With the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War fast approaching, it’s fair to say that America’s military families have been handed a raw deal by the Bush administration and Congress.

Facing low pay, long and multiple deployments, and inadequate veterans’ services, our fighting men and women have shouldered the burdens of the war without complaint. 

Now comes word that the military is asking wounded veterans of the Iraq War to return portions of their signing bonuses. 

From KDKA in Pittsburgh:

To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.

Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.

One of them is Jordan Fox, a young soldier from the South Hills.  He finds solace in the hundreds of boxes he loads onto a truck in Carnegie. In each box is a care package that will be sent to a man or woman serving in Iraq. It was in his name Operation Pittsburgh Pride was started.

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.  “I tried to do my best and serve my country. I was unfortunately hurt in the process. Now they’re telling me they want their money back,” he explained.

It’s a slap for Fox’s mother, Susan Wardezak, who met with President Bush in Pittsburgh last May. He thanked her for starting Operation Pittsburgh Pride which has sent approximately 4,000 care packages.

When George Bush and Congress committed America’s all-volunteer military to war, they assumed a moral responsibility for the well-being of military families.  Sadly, the Bush administration and Congress have failed to keep this covenant. 

A 2004 Kaiser Foundation study of active-duty military families found that 21 percent were paid so little that they had to rely on WIC or food stamps just to put food on the table. Anecdotally, the impact of low military wages is shameful. In New Jersey, servicemen had to stage a pancake sale to fund emergency food pantries. 

These issues are all-too relevant here in New Jersey’s 4^th Congressional District.

• Though he voted to send hundreds of thousands of men and women to war, my opponent, Chris Smith, cast the deciding vote against $1500 pay bonuses for active-duty servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq. [HR 3289, #554, 10/17/03].

• Chris Smith voted against bankruptcy protection for the troops, even though many Reservists and Guardsmen took pay cuts to go to war. [S 1920, #9, 1/28/04]

• Chris Smith voted against tax cuts for 250,000 low-income military families. [HR 1308, #370, 7/16/03]

As a congressman, Chris Smith is paid $165,200 each year.  He has given himself a 10 percent salary increase since the Iraq War began. 

Apparently, what’s good for Chris Smith isn’t good for America’s military families.