What I will be doing with my $3500 in Stop/Loss money
OK, some backstory first. When I found out that my old unit was deploying, I begged to get on the deployment. The first thing I did was sign a “try one” contract. That is when you’ve completed your service, and you want to just try out the National Guard. I signed it on Feb 22, and was sworn in at Shenanigans Bar in Leesburg, Virginia with a mug of Guinness close at hand. Since deployment was 18 months I knew I would get stop-lossed, but I was totally cool with that.
Now flash forward to today where Uber-TAH fan and truth deficient Army Times reporter Rick Maze files this story:
By week’s end, about 170,000 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — many of them no longer in service — who were involuntarily kept on active duty by stop-loss orders before Oct. 1, 2008, could be cheering Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee.
At Murtha’s urging, the 2009 emergency war funding bill that will be taken up Thursday by the House Appropriations Committee includes money and authority to retroactively pay $500 for each month someone served under stop-loss orders from Sept. 11, 2001 through Sept. 30, 2008.
The bill would extend benefits to those who were left out last fall when Congress ordered stop-loss payments that applied only to people held on active-duty after the bill became law.
So, February 22 to August 28 (possibly longer) I was on stop-loss. So, that $3500, which I don’t feel I deserve, will nonetheless go to a good cause. If Murtha doesn’t get booted over the 50k allegations (including the new one today) then it will likely go into his opponents campaign coffers. Maybe some to Soldier’s Angels too.
I just don’t see why anyone should get a bonus for doing a job that they were already paid to do. And how was my service worth $500 a month more than Snipers of Superbowl6Romeo’s when we were in the same unit. Just don’t get the logic of this.
Category: Politics
Well, I was comissioned on June 1st 1996. Seved out my Active Duty Service Obligation, and was Released from Active Duty in August 2001. In 2003, I was involuntiarly reassigned from the IRR to a Reserve unit, which was mobilized and deployed in January 2004 to Kuwait. June 1st 2004 would have been the end of my 8 year service obligation. I celebrated it on my own with a frosty can of Budweiser N/A. Since that day until I was REFRADed again in Feb 05, I was considered Stop/Lossed. Hell, if I get $4,000 tax free from the government, will I have to change my login name?
Oh, they could give me $4,000,000 and I am still not going to cheer that ex-marine Murtha. Ironically, $4,000,000 is the same amout of cash that went to Murtech, the company owned by Murtha’s nephew.
I think you should donate a portion of the money to further your training as a USO Girl! You failed teh hugging portion of your last training.
…yeah, and $50 at the thrift could do wonders for that wardrobe of yours.
Well I have a year and a half old kid, so I do not think I would be able to turn that money down.
You should give those of us who had to endure your vapid bitching over that period of time the money. Although I would allow you to keep $1000 for the carpal tunnel you suffered at the hands of the PS2.
j/k
1SG B
I say blow it on hookers and booze in Vegas
Hey Grover,
That won’t even get you out of the LV airport these days.