Guards get to keep checks, sanity reigns

Every now and then, common sense breaks out in Washington.

It helps to have a cause that transcends politics — like protecting war veterans from the Pentagon’s incredibly unfair, unbelievably stupid attempt to take back enlistment bonuses given a decade ago to persuade men and women to go back into a war.

On Wednesday negotiators from both political parties agreed not to require repayment of the incentives given out improperly by recruiters trying to reach quotas. We’d like to think it was a quick negotiation.

Most people were incredulous when the story broke earlier this year about the Pentagon telling some 10,000 members of the California National Guard they would have to give back their signing bonuses. The payments were for re-enlistment, so the veterans knew what they were facing overseas and might not have re-upped without the extra cash. Trying to take back the money now was an outrageous affront.

Here’s what happened. An audit discovered that about $22 million had been given out improperly as incentives for National Guard members to reenlist during the recruiting frenzy 10 years ago, when it was clear that the Iraq War wasn’t ending. The money was supposed to be used to retain members only in certain specialties, but it was offered more widely, and the paperwork was doctored to cover it up.

Of course the Pentagon took this seriously. One recruiter has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Then it went after the money. Tax dollars that are paid improperly should be recovered in most cases. But this is different. So different.

The National Guard members who re-enlisted had nothing to do with the paperwork fraud. They entered into the deal in good faith. For many it was a life-changing decision. The money, often around $15,000, might have been needed as a college fund for a child, or the last stretch of savings to buy a home — hard to turn down even at the risk of getting maimed or killed in the desert.

And then the Army asks for it back?

Fortunately, it seems that sanity will prevail. The annual defense policy bill filed Wednesday requires the Pentagon to waive the recoupment of a bonus unless there is evidence showing service members “knew or reasonably should have known” they weren’t eligible. That’s fair. Whew. Both houses need to pass the bill, and we’re pretty sure President Obama will be thrilled to sign it. It’s something he and Donald Trump might actually agree on.

The Pentagon took it seriously when recruiters misused a bonus program to meet their enlistment quotas, but trying to get money back from war veterans a decade later was outrageous.