PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Doing an about-face, the National Guard says it will allow an Oregon recruit the $20,000 bonus it promised her in 2007.
The Guard said last month the enlistment bonus for Pfc. Chelsea Wells was granted improperly. It now says she’ll be paid as a matter of “equity and good conscience.”
The Guard says there are more than 4,000 such cases nationally. It puts the blame on paperwork errors caught a few years later by automated checks of recruits’ eligibility for bonuses.
The Guard didn’t suggest Wells did anything wrong, but it had demanded she repay $10,000 she got after training and refused to pay the $10,000 her contract called for after three years of duty.
That led to protests from Rep. Greg Walden and other members of Oregon’s congressional delegation.
