Hey guys, look how much we care about our troops!
I guess with recruitment down and the economy in the toilet it was time to get rid of some of the incentives that come along with joining the Army, ey?
Ridiculous.
Here's the scoop from Military.com:
The Army has ended a major program that allowed soldiers to store their home goods and vehicles at no cost while they are away from home for extended periods of time.
Army Sustainment Command, which oversees logistics for the force, discontinued the use of funds across the service to store vehicles and other goods owned by soldiers while they are deployed, Sgt. Pablo Saez, a service spokesperson, told Military.com on Wednesday.
Think about the convenience here for service members. You join the Army, you don't want to pay rent at an apartment (obviously), so the Army pays to store your car and other items in a storage facility.
Well, not anymore!!
This little hiccup happened back in October and was not really reported on until now. Now that media has reached out to the Army they are scrambling to come up with a new program.
Army planners are drafting a policy that would enable storage at no cost to soldiers, though that reversal was noted only after Military.com initially inquired on the matter in early December. The service did not mention the development of the future cost-saving policy to the publication when initially contacted after the move elicited widespread scorn online.
Good! That's part of the reason I love this job. We shine a light on things, and things change. In this situation, we'll have to keep an eye on the Army and see if they actually do go back to the free program.
We still don't know for sure if this storage program has been removed for all Army members or just ones on temporary deployment. Either way, we'd love to see our boys get that money back, I mean, they put their lives on the line for our freedom.
More from the story:
The service has long offered vouchers for soldiers to store their belongings. During deployments, some troops have historically ended their apartment leases and rented a storage locker, subsidized by the Army, to save money on rent. But in October, the Army G-1, which oversees personnel policy and is commanded by Lt. Gen. Douglas Stitt, decided current travel policies note only that a soldier's belongings "may" be stored, meaning the Army didn't have to do so, according to an internal memo from Col. Heather Carlisle, director for support operations at Army Sustainment Command.
"HQDA G1, the proponent for [storage] entitlements, recently determined that the Army would no longer support [storage] entitlements because there is no Army policy explicitly authorizing storage in support of soldiers deployed for contingency operations," Carlisle said in an Oct. 23 memo. She did not return multiple requests for comment.
Outstanding leadership, guys!
Seriously, let's get this program back on the board.
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