National Guard delinquent with paying enlistment bonuses

| October 29, 2023

At least 9,000 Soldiers are still waiting for their enlistment bonuses to be paid to them. Some have complained that they have not been paid in years. The National Guard also has found that 3,900 Soldiers completed their service and left the military without seeing their bonus payment. Some may have lost eligibility, but many simply did not see their payment. Although the National Guard strives to pay the initial part of the bonus within 30 days of the completion of initial service training, it is not codified. This leaves the Soldiers without the ability to reference policy to argue that their payment is late.

From Military.com:

The average time for receiving the first payment for a bonus is six months, Guard officials tell Military.com, though soldiers and families have reported that it can take years.

The issue, according to officials, is the accumulated effect of undermanned, poorly trained or poorly performing full-time staff working with a payment-processing system that has faced multiple long-term catastrophic outages. That’s meant staff members have had to repeatedly track and process payments manually.

The Army National Guard Incentive Management System, or GIMS, was first rolled out in 2012, allowing states to manage and monitor incentives. It was designed to streamline the process and mitigate fraud and abuse.

But the system crashed in late 2018 and was inoperable for about 10 months; another 10-month outage occurred in 2021. While the system was down, bonuses had to be filed through a complicated manual process, creating a backlog that states are still trying to fix.

“GIMS created some challenges for us,” one Guard official said. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve gotten through many of those hurdles, but it has attributed [sic] to overdue bonus payments.”

Two adjutants general, top commanders in their respective states, described discovering their staff tracking enlistment bonuses on dry-erase boards or through email traffic and handwritten notes. In some cases, top brass became aware of the problem through soldiers using the so-called open door policy — skipping the chain of command to report issues. Some soldiers have escalated their issues through complaints to their representatives in Congress.

Military.com has additional information here.

Category: National Guard

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STSC(SW/SS)

Maybe you can put a lien on a M1 Abrams tank or other property of the US Gubmint. Put it up for sale to the highest bidder.

They still want to hire 87000 IRS agents but won’t fix their software issues.

Old tanker

That’s because the gubmint is ALWAYS more concerned with money coming in than going out…. Unless you are providing kickbacks (ukraine) or a terrorist nation… Just sayin

A Proud Infidel®™

The money ONLY comes out when politicians gain from it, otherwise nothing happens.

Green Thumb

Or when All-Points Logistics gets a contract.

Odie

Joe said something about an F15 and a weapon of some sort. Might as well put those on the lein list as well.

Call your Congressman and see if they’ll do anything. Maybe they’ll start an investigation 🤭🙄

2banana

Well, that should help recruitment and retention.

“At least 9,000 Soldiers are still waiting for their enlistment bonuses to be paid to them. Some have complained that they have not been paid in years.”

Odie

Ask zelinski for some. He seems to have plenty.

2banana

For anyone that was in.

It’s amazingly fast how quick the DoD can collect a debt. Like I am talking next LES and you get ZERO for months. Based on a false rumor of a phone call.

And amazingly slow to pay money they owe you. Like years, and you must document everything, and call your congressman, and they just hope you give up.

2banana

And these same people say that computer voting counting is totally fraud free and without error.

Your corner coffee shop has better software and better IT support.

“But the system crashed in late 2018 and was inoperable for about 10 months; another 10-month outage occurred in 2021.”

Green Thumb

Trump strikes again!

timactual

I thought it was Biden’s turn to be scapegoat.

Odie

Biden nor his ilk will ever be a scapegoat.

AZtoVA

Where was Trump in 2012?

Green Thumb

Unsure.

But I bet it still was his fault.

MarineDad61

I can’t find the recent VG fundraising article,
so I’ll put this here.

IF you donate to MP/VG with an automatic monthly PayPal payment,
you get a happy email like this every month from PayPal.

—————————-

As for NG bonus?
It’s 30 years ago, that I received an enlistment bonus payment,
a repayment towards old college student loans,
3 years LATE.

1989 – Enlisted 3 years NG with no cash bonus, but EAP
(Education Assistance Program).
1990 – NO payment received.
1990 – Activated for “Operation Desert Shield”.
1991 – DS/DS – Persian Gulf War. Deactivated June 1991.
1991 – NO payment received.
1992 – NO payment received.
1992 – ETS. Reenlisted NG for 6 years.
1993 – $3,000 bonus received as 4 years of EAP benefit.

Others got out after 3 years, and received NOTHING for EAP.
I only got the $3000 due to persistence,
AND by reenlisting.

A Proud Infidel®™

It could also easily be Bureaucrats saying something like “Weeeelll, we’ll take our sweet time on it because we just might find a good reason to renege, mmmmmmmkay?”

5JC

I was sent TDY 4 months prior to my DA approved retirement. I filed my voucher electronically om return. I had to pay off my credit card to keep from being late. Didn’t get the settlement and retired anyway, because reasons… Five months AFTER I retired I get a letter stating that my credit card had been credited for the amount. They still owed me $300+ But of course it had long been deactivated. I then got another letter stating that the CC account had been deactivated and they would send me a check.

That was nine years ago. Still waiting on the check in the mail…. any day now…

RGR 4-78

That is “Alaska Bob” slow.

MarineDad61

RGR 4-78,
Look what is STILL up on the interwebby.

[Bob Glaves, a terminally ill Vietnam War veteran,
is on a ride to Washington, D.C., to fulfill his bucket list wish to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.]

The only thing slower than
Alaska Bob’s progress to DC on his Harley
(with his female sidekick),
is the progress of Alaska Bob’s terminal cancer.

https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/wall-before-i-die-vietnam-war-veteran-starts-ride-to-d-c-memorial/

Alaska Bob Gloves Phony 17788296_web1_190722-PDN-Veteran-Sendoff-4-web-1200x800.jpg
5JC

For the Love of God his stomach tumor is consuming his whole body! Pretty soon there won’t be anything left but the tumor.

MarineDad61

5JC,
I still laugh at the button chains over his gut,
as Alaska Bob is way too fat for his own patchy
phony badass black leather vest.

Last edited 1 year ago by MarineDad61
Anonymous

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QMC

Nearly 23 years later and I’m still waiting on that $40k Navy College Fund, or whatever it was that was sold to me in the recruiters office.

David

I remember when there was a meme to the effect that “we had lost several million illegals in the US. But the government could pin down which calf of a particular cow might have Mad Cow due to incorrect feeding, and Blockbuster knew exactly how late you were on one of their billions of rentals at any time.” The solution was to put depAg and Blockbuster in charge of Immigration.

NDHoosier

Hunter needs the money for hookers and blow.

Odie

Those working gals need paid too. Take the glass ceiling down, we’ll snort blow from that.

Messkit

Never got my $10,000 re-up bonus from 2004, while I was still in-country. But they were damn quick to deduct my final paycheck for a combat lifesaver med-bag that I never signed for!

KoB

Inexcusable.