Grave Injustices

This will be a post in 2 parts, stemming from the same genesis.

Went to a hearing of the Senate Armed Services committee last week. It had Gordon Mansfield of the VA, and the Army Secretary and Dr. Chu of the DoD. The subject was seamless transition and healthcare from the VA and the DoD. Senator Webb is on the committee, and this was one of his pet issues during the campaign. Remember how he assured us that veterans would be his top priority?

9:30 AM. Hearing begins.
10:50:17 AM. Senator Webb arrives.
11:01:38 AM. Senator Webb leaves after whispering with his aide for 11 mins, 21 seconds.

He never retured. A nearly 3 hour hearing, and Webb attended 11mins+. Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to attend sir. Whatever we pay you, I think I speak for all of us when I say it is not nearly enough.


One thing from the hearing REALLY pissed me off.


Meet Samuel Snow. In World War II, he served as a prison guard at a POW camp at Fort Lawton. Long story short, a riot took place, and Italian POW was lynched, and 27 African American soldiers were convicted. Never mind the fact that back then our black troops were treated worse than foreign POWs, this man was convicted and spent a year in military prison. Afterward, he was released on a dishonorable discharge, and worked as a janitor, the only job he could get with such a DD214.

In 2006 the Army rightfully reviewed the case and overturned his conviction. Apparently it was fairly clear that these guys got railroaded. Since he was wrongly incarcerated for a year, the army sent him a paycheck.

For $725.

[A DoD colonel] said Mr. Snow’s $725 appeared to reflect money withheld from his conviction on Dec. 18, 1944, to what would have been his likely discharge date, March 2, 1946. In an e-mail message, Colonel Baggio said the law controlling the board “does not authorize payment of interest, pain and suffering or damages.” If the back pay had been calculated at 8 percent for 61 1/2 years, compounded annually, Mr. Snow could have received more than $80,000. If the $725 was simply adjusted for inflation, it would amount to more than $7,700, a calculator on the Labor Department Web site shows.

Seriously, how F'd up is the army to send a $725 check for a guy for a year of his life, and a lifetime of being burdened with a dishonorable discharge?

Anyway, I want to applaud Democrat Bill Nelson, Senator from Florida for introducing S. 2461 to correct this. And for holding Dr. Chu's feet to the fire on it.

Bureaucracy blows.