Question about Army bonus?

Question

Well, my husband joined and went through all of his training and then 10 days after coming home from boot and AIT, He deployed. We did the paperwork at his unit 7 days before he left and they said the 7500 would be here in 4 to 6 weeks. Well, it has been 5 months and NO BONUS...NO WORD! We have resubmitted the paperwork 4 times now and each time they said give it 2 weeks and it should be there. I am sorry but this is bull %@&#. He has talked to so many people about this...accounting office, recruiter, and SGTs. I am getting really tired of getting screwed over by the Army. There was also a month where we did not get paid while he was in training. We were told that there was nothing they could do about it. We also found out about 5 months into his training that he was getting paid 400 dollars less than he was supposed to be getting paid and they cant do anything bout that either. We have lost our apartment and my car because of all the screw ups from the army. hes in iraq What can i do?

Answer 1

Army Inspector General should talk to you first and if he decide you can do PRC. after, who knows, maybe...

Answer 2

They haven't eliminated them. They just aren't automatic anymore. The Army is getting enough recruits this year, so what bonuses there are, are smaller and are targeted. Meaning you won't get one unless you are pretty well qualified, and you sign up for certain fields. You might not be qualified for those fields. You would have to talk to a recruiter, really, and you won't have an answer until the day you sign a contract, because bonuses change from week to week. You might know someone who got an $8000 bonus, and you could sign for the same thing a month later and not get anything.

Answer 3

You must have a specific POA to deal with finance - while they SHOULD take a General POA they often won't. Hubby can get you one downrange and fax it to the base office - if you don't have one they won't deal with you.

Pay screw ups are unfortunatly normal in the service - it takes lots of paperwork on your end and not much at Fort Benjamin Harrison if you owe them money. Hubby needs to talk to his Commander and the finance officer -:
1.If you were married before he joined he should have been getting paid the with dependants rate - the problem is it's only based on where he's at not where you are and they can only backpay him for six months on that now ( so he needs to take care of this asap)
2. The enlistment bonus must be in his contract and he needs to speak to the Commander and finance officer about it. He needs a memo from the Commander stating he's doing his job in his MOS for them to release it.The Commander can not keep him from getting this straightened out but it sounds like he may not know about it. Once it gets straightened out you will not get the whole bonus at once but half and then the rest prorated over his enlistment - a certain amount every year on his enlistment date.
3. The month you received a no pay due statement can also be back payed if they are found to be in error. However if hubby took casual pay, or charged things at the px you may actually not be owed it.
4. Even downrange this can be resolved but it will take longer. He may have to go to BIAP to get it done but it can get done.
5. As frustrating as this is it will get resolved eventually and you will have a nice fat paycheck! The Army's timing always seems screwy but God's is always perfect!
6. Do NOT go to the Congressman unless it's been over a year - if you can not show you've gone through all the proper channels/chain of command it won't do you any good and can cause hubby more problems. Rather talk to your Rear Detach. Commander who is a great liason for you with the unit while they are in theater.

Chin up!

Answer 4

mrsjvb is wrong. As long as you have his POA you can continue trying to get your money. Unfortunately, this happens alot. A friends husband reenlisted in June, while in Iraq and still waiting for his bonus. She is taking care of it over here.

Document everything you are told - first, last name and id number if they have one, date, time and office they are with.

Do as much as possible with email. That way you have it in writing from that person.

Talk to JAG. Then go to your congressman. Give each place a time limit and tell them on this date you will notify the next person and follow through.

My son was getting the run around with his PTSD. He has been in the program almost 2 months and no money. He started the paperwork right after he went into the program. He contacted our congressman and he will have all his back pay on the 1st.

Answer 5

Refrence the Enlistment bonus: Talk to your Husbands Retention NCO. IF they are not available, Talk to the Installation Retention. DO you have a copy of your husbands enlistment papers ?? If not they should be in his 201 file. The Retention NCO is the one who needs to fill out the paperwork for you and your husband to receive his enlistment bonus. Bear in mind though that you will not get the entire bonus up front. You will get 50% of the bonus (Minus max fed tax rate and max state tax rate) up front. The remainder of the bonus will be issued out on his anniversary month of his enlistment prorated out by the number of years left to serve.
The IG's office a good place to resolve this issue. Another avenue for you is the Chaplains Office.
I hope that you have all of your husbands LES's showing what he has been paid. If not log on to mypay and start printing them out.

I am sorry that you are learning a tough lesson with the Army so early in your career. Always remember that when it comes to Finance, Always make copies of everything and record who you gave what and when !!!
Congressional inquiries take time. They will not be able to resolve anything in a timely manner. (At least I have never seen them handle anything in a timely manner) Try the IG, Chaplains Office or ACS.
Remember when you are behind in your payments and you are about to lose a vehicle or a place to live that the Army has support for you. AER, Red Cross and Chaplains all have the ability to render assistance through either loans or grants.
Stop by your local ACS building and see what they have to assist you.

Answer 6

LOL you sound like your going to have the same luck as we've had in the army with getting the extra pay your owed. Having the pay messed up in the beginning is pretty normal. Not right but normal. The same thing happened to us. They took out our BAS for about 6 months we submitted paperwork to get it refunded 3 years ago and nothing. My husband just came back from afghanistan in June and was supposed to have been paid perdium( something like 3.50 a day for the days he was over there) out of our battalion there was only 4-5 people who didnt get it.. we are one of those. We've submitted the paperwork 2 times and he got an email saying they recieved it and in 3-5 business days we will have our money. That was 2 weeks ago. Its definatly not right but this is the way it is sometimes. Keep pushing it and talking to whoever you can. Its not as easy trying to talk to them being the spouse they usually dont like to talk to us. They want to talk to the soldier himself. I would suggest for him to go to his sgt major they usually can get **** done if he's already tried the lower chain of command. Search your AKO there might be information on who to go to next on there. Good Luck i seriously do know how aggrevating it can be to check your bank acct daily waiting for that money. Specially a bonus. Makes ya wanna go pop a few people in the head.

Answer 7

Talk to the Army Inspector General. Make sure you get the names of the people who mis-informed you if you can. If that doesn't work, contact your Congressman. Document everything. You can find out where his office is located by calling the military post where your husband is stationed at, or call any military post IG's office to get the correct number.


A Congressional investigation is hazardous to the careers of those who mess up so don't be afraid to use it if you don't get answers. It does work.

Next, get a written letter of apology from the Army so you can clear up your credit hassels.

Answer 8

This one does sound like a lot of crap. Because of the magnitude of these screw ups my suggestion is to write a letter to your congressman. Matters like this usually get taken pretty seriously and when they start looking into it, things happen.

Good luck.

Answer 9

Go to the Judge Advocate General's office, (JAG), and file a legal complaint.

Answer 10

unfortunately, YOU can do nothing. only he can. yes, I know it will be difficult if not impossible since he is deployed. he needs to initiate an IG complaint(Inspector General).