So couldn’t the Army conceivably not pay the remaining installments of a recruitment bonus to a soldier unable to complete his or her tour, as opposed to the current policy of not seeking recoupment?

Not so, says Boyce. Five levels of safeguards protect against non-disbursement: the soldier’s finance office through his or her chain of command; the non-commissioned officer who recruited the soldier and tracks whether the soldier receives required financial assistance; the Army Inspector General; the Defense Finance and Accounting Service; and the soldier personally coming forward if the check isn’t in the mail. Despite soldiers like Private First Class Jordan Fox being improperly asked to return part of their recruitment bonuses after their war injuries prevented them from finishing their tours, Boyce says the Army is “extremely confident” that soldiers aren’t having installments of their enlistment bonuses withheld if they become physically unable to complete their service.

We’ll see. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA), whose constituents include Pfc. Fox, is pushing a bill to have the Army pay out enlistment bonuses up front. Boyce wouldn’t say whether the Army has a position on the bill beyond emphasizing that the Army will comply with the provision if it becomes law.