He lost an arm in Iraq; the Army wants money

Record online ^ | December 10, 2004 | Dianna Cahn

[Fyscat]

Middletown – He lost his arm serving his country in Iraq. Now this wounded soldier is being discharged from his company in Fort Hood, Texas, without enough gas money to get home. In fact, the Army says 27-year-old Spc. Robert Loria owes it close to $2,000, and confiscated his last paycheck. "There's people in my unit right now – one of my team leaders [who was] over in Iraq with me, is doing everything he can to help me .... but it's looking bleak," Loria said by telephone from Fort Hood yesterday. "It's coming up on Christmas and I have no way of getting home."

[bushisdamanin04]

Reminds me of when I was on active duty and after a field exercise we had two protective masks missing, one for an E-2 and the other for the Battalion XO. The E-2's squad had been ordered to place their masks in the back of a trailer, which was to be locked. When the soldiers returned to the trailer, one of the masks was missing. After a report of survey, the soldier was made to pay for the mask.

The XO's story was that he went to sleep using his mask as a pillow and when he awoke, it was gone ... stolen out from under his precious little head. After a report of survey, his mask was written off! Pure BS.

[monday]

"While obviously this is terrible, this is not the norm"

Actually, it appears that it IS the "norm".

from the article; "There was stuff lost in transportation, others damaged in the accident," Loria said of the day he lost his hand. "When it went up the chain of command, the military denied coverage."

In other words, screw you unless you make a big deal out of it and call congressmen and news papers etc. Most soldiers just take their lumps.

Other ex-soldiers have been called for active duty after being formally discharged from the military. Not just a few, thousands. Some are taking the military to court and for those, suddenly the military admits making a mistake, and releases them. Most of the others, are either too confused by the paper work or are unable to afford a lawyer. These are roped into further service after being discharged.

A general bragged that the releases of soldiers who take them to court showed that the military was able to "deal with their mistakes". Apparently "dealing with" the military requires lawyers and congressmen. Without them, soldiers have no hope.

[SpyGuy]

"It broke warmed my heart to get this juicy piece of anti-military propaganda. I was both sad that there was only one baby-killer maimed and angry that this did not occur before the November elections," Schumer said. "The first thing is to help exploit him, and then to see if it is happening to anybody else so I can further embarass the military, Rumsfeld, and the President."

[Darksheare]

Yes, I'm not contesting that he lost an arm, nor am I contesting that it sucks.
Someone somewhere screwed that poor soldier over either purposefullly with the paperwork, or by accident and didn't fix their error.

But having dealt with the Record on a personal level, they have an agenda here, and it isn't in the soldier's best interests in all honesty.
And no, Shrillery and Schumer aren't going to reach into their personal slush funds to help, they merely want to make it look like they're doing something.
(As you already obviously know!)


It burns me up that the soldier got geeked, and geeked badly.
Think I'll back off on this and cool off.
When it comes to Hillary, Schumer, and the Times Herald Record, I can't think straight.

[Gondring]

And for those who don't know Hinchey, well.... I would trust him as far as I trust Schumer.

[SpyGuy]

Sorry, I posted the wrong edit by mistake (darned "back" button). He's the correct version:

"It broke my heart to discover that the national media was not all over this juicy piece of anti-military propaganda. I was both sad that there was only one baby-killer maimed and angry that this did not occur before the November elections," Schumer said. "The first thing is to help him be exploited for Democrat political purposes, and then to see if it is happening to anybody else so I can further embarass the military, Rumsfeld, and the President."

[muawiyah]

True enough, no rational human being could possibly believe Chuckie Schumer has any compassion. The man's about power ~ raw power ~ nothing but power.

He'll be ripping this guy's one remaining good arm off and pounding people with it if the Sergeant gets too close to him.

[JoeV1]

While it is regrettable that this brave soldier lost his arm, how does that entitle him to keep monies that were paid to him in error?

[Darksheare]

That pretty much sums up Schumer, Hillary, and the THR's involvement.

[Darksheare]

UGh!
Hinchey!

Count your fingers if he shakes your hand.

[Old Professer]

At its heart, the desk-bound army is nothing but a bureacracy; faceless, heartless and foolish.

[muawiyah]

You have the issue backwards. This guy owed you and I some money before he took the round that ripped his, and not my, arm off.

Sorry if it hit you anyway and took out your conscience, but such are events in war.

[SpyGuy]

While it is regrettable that this brave soldier lost his arm, how does that entitle him to keep monies that were paid to him in error?

Ding, ding! We have a winner folks! A voice of rational thinking in a post awash with emotional outcries!

[Old Professer]

He wanted to get home for Christmas, not his funeral.

[HiJinx]

No, it's typically written off as battle damage.

Someone earlier made the comment that he's been the victim of some bureacratic idiots.

[muawiyah]

The question is irrational. Once you start losing limbs and bodily organs in a war, we deal with you (or your remains) on an entirely different basis.

Now if all that'd happen was a splinter in the a$$ (like John Kerry), we'd probably have given him a bronze star, eh?!

[Darksheare]

Yes, I did see that in the paper form of the article today.
Big pictures across pages 2 and 3.
And also on page 3 was an article about a West point cadet being charged with rape.

Today's paper was quite a sight to see with pages 2 and 3 splashed with negative news about the military and it's training facilities/academies.

[Darksheare]

Yes.
But there's other things going on here that you seem to have missed.
I'll let you catch up first.

Some background: The Times Herald Record is known to be against the military and rather pro-liberal/anti-American.
If it's negative news about the military, they'll try to make it a full page article.

[monday]

"Loria is getting off easy on this count. $2400 of FSA is several months of excess pay. He and his Platoon Sergeant should both have known this was wrong and they should have been trying to get it corrected ASAP. "

Not necessarily. FSA is paid for combat duty. His family received it with the assumption that he wouldn't be injured and disabled and instead would fulfill his full rotation in Iraq.

When he was injured, he didn't return home to his family but instead was in the hospital. You think it is fair to stop paying a soldier because he is in the hospital instead of at home where he could earn a living?

[af_vet_1981]

The Lorias also contacted the offices of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Saugerties. Hinchey's office responded.

Sean Hannity should inquire about a fund for this soldier and inform us by radio.