Almost More Disgusting

Army recruits get a signing bonus when they enlist. As it's been harder and harder to get recruits, the bonus has increased over the years. The reason it's been harder to recruit is that thousands of soldiers have been killed or severely wounded from their tours of duty. Which brings us around to this story.

Just in time for the holidays, there's a special place in Hell just waiting to be filled by some as-yet-unknown Pentagon bureaucrat. Apparently, thousands of wounded soldiers who served in Iraq are being asked to return part of their enlistment bonuses -- because their injuries prevented them from completing their tours.

It's bad enough that Bush is looking to hold 150,000 military base personnel hostage until he gets his golden war bucks. Now he's trying to take money from the disabled because of their disabilities - which seems to violate plenty of anti-discrimination laws.

One of them is Jordan Fox, a young soldier from the South Hills.
He finds solace in the hundreds of boxes he loads onto a truck in Carnegie. In each box is a care package that will be sent to a man or woman serving in Iraq. It was in his name Operation Pittsburgh Pride was started.

Fox was seriously injured when a roadside bomb blew up his vehicle. He was knocked unconscious. His back was injured and lost all vision in his right eye.

A few months later Fox was sent home. His injuries prohibited him from fulfilling three months of his commitment. A few days ago, he received a letter from the military demanding nearly $3,000 of his signing bonus back.

"I tried to do my best and serve my country. I was unfortunately hurt in the process. Now they're telling me they want their money back," he explained.

Happy Thanksgiving!