Following a report published by Military.com detailing the National Guard’s failure to pay over 9,000 soldiers their signing bonuses, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers has sent a letter to the National Guard’s commanding officer, demanding answers for the lack of accountability and to know when the service members will get their bonuses.
Penned by Reps. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and Trent Kelly, R-Miss., all military veterans themselves, the letter questions the actions of the Guard’s handling of incentives, further demanding the status of incentive oversight teams, what the National Guard is doing to address the backlog and why the Guard does not currently have a policy covering the payout of incentives.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that the National Guard has not paid thousands of soldiers and veterans the enlistment bonuses they were promised,” Gallego, a Marine veteran, said. “We need answers.”
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The letter was addressed to Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Military.com.
Highlighted in the letter were the details surrounding prolonged issues with the incentive payment system revealed by Military.com in October. The Army National Guard Incentive Management System, or GIMS, was first established in 2012 and…
