Contact: Josh Holly, 202.226.3988
Hunter Calls on Pentagon to Uphold Current Policy for Repayment of Enlistment & Reenlistment Bonuses
Washington, D.C. --- On the eve of the Thanksgiving Day holiday, U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, called on the Secretary of Defense and the military services to aggressively implement current defense policy to ensure that American service members injured or killed in the line of duty do not forego their enlistment or reenlistment bonuses when those injuries or death preclude further service. Recent media reports indicate that the military has required service members to repay enlistment and reenlistment bonuses when they were unable to fulfill their commitments due to injury.
“My understanding is that the Department of Defense policy with regard to enlistment and reenlistment bonuses is not only to forego any repayment but also to pay out unpaid installments when the service member is killed or injured in the line of duty,” stated Hunter in a letter to Secretary Gates.
“I want to urge that the Department and the military services aggressively implement this policy and that the discretion also contained in Department policy is applied to the benefit of service members. That discretion, as I understand it, permits the military services to forego repayment when it would be “contrary to equity and good conscience...,” continued Hunter.
“As we celebrate the holiday season, it is important that we give thanks to our military men and women who are serving in dangerous situations. For the military services to ask a soldier to repay a signing bonus after that soldier has volunteered, served and then been seriously injured is – quite simply – wrong. These brave men and women would have served out their full commitment had they not been seriously injured and, therefore, deserve to have their reenlistment bonuses. I am always moved when I visit with our injured soldiers and their first request is to get back to the fight so they can rejoin their unit,” concluded Rep. Hunter.
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