Army won’t recoup first batch of retroactive stop-loss payments

January 5, 2010 by admin.

If you were among the first 282 people paid under the Army’s retroactive stop-loss pay program, don’t worry: The Army does not want its money back.As anyone reading this blog knows, the Army’s program to compensate soldiers, vets and their families for being stop-lossed between September 2001 and September 2008 has hit one snag after another.The latest: Recent legislation says you are not eligible for the compensation if you collected a re-enlistment or retention bonus while being stop-lossed.The Army asked Congress to put that provision in the latest Defense Appropriations Bill, said Roy Wallace, director of plans and resources for Army G-1.The reason why may anger servicemembers who put their lives on hold and had to miss job opportunities and time with family in order to deploy with their units.Some soldiers who intended to stay in the Army may have waited until they were stop-lossed and deployed to re-enlist or extend their contract in order to get their bonus tax free, Wallace said. Had they re-upped before they left, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service would have deducted 25 percent for taxes.”Some people saw this as an ability to get them to a better financial position, and that’s good human nature, that’s good business from their part,” Wallace said.While there is nothing wrong with that,  retroactive stop-loss pay is to compensate people who were inconvenienced, hence the provision in the Defense Appropriations Bill, he said.But the provision does not apply to payments that went out prior to Dec. 19, which mainly went to wounded warriors and surviving spouses, Wallace said, adding it would be “un-American” to ask to try to take money back from them.Both the Army and Air Force have temporarily halted stop-loss payments as they try to sort out who got a bonus while being held under stop-loss.The Army now has all the data it needs and hopes to start sending claims to DFAS for payment again within the next two weeks, Wallace said.

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