DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Soldier shot in Iraq billed for missing military gear~

**cigsstorenick** · 03-06-2010, 12:14 PM

I wonder if he's contacted anyone about it. I would think these bills are generated automatically, w/o the computer being able to account for extenuating circumstances. Seems like if he talks to someone he could get the charges waived.

Not exactly automatically, but the people who would ultimately be responsible for originating the message to charge the Soldier (and I say "Soldier" here because Pfeider was one, but this is probably true for all services) wouldn't be the people who knew him personally and knew he was wounded.

Uniforms, field gear, and the like are issued to the individual Soldier by an entity called the Central Issue(ing) Facility (CIF) on each individual Post. When a Soldier arrives on a new Post (s)he in-processes through CIF and draws whatever gear that Soldier's parent unit's TO&E (Table of Organization and Equipment) says (s)he should draw. The Soldier signs some kind of statement of responsibility (I don't know the DD/DA form name or number) which includes an itemized list of the gear being issued. When the Soldier out-processes off of a Post (s)he returns the issued gear to CIF and is released from responsibility. If a Soldier doesn't return some item of clothing or equipment the Soldiers and civilians working at the CIF originate the DD Form 362: Statement of Charges.

In Pfeider's case the argument would be that the ball got dropped somewhere along the line.

Maybe his parent unit didn't return some gear and didn't inform CIF that it was lost on the battlefield. Maybe they did, but Pfeider's buddies rat-fucked his gear (picked through it and took what they wanted) before the chain-of-command was able to gather and return it. Maybe someone at CIF lost or failed to process the form that the unit submitted informing them that the Soldier's gear was lost in combat.

In all events the ball got dropped somewhere and CIF issued a Statement of Charges (SoC) which was eventually processed through the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) which is responsible for paying and/or withholding pay from service-members; they'd also be responsible for garnishing his income tax return. DFAS has NO idea who Pfeider is or what his circumstances are, other than as an SSN they're required to cut a check for each month. Someone at DFAS would have received the Statement of Charges on Pfeider (or some form of notification to charge the Soldier consequent to the SoC having been originated) and put a check in a box in a database. From that point forward things would have been automatic, but the error was really made before it got to that point.

Any number of things could have happened. But this wasn't a computer error, it was a human error by someone. And of course those happen and can be corrected, which I have no doubt in this case it will.

On the other hand, maybe Pfeider is sitting at home with a box of gear in the closet (I know someone else who might be

).

03-06-2010, 12:14 PM	#10
cigsstorenick Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 427 Senior Member	I wonder if he's contacted anyone about it. I would think these bills are generated automatically, w/o the computer being able to account for extenuating circumstances. Seems like if he talks to someone he could get the charges waived. Not exactly automatically, but the people who would ultimately be responsible for originating the message to charge the Soldier (and I say "Soldier" here because Pfeider was one, but this is probably true for all services) wouldn't be the people who knew him personally and knew he was wounded. Uniforms, field gear, and the like are issued to the individual Soldier by an entity called the Central Issue(ing) Facility (CIF) on each individual Post. When a Soldier arrives on a new Post (s)he in-processes through CIF and draws whatever gear that Soldier's parent unit's TO&E (Table of Organization and Equipment) says (s)he should draw. The Soldier signs some kind of statement of responsibility (I don't know the DD/DA form name or number) which includes an itemized list of the gear being issued. When the Soldier out-processes off of a Post (s)he returns the issued gear to CIF and is released from responsibility. If a Soldier doesn't return some item of clothing or equipment the Soldiers and civilians working at the CIF originate the DD Form 362: Statement of Charges. In Pfeider's case the argument would be that the ball got dropped somewhere along the line. Maybe his parent unit didn't return some gear and didn't inform CIF that it was lost on the battlefield. Maybe they did, but Pfeider's buddies rat-fucked his gear (picked through it and took what they wanted) before the chain-of-command was able to gather and return it. Maybe someone at CIF lost or failed to process the form that the unit submitted informing them that the Soldier's gear was lost in combat. In all events the ball got dropped somewhere and CIF issued a Statement of Charges (SoC) which was eventually processed through the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) which is responsible for paying and/or withholding pay from service-members; they'd also be responsible for garnishing his income tax return. DFAS has NO idea who Pfeider is or what his circumstances are, other than as an SSN they're required to cut a check for each month. Someone at DFAS would have received the Statement of Charges on Pfeider (or some form of notification to charge the Soldier consequent to the SoC having been originated) and put a check in a box in a database. From that point forward things would have been automatic, but the error was really made before it got to that point. Any number of things could have happened. But this wasn't a computer error, it was a human error by someone. And of course those happen and can be corrected, which I have no doubt in this case it will. On the other hand, maybe Pfeider is sitting at home with a box of gear in the closet (I know someone else who might be ).
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