Continuing pay problems resulted in overpayments and debt for sick and injured GWOT Army soldiers. When Army and medical unit commanders fail to report changes in soldier duty status and location, overpayments of combat-related pay, such as hostile fire pay, hardship duty pay, and family separation pay, continue—sometimes for several months past the time the soldier is eligible to receive this combat-related pay. As illustrated by our case studies, which are discussed in the next section of our testimony, changes in duty status and location occur when soldiers become sick or injured or they do not deploy with their units and when soldiers are injured after deployment or sustain battle injuries and are medically evacuated. Our investigation into allegations of pay problems related to 37 soldiers assigned to the MRPU at Fort Bragg identified actual overpayments of approximately $218,000 to 232 sick and injured Army National Guard and Reserve soldiers in outpatient status during the period April 2003 through June 2005. These overpayments occurred in part because unit and medical commanders failed to record changes in duty status and location of sick and injured soldiers. Data available during our case studies showed that it took from 14 to 203 days to stop overpayments once a soldier visited the Finance Battalion. As demonstrated in our past reports, finance offices in theater were often unable to start or stop hostile fire pay or hardship duty pay as required because of problems with human capital, processes, and the lack of integrated pay and personnel systems. When overpayments were not detected or they were not detected in a timely manner, the dollar amount of soldier debts continued to increase. Debts that remained unpaid after these soldiers left the service were subject to collection through credit bureau reporting, private collection agencies, and TOP offsets of income tax refunds and other designated federal payments. Our audit of separated Army GWOT soldier debt identified nearly 1,300 battle-injured soldiers who left the service owing $1.5 million, including almost 900 battle-injured soldiers whose debts totaled about $1.2 million and about 400 soldiers who died in battle whose debts totaled over $300,000. As a policy, DFAS does not pursue collection action on the debts of fallen soldiers. However, Army and DFAS officials told us that under certain circumstances, military debt can be satisfied from the final pay of fallen soldiers. In addition, DFAS may pursue collection of debts of other deceased soldiers. We found that hundreds of separated battle-injured soldiers were pursued for repayment of military debts that occurred through no fault of their own, including 74 soldiers whose debts had been reported to credit bureaus, private collection agencies, and TOP at the time we initiated our audit in June 2005. Although the Debt Collection Act gives DOD authority to use these debt collection tools, in response to our audit, the Army temporarily suspended collection action on debts of battle-injured soldiers until a determination could be made about whether these soldiers’ debts were eligible for relief. As illustrated in figure 1, Army and DFAS data for fiscal years 2002 through 2005 showed that 73 percent of the debts for the nearly 1,300 separated battle-injured soldiers and soldiers killed in combat related to errors in pay calculations, combat pay errors, and erroneous leave payments during fiscal years 2002 through 2005. The remaining 27 percent of these soldiers’ debts related to repayment of enlistment bonuses (11 percent) where soldiers did not complete the required term of service or they improperly received more than one bonus; payments for tuition and training (6 percent) where soldiers did not complete their training or they did not fulfill service requirements related to their training; and other expenses (8 percent) related to unpaid bills for family medical services, housing and household moves, insurance premiums, travel advances, and loss or damage of government property. The reasons for the remaining debt (2 percent) were not recorded in the Defense Debt Management System. Figure 1. Dollar Amounts of Battle-Injured and Fallen Soldier Debts by Major Reason. Other debts relate to provisions in law and DOD business rules in effect at various times. For example, until mid-2005, soldiers were required to repay portions of their enlistment bonus, special pay, and educational benefits and stipends when they failed to fulfill their required terms of service because of early separation as a result of their war injuries. According to DFAS officials, although unit commanders and finance offices are authorized to write off debts for lost and damaged equipment when soldiers who were injured or killed by hostile fire are medically evacuated from the theater of operation, they have not always done so. In addition, unpaid bills for family medical services, housing and household moves, insurance premiums, and outstanding travel advances generate debt. Because Army units and medical facilities have not always prepared or processed changes in orders when a soldier’s duty status or location changed, soldiers do not have the documentation needed to submit vouchers for travel reimbursement. The new WIA