Military

Economic Hardship Bonuses for Enlisted Troops? Clock Is Ticking on Pentagon Decision.

A deputy disbursing officer counts money at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait

Months after Congress gave the Pentagon the authority to give bonuses this year to junior enlisted troops facing economic hardships and a month after lawmakers provided funding for the benefit, