Editorial Board
Lessons From the Pentagon's Shameful Bonus Clawback
The California National Guard scandal shows how the entire system of encouraging re-enlistment needs reform.
The U.S. military has always prided itself on taking care of its own. But for 10,000 members of the California National Guard who are being made to repay their re-enlistment bonuses, that tradition rings hollow.
Needing forces for the Iraq and Afghan wars over the last decade, the guard took part in a nationwide effort to retain troops by offering bonuses of $15,000 or more. The program was supposed to be only for specialists in high demand, but the California Guard mistakenly extended the payments to basically anybody.