压力之下五角大楼同意返还之前被强征的老兵入伍奖金 [美国媒体]

Pentagon to Pay Back Soldiers Whose Reenlistment Bonuses Were Garnished

五角大楼返还了士兵们的延长入伍奖金



Pentagon to Pay Back Soldiers Whose Reenlistment Bonuses Were Garnished

五角大楼返还士兵们的延长入伍奖金

Thousands of veterans who were forced to pay back the millions of dollars in bonuses they'd gotten for reenlisting to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan will get their money back.

曾被迫上交自己重返伊拉克和阿富汗战场作战奖金的上万老兵们将会被返还他们的钱。

The Pentagon announced Tuesday it has set up a process to reimburse or eliminate the debts of some 17,000 members of the California Army National Guard who got the bonuses between 2004 and 2010.

五角大楼在周二宣布它已准备好返还或免除17000名加利福尼亚国民警卫队陆军士兵的债务，这些人曾在2004年和2010年获得（再次入伍）奖金。

"The process is in place," said acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Peter Levine. "We believe that we can complete all these cases well before the July 1st deadline."

国防部人事与战备代理副部长Peter Levine表示已万事俱备，他说“我们可以在7月1日前完美解决这些问题。”

Levine's announcement came three months after Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the Pentagon to stop grabbing-back those bonuses, which were improperly awarded during the Bush Administration when it was struggling to find soldiers willing to fight in two unpopular wars.

在Levine发出声明的三个月前国防部长Ash Carter已下令让五角大楼停止夺回这些奖金，这些奖金都是布什政府时期苦于没有兵员去参加两场不得人心的战争而不当授予的。

"The error was an error on the part of the government as to whether they were eligible" for the bonuses, Levine said. "They may have been misled as to whether they were eligible."

Levine说“这个错误一部分是由于政府是否有资格”发放奖金，他们可能被误导以为他们有资格。

The soldiers were then targeted by auditors after federal investigators discovered in 2010 that thousands of those bonuses, as well as student loan payments, were improperly approved.

在2010年联邦调查人员发现大量未获批准的该类奖金及学生贷款后，审查人员接下来将矛头对准了士兵。

The next year, Army Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe, the California National Guard's bonus and incentive manager, pleaded guilty to filing $15.2 million in false claims and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

明年，已承认虚假申报1520万美元的加利福尼亚国民警卫队奖金与激励主管二等士官长Toni Jaffe将被判处在联邦监狱服刑30个月。

But instead of forgiving the botched bonuses, which were no fault of the soldiers, the California National Guard sicced auditors on the service men and women, arguing that the law demanded it.

士兵们是没有责任的，关于此事加州国民警卫队只顾指责负责这些军人的审计人员并主张那是法律要求的，而不是对这些被搞砸的奖金大发慈悲。

It wasn't until California lawmakers began hearing from hard-pressed soldiers that the Pentagon realized what was happening and ordered it stopped.

直到加州议员们从穷困潦倒的士兵们那里听到消息后，五角大楼才意识到发生了什么并下令制止。

"We don't give somebody a free education; we give them a free education in exchange for a service commitment and that's ... that's part of the bargain," Levine said. "The cases in California are different for several reasons. One is that many of these service members fulfilled their obligation." 

“我们不给人们提供免费教育，我们用免费教育跟他们换服役承诺而且那是...那是交易的一部分，”Levine说“加州的案例有几个不一样的因素，其中之一就是他们中的许多人履行了自己的义务。”




reddit评论：

ElectricInfinity 154 指标 2 天前 
Ah, but the damage has already been done for most, like overdraft fees, years of messed up credit, bills in collections...you name it.

啊，但这已经伤害到了许多人，像是透支费用，多年的不良信用，大量账单等你想的起来的。

xsited1 50 指标 2 天前 
It wasn't until California lawmakers began hearing from hard-pressed soldiers that the Pentagon realized what was happening and ordered it stopped.
Why did it take so long?

直到加州议员们从穷困潦倒的士兵们那里听到消息后，五角大楼才意识到发生了什么并下令制止。
为什么要花这么长时间？

cragfar -1 指标 2 天前 
Because they never should have been given the bonuses in the first place. This is simply them forgiving/giving back the money.

因为他们一开始就不应该得到这笔奖金。简而言之他们是被施舍/回馈了这笔钱。

—chonggo 7 指标 2 天前 
The problem is that they were told they were entitled to the bonuses, and then something like 10 years later, the army said they wanted the money back.
If it had been soon after, when people still had the money, or if they had known they shouldn't have gotten the money ("hey look, the bank gave me an extra $20k! I guess it's mine now!) then I would have been more understanding towards the army.

问题是他们被告知他们有权拿到这笔钱，然后过了10年军队说他们想把钱要回来。
如果这发生在他们拿到钱不久后，或者他们知道自己不该拿这笔钱（嗨看啊，银行多给我打了20000美元！我猜它现在是我的了！）那么我想我会更理解军队（的做法）。

Starrion 12 指标 2 天前 
Too bad it took so long to do the right thing.

太糟糕了，正义来得如此之迟。

iamaccounttwo 8 指标 2 天前 
What about the people who took out costly loans and second mortgages on their homes to pay back those bonuses they were told they were not supposed to get.

那么那些在得知不该拿这笔钱后，借高额贷款和用房子做二次抵押来还款的人呢？

brightlancer 6 指标 1 天前 
It wasn't until California lawmakers began hearing from hard-pressed soldiers that the Pentagon realized what was happening and ordered it stopped.
No, it wasn't until those lawmakers started hearing from journalists that the Pentagon reversed course. The lawmakers had been hearing from vets for at least a year and ignored them.

直到加州议员们从穷困潦倒的士兵们那里听到消息后，五角大楼才意识到发生了什么并下令制止。
不对，直到议员们从记者那里听到消息后才使得五角大楼下令制止。至少一年之前议员们就知道老兵的事了但还是毫不在意。

notrealmate 4 指标 2 天前 
Republicans won't be happy.

共和党人会不高兴的。

—FunnyHunnyBunny 5 指标 2 天前 
I thought the one thing Republicans did like overspending on was the military?

我想共和党唯一没有超支的就是军队吧？

S___H 1 指标 1 天前 
This is a terrible situation. The US Gov needs to get its house in order.

这种情况太可怕了。美国政府需要整顿一下自己。