AP: Army Charity Hoarding Money
According to this article from the AP it seems the non-profit "charity," Army Emergency Relief has been stingy with money that is supposed to be used to help our men and women in uniform get through tough times. Not only are they unwilling to part with an acceptable percentage of their "charity" dollars during a time of unprecedented financial crisis, but they use mob-like tactics to intimidate soldiers struggling to repay the money and to solicit donations. Soldiers can be refused transfers and promotions if the "charity" money isn't repaid in a timely manner.
FORT BLISS, Texas – As soldiers stream home from Iraq and Afghanistan, the biggest charity inside the U.S. military has been stockpiling tens of millions of dollars meant to help put returning fighters back on their feet, an Associated Press investigation shows.
Between 2003 and 2007 — as many military families dealt with long war deployments and increased numbers of home foreclosures — Army Emergency Relief grew into a $345 million behemoth. During those years, the charity packed away $117 million into its own reserves while spending just $64 million on direct aid, according to an AP analysis of its tax records.
Superior officers come calling when AER loans aren't repaid on time. Soldiers can be fined or demoted for missing loan payments. They must clear their loans before transferring or leaving the service.
Despite strict rules against coercion, the Army uses pushy tactics to extract supposedly voluntary contributions, with superiors using language like: "How much can we count on from you?"
Compare the Navy and Air Force equivalent to the AER and the differences are astounding:
During that same five-year period, the smaller Navy and Air Force charities both put far more of their own resources into aid than reserves. The Air Force charity kept $24 million in reserves while dispensing $56 million in total aid, which includes grants, scholarships and loans not repaid. The Navy charity put $32 million into reserves and gave out $49 million in total aid.
The article goes on to say that the AER has helped a lot of people over the years and I won't question that, but the culture in the AER has become something barely resembling a charity, in my eyes. I imagine it comes as no surprise that this was allowed to happen during the Bush years.
"Superior officers come calling when AER loans aren't repaid on time. Soldiers can be fined or demoted for missing loan payments. They must clear their loans before transferring or leaving the service."
Boy I'd make sure I read that contract... Sounds like involuntary servitude to me?
Amended: The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution makes involuntary servitude illegal under any U.S. jurisdiction whether at the hands of the U.S. government or in the private sphere, except as punishment for a crime:
Study the symptoms not the virus...
The Army needs oversight that includes the AER activities.
When drafted in '71 I decided to add resistance to the induction process by providing psychology papers from my local liberal psych office. When ordered to see an Army psychologist, I was told that if I leave his office to get on the bus that there would be no further comment. If I didn't, I would be labeled paranoid-schizophrenic before I reached home.
I went home.
My local psych office said not to worry about it and that was that, 4-F and all.
The facts are as follows:
[ http://www.aerhq.org/AER%20Reply%20to%20AP%20... ]
Study the symptoms not the virus...
Why is the author of this retired?
You know, ANYONE can write good things about themselves and publish it. Just as ANYONE can write bad things about someone else and publish it.
That's why control freaks hate the internet.
However, I tend to believe this original report over the one you submit because of the stories about forcing people to join churches in the Army these days. You join or get fragged.
Makes one wonder why anyone would want to join these days.
then you should try the Air Force.
________________
common sense matters as much as truth
Any chances in to management of the organization recently? Did they happen to let some of the pyschos from that right wing religious group illegally operating out of the Pentagon get in control of it???
E.C. Meyer
General, U.S. Army, Retired
President, AER
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_C._Meyer
http://www.aerhq.org/welcome.asp
Study the symptoms not the virus...
Is there any plans to purge the military of those religious/cultist whackadoodles?
Generally speaking I don't trust anyone making over 150K a year.
in charge of Iraq.
________________
common sense matters as much as truth
"They must clear their loans before transferring or leaving the service."
Say what? WTF is that? How is that even legal? Sounds to me like serfdom.
Time for the draft, folks. The only way people are going to wake up and smell the bullshit.
This story is so offensive. If this was happening to a drafted and more AWARE populace than it MIGHT not be happening.
Then again, we apparantly live in zombie land in a time where places like Iceland blow our sense of what we will take from our own government away.
Hey America, pop another xanex!
I was about to ask the same thing, how is this legal? It's like a trap.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
It reminds me of our entire society. We're all in debtor's prison to some extent. I read today that the cost of health insurance for each and every American will amount to $8000 this year. Whether you've got it or not.
It's that bad.
I feel so sorry for our soldiers because it's got to be a waking nightmare.
