The US armed forces have been plagued for unflattering revelations recently: decrepit living conditions, recruiting shortfalls, a sexual assault crisis. Now, reports of consistent delays in the payment of enlistment bonuses to US service members have come to light.
“I did my end of things,” said a soldier speaking to US media recently, lamenting his failure to receive the money guaranteed to him upon enlistment in the Army National Guard.
“This is a really bad introduction to the Army, not taking care of people."
The anonymous service member has been waiting over a year for the first half of the $20,000 bonus guaranteed to him upon enlistment. He’s one of at least 9,000 others who have been delayed payment as a result of an Army imbursement system plagued by oversights, understaffing, and technical problems.
The bonuses are an important incentive offered to drive participation in the United States’ all-volunteer armed forces, which have long dealt with significant recruiting shortfalls. They’re one of a number of perks offered, including scholarships and job training benefits.
But some service members have been waiting years to receive even the first payment guaranteed to them upon joining. In a few cases, some soldiers have even completed military service and rejoined civilian life without ever receiving their bonus.
The National Guard unveiled new technology, known as the Army National Guard Incentive Management System, in 2012 to rectify the longstanding problem. Instead it has added to the problems – the system crashed in 2018 and 2012, requiring 10 months to come back online each time.
Administrators have been forced to manually process bonus payments amidst the technical snafus, adding to a significant backlog. Additionally, poor training and lack of accurate information among staff members has caused soldiers to receive conflicting information regarding the status of their payments.
“There is frankly a lot of misinformation on the [unit] level,” said one state National Guard administrator to a US media outlet, speaking anonymously to avoid retaliation. “It isn't their fault, and it's something I'm trying to fix… The soldier shouldn't be coming to us … for their money. We should just pay our bills on time.”
The news comes amidst uncertainty on the world stage as Israel pursues military action against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. President Joe Biden has committed to sending millions of dollars in additional funding to their Middle Eastern ally, which has also previously engaged in joint military drills with members of the US armed forces.