.Red Bull pay moves forward
The U.S. Army officially closed a loophole on Monday that kept National Guard troops -- including 2,500 from Minnesota -- from receiving bonus pay for extended deployments in Iraq.
First District Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., announced on Monday that the payments will finally be made after the Pentagon issued instructions to begin paying.
More than 2,500 Minnesota National Guard members have been owed more than $10 million in overtime pay for their deployment in Iraq three years ago.
The 34th Infantry (Red Bulls) served in Iraq longer than any other U.S. military unit.
Both Walz and Second District Republican John Kline have fought for the payments. Kline, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, blistered Defense Secretary Robert Gates over the issue two weeks ago. Afterward, the Pentagon promised an answer within the next couple of weeks.
The $10 million owed the Minnesota Guard soldiers is by far the biggest amount of any state National Guard unit in the nation, due to the length and scope of their deployment. The next largest groups of affected soldiers come from California, with a little more than 1,000 soldiers, and Iowa, with 743. Close to 23,000 National Guard members across the nation await $59 million in back military pay. The Minnesota contingent makes up more than 10 percent of the total who qualify for the promised money.
Deployed in September 2005, the Red Bulls were due to return home in March 2007. Instead they were kept in-country until July 2007, during one of the bloodiest episodes of the post-invasion phase of the war.
Pentagon officials blamed legal delays for the pay hold-up, which was first promised in early 2007. The payments under what was called the Post-Deployment Mobilization Respite Absence program were to go to thousands of soldiers who were stationed overseas beyond their normal rotation between Jan. 19 and Aug. 18, 2007.
StarTribune
First District Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., announced on Monday that the payments will finally be made after the Pentagon issued instructions to begin paying.
More than 2,500 Minnesota National Guard members have been owed more than $10 million in overtime pay for their deployment in Iraq three years ago.
The 34th Infantry (Red Bulls) served in Iraq longer than any other U.S. military unit.
Both Walz and Second District Republican John Kline have fought for the payments. Kline, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, blistered Defense Secretary Robert Gates over the issue two weeks ago. Afterward, the Pentagon promised an answer within the next couple of weeks.
The $10 million owed the Minnesota Guard soldiers is by far the biggest amount of any state National Guard unit in the nation, due to the length and scope of their deployment. The next largest groups of affected soldiers come from California, with a little more than 1,000 soldiers, and Iowa, with 743. Close to 23,000 National Guard members across the nation await $59 million in back military pay. The Minnesota contingent makes up more than 10 percent of the total who qualify for the promised money.
Deployed in September 2005, the Red Bulls were due to return home in March 2007. Instead they were kept in-country until July 2007, during one of the bloodiest episodes of the post-invasion phase of the war.
Pentagon officials blamed legal delays for the pay hold-up, which was first promised in early 2007. The payments under what was called the Post-Deployment Mobilization Respite Absence program were to go to thousands of soldiers who were stationed overseas beyond their normal rotation between Jan. 19 and Aug. 18, 2007.
StarTribune
posted by madtom at 10:08 PM
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