Support Team’s standard operating procedures for soldier pay account review require identification and processing of all soldier travel claims. Debt collection actions have caused a variety of problems for injured and sick Army GWOT soldiers. Case studies related to both of our reports showed that sick and injured soldiers sometimes went months without paychecks because debt caused by overpayments of combat pay and other errors was offset against their military pay. Work performed for both of our reports also showed that when debts were not paid after the soldiers separated from the service, they were subject to credit bureau reporting and collection agency actions and offsets. Out-of-service debt collection actions created additional hardships on the soldiers by preventing them from paying for basic household expenses, getting loans to buy houses or automobiles or pay off other debt, and sending several of the soldiers into financial crisis. Some battle-injured soldiers forfeited their final separation pay to cover part of their military debt, and they left the service with no funds to cover immediate expenses while facing collection action on their military debt. Case studies developed as part of our Fort Bragg investigation showed that some soldiers and their families had to expend significant time and effort dealing with pay problems and resulting debt while recovering from sickness and injuries. Several soldiers experienced large, unexpected deductions—as much as $1,172 from a single paycheck—for repayment of debt resulting from the Army’s failure to stop hostile fire and hardship duty pay for soldiers who were in Medical Retention status. As illustrated in table 1, for 9 of the 10 MRPU soldiers in our case studies, it took pay technicians at the Fort Bragg Finance Battalion from 14 to 203 days to stop the overpayments once the soldiers visited the Finance Battalion. The resulting overpayments ranged from $553 to $2,300. The Finance Battalion could not provide documentation for us to determine the amount of time it took to stop overpayments for one of our case study soldiers. The soldiers’ injuries ranged from those inflicted by improvised explosive devices (IED) to post-traumatic stress disorder. Table 1. Examples of Fort Bragg Soldier Pay Problems Injury from vehicle accident involving an IED crater. Knee injury, broken leg—undiagnosed for 6 weeks. Depression – sent to MRPU at Fort Bragg and redeployed to Iraq. Stroke—medically evacuated to Landstuhl and transferred to Walter Reed and Fort Bragg. Kidney disease in Iraq, hospitalized at Landstuhl, and then sent to Walter Reed and Fort Bragg. Experienced heart trouble in Iraq; sent to Fort Bragg. Contracted legionnaire’s disease in Africa. Days elapsed equals the number of days between the date the soldier visited Finance and date ineligible pay was stopped. Estimated overpayments equals hostile fire and hardship duty payments made to a soldier after arrival at Fort Bragg MRPU. Soldier #6 in the table above, an Army National Guard soldier, suffered a stroke on June 26, 2004, while serving in Iraq. He was medically evacuated and arrived at Fort Bragg in early July 2004. Our investigation revealed that the soldier visited the Fort Bragg Finance Battalion on July 30, 2004, as part of his MRPU processing. Despite following MRPU procedures, this soldier’s hostile fire and hardship duty pay continued until November 5, 2004—approximately 4 months after his initial visit to the Finance Battalion. By this time, the soldier’s overpayments had resulted in debt of $1,300. The Fort Bragg Finance Battalion eventually collected about $972 of this amount from a single paycheck, which was about 50 percent of the soldier’s disposable pay. As a result, the soldier’s wife told us that she had to defer paying some of their bills, including the monthly payment on their second mortgage. Case studies related to our audit of separated battle-injured soldier debt showed that several of these soldiers also had gone without a paycheck for several months while they were in Army medical facilities undergoing treatment for their war injuries because debt caused by overpayments of combat pay and other errors was offset against their military pay. One soldier said he had no money for food while several soldiers told us they received assistance from family members. When these soldiers leave the Army, they generally do not have jobs and many of them face continuing medical treatment for battle injuries, making it difficult to hold a job. Some soldiers told us that their final separation pay was offset to cover their debt and they left the service with no funds to pay immediate expenses. Because of the lack of income, 16 of the 19 soldiers who contacted us during our audit told us that they had difficulty paying for basic household expenses. The Army’s failure to record separation paperwork in the pay system and other payment errors resulted in over $12,000 of debt for one severely battle-injured soldier who suffered brain damage when his convoy came under attack. Although the soldier’s family expected that he would receive retirement pay when his active Army pay stopped upon his separation, the soldier had no income for several months while the Army attempted to recover his military debt.