Spotted multiple places (Volokh, Sullivan, etc.): The U.S. military is demanding return of a portion of recruitment bonuses when soldiers return home early because of injuries.

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.

Now, I suspect there is language in their recruitment contracts that permits this. That doesn’t mean it’s good policy. If we pay a recruitment bonus to a soldier, and the soldier gets so badly injured in the war that he can no longer serve, I think we need to call that bonus earned and move on. Anything else tends to support the very worst things that people say about how this administration views soldiers.

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