Check this out. This is outrageous.
'Stop-Loss' Soldiers Still Waiting For Pay
U.S. soldiers forced to return to active duty haven't received the pay bonuses they were promised five months ago..
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/02/23/Stop-l...
How many different ways can these guys get screwed?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
"Our enemies are clever. They never stop looking for ways to hurt our country, and neither do we."
And at the time, we thought he just screwed up what he was trying to say. Now we know that he meant exactly what he said.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8pvU1iyT3c
I'm looking at the link provided about the military draft by nickjacket and I found this:
In the current registration system a man cannot indicate that he is a conscientious objector (CO) to war when registering, but he can make such a claim when being drafted. Some men choose to write on the registration card I am a conscientious objector to war to document their conviction, even though the government will not have such a classification until there is a draft.[14]
That says a lot! Totally outrageous. They know that if they put out a draft the likelyhood of mass conscientious objection is massive.
Incredible.
How disgusting are our military recruiting centers these days? How many soldiers thought they were fighting it out for the sake of all the Americans killed in 9/11 and then got suckered into Iraq?
Edit: I realize that people are volantarily signing up so therefore a person is obviously not a CO. But if he or she becomes one, let's say after witnessing/participating in the crime against humanity that was Fallujah and you decide you are a CO, what happens to you?
I'll bet they make the soldier stay on.
Anyways, I'm outty.
Thank you for bringing up the reason why there's no current military draft.
... some patriotic uber-Christian at the bottom of the pile, like General 'Blot on the Map' Boykin.
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) wants a Military Draft out in the open - again.
It may sound chic to bring it back in order to generate domestic opinion about the war(s) but when you're draft age, it's no picnic.
This country is paying over half of our taxes to Empire. Do you know how many countries the United States has bases in?
Do you think all of the trillions in debt now are worth it? For two useless wars? To continue the war machine?
Who cares if it's a picnic if you are of draft age? That's the point. It's no picnic.
Generating domestic awareness has a huge payoff for all of us.
Including our enlisted soldiers who are being stop-lossed and screwed over while their families suffer on alone.
If you are a patriot, shouldn't it be your civic duty to enlist to fight for your country?
No?
Oh.
That's how we got here.
Civic awareness is more important than anything.
was banking on the fact that there wasn't any.
Wheeee. Look at us now.
It sounds more like a bank--a big, gluttonous bank--browbeating people to whom it sold AR mortgages.
From the outfit that marched and trained soldiers underneath atomic clouds?
From the outfit that sprayed its troops and enemies with Agent Orange (among others) and then lied about it?
From the outfit that exposes its troops to "depleted" uranium?
From the outfit that experimented on its troops with vaccination cocktails in Desert Storm?
From the outfit that experimented on its troops with all sorts of chemical and biological warfare tests?
From the outfit that engaged in MKUltra/Artichoke experiments on its troops (and civilians)?
Sounds like standard operating procedure for the military/government.
Sounds like an ethics issue to have the US Military operate it's own welfare banking system off the books of the US Treasury, Veterans Affairs or Department of Health and Human Services.
Looks that way to me too.
Under normal circumstances I would disagree with this being an ethics issue. The military has many programs that help the average soldier in and out of service. But when the program grows to a $345 million dollar operation with $117 million in profit - something smells fishy.
I had to take one out when my pay got screwed up. This was back in 2001. It's a loan; you have to pay it back. What the hell does it matter to them. They get their money back. The normal thing to do is you set up an allotment. The money to repay the loan gets taken out of your paycheck automatically. The idea that somehow soldiers are not paying these loans back is bullshit. Years ago; before the Army had the direct pay, soldiers had to write a check to them once a month. There were penalties if you didn't. None of that happens now. You just set up a payment plan; it gets subtracted from your direct deposit.
This whole story smells funny. My bet is that whoever is running AER decided to jack up some stocks to make some money on the side. I bet it comes out that this money was lost.
Someone needs to do jail time over this. AER was meant to loan money to soldiers in need; not, invest money in the stock market.
It's not a charity. Charities don't loan money, they give aid without expectation of recompense.
I am not defending the AER making a profit or reserving most of the money. I would think that using Superior officers as collectors and "enforcers" would be illegal under the UCMJ.
Of course there are politics involved. The Officer who gets 100%
co-operation from his unit gets a nice gold star on his government
report card.
Soldiers should be asked to contribute what they can afford. After
all, they may need the help someday.
The IG should look into this and make changes where he sees abuse or coercion
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