In March 2004, Sgt. Mike Krause returned home from two back-to-back tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. With his Army contract set to expire in less than a year, Krause could begin to plan his future, starting with earning his college degree. But after just three months at home with their families, Krause and almost 40 members of his unit were stop-lossed. By October 2004, Krause was back in Iraq for a second year-long deployment. In just three years, he spent a total of 30 months in combat.
Since 2001, more than 170,000 troops like Sgt. Krause have been held past their enlistment contracts under the military’s “stop-loss” policy. But it’s not just our servicemembers who have suffered. Their families have also had their reunions delayed, their lives disrupted, and their futures stalled.
In March, the Pentagon announced it would begin compensating these servicemembers for their overtime. But unless Congress acts today, thousands of veterans who were stop-lossed before October 2008, like Sgt. Krause, won’t see a dime in back-pay.
In no other profession would an employee work overtime and not be compensated, and the same must be true of our military. Given all of the sacrifices that our troops and their families have made, these payments are long past due.
In the next 48 hours, Congress is deliberating the fate of a critical provision that would close this gap and provide an average of $5,000 in retroactive payments to troops who have been stop-lossed. Our veterans are counting on Congress to bring it to the President’s desk -- you can help make sure that happens.
The House and Senate are meeting to work out their differences on the 2009 war supplemental spending bill; currently only the House version includes the retroactive stop-loss payments. The vote on the bill will be happening in the next few days. If the Senate feels the pressure, the provision will be protected. And that will mean a huge impact on the lives of our troops.
Now, more than ever, our servicemembers are relying on our lawmakers to do the right thing. Call your Senators today, and let them know that you support retroactive payments for our stop-lossed troops. Our nation’s heroes deserve their overtime. Crossposted at www.IAVA.org. ----------------------------------------- We just learned that Congress has delayed this vote until next week. The vote was expected to be today, but as everything in Washington, bi-partisan bickering over unrelated issues has brought this important provision to a standstill. Please help keep the pressure on by calling your Senators, and telling them you support overtime payments for our nation’s heroes. Your calls have already made a huge impact!
UPDATE:
THANK YOU PAUL FOR THE INFO!
WE ALL NEED TO BACK OUR TROOPS
Get them ALL home from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the more than 800 overseas military bases NOW! The global Corporatist/Militarist Empire we have built since at least 1898 has corrupted and all but destroyed what was left of our democracy. History teaches that empire and democracy are incompatible and mutually antagonistic. A corporate/military state such as ours can never be truly democratic, regardless of how it seems.
The fortunate GI is the one that was discharged 8 years ago and then got a job with Blackwater where he could make more money than the General he once served under.
Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that Blackwater employees are not more valuable just because they changed uniforms.
One last point. these 'conscripted' National Guard troops can't just resign whenever they choose. The high paid mercenary can take his wealth and move to Costa Rica whenever he/she feels like it.
It is time to end this involuntary servitude of military personnel or pay them for the job they do.
Obama Has 250,000 'Contractors' Deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and is Increasing the Use of Mercenaries
The reality of war is ugly and unpredictable and does not respect someone's desire to lead a normal life nor work the standard 40 hour week - not even whatever the standard that might be expected in the military may be.
Surely you are aware that stop-loss is a contractual reality of the agreement that all soldiers agree to when entering the service.
I know you're just looking out for you and yours but the men and women of the armed services sign up for this and they were not guaranteed overtime pay in that contract or we would not be having this conversation.
Our Supreme Court has upheld it time after time and it is in the contract they sign when they hand their life to defending our countries liberties.
When they change the contract, I'm all for it. Mainly because it will make wars nearly impossible to fight and then we can do away with the military once and for all - talk about a tax break! No retroactive pay - they signed it, they need to live by it.
It could hurt retention and undermine morale the same as stop-loss itself but would cost the tax payers more.
It simply needs to be well known that this is part of the contract. Wars are not a matter of convenience and people need to be more upstanding and honest about the matter. They don't just end when you want them to or because the amount of time you wanted to fight it is up - which is what you signed up for in the first place, to fight a war. You're suggesting that as a war goes on we should pay people more for doing the same job? This would simply make the war more expensive as it goes on - which has its pros and cons.