This is the second part to my story about my sign up bonus, if your looking to make sense of this story please read the first part called “That’s just my luck! Delayed Re-Enlistment Bonus Again!” other wise just keep reading.

After getting back from a military deployment on December 19th, 2008, I contacted  my first Sergent and told him about how the unit I was attached to was messing with my bonus and I would like him to fix it.  He assigned one of his other personnel on the job and told me that it would be fixed by the next pay day!  He told me to just enjoy my admin leave and I would have it.

Since I have been on a couple of deployments, National Guards men get a few extra days of leave,  for example I got 72 days of leave,  this is because it’s my admin leave plus my regular leave.  So I was out to enjoy my leave days!   I was betting that I would be paid my bonus and I just just chill out until my next deployment. Or that was my thinking!

When the month of January flew by and no bonus deposited in my bank account, I contacted my First Sergent again and told him that the matter had not been fixed yet.

Yet again I was told that it would be fixed soon and he would personally look to see what was the problem, and he also told me that I should place an IG complaint if he could not get it fixed quickly.  After this meeting I went to another National Guard Armory in my Area and asked if someone would just look at the status of what’s happening, since I could not get any straight answers.  I was told that it was placed in the system wrong and all that needed to be done was some paper work that would have taken 2-5 days to fix, but it seems that nobody has not done anything since it was put in on July 2008.  I told the recruiter that someone was working on it, and must have been notes on the account on what the other person was doing to fix the account.  The recruiter responded that someone was just blowing me off, because there was nothing being done about the matter, and no notes were posted.  In fact the account was marked paid in full.

In March 2009 I filled my first IG complaint, it was a very simple process and they were very helpful.  The IG said it does take a while and he would call up so see what’s happening.  It seems that there is only 1 person in Arkansas that is Authorized to fix bonus issues they took the rest of the off!    So it seemed that getting anything done in March would be not so great..  You see the 1st of March I was out of a money.

I did not prepare my self, I should have started looking for a job in December 2008 that way I could have passed the mandatory 90 day probation period that most employers require.  When I finally started looking for a job in February I was rejected time after time again because I was deploying again in April 2009.  It seems that everyone is willing to support you publicly but nobody is willing to hire a temp worker..  I am not sure this was really legal on the employers part but it still happens today.  I can kinda see it from the employers prospective also, why would they spend the time to train someone that will be leaving back on deployment again ?

I finally got paid the second half of my bonus of $7,500 on 8 April 2009 so it took from July 2008 to April 2009 to get the bonus that was promised to me.  I do consider my self lucky but now that I am about to leave for another deployment I think my wife is the one that will be spending it.

To make matters worse the government paid me again on the 17th April 2008 by $7,500.  I reputed the money over payment to finance  since I thought they would catch it some time..  I was very tempted to just keep it, but I know in the back of my mind that they would eventually catch it.  I am sure when the 1st of June 2009 rolls around they will take it back.  If it’s not one thing it just seems to be another.

For everyone having the same problem that I am having, make sure you go through you chain of command and if you don’t get the answer your looking for then you need to pay IG a visit.  Things just seem to get done after you file a compliant.

Have you ever told someone something just to blow them off at your office ?

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