Thousands of former Army National Guard soldiers were mailed letters from the service component asking them to figure out whether they are owed unpaid bonuses, according to internal documents reviewed by Military.com.
The Guard letters went to former soldiers who may have never received their promised enlistment bonus after the service component got behind on the payments. The vague correspondence essentially asks them to jump through bureaucratic hoops to find out whether they're owed anything, and if so, how much, the documents show.
In October, Military.com was first to report that the Army National Guard was behind on paying out about 13,000 bonuses, some of which have been delayed for years. The backlog has gotten so severe that 3,900 of those soldiers completed their service and left the military without ever getting paid.
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Following that reporting — and questions from lawmakers on the matter — the service component is now asking the former soldiers to file claims, which include various online applications and gathering records such as initial enlistment documents and discharge orders, which they may not have or do not have easy access to.
Instead of being specific on how much the former Guardsmen are owed, the letters do not outright tell them whether they are owed a bonus, just that they might be, officials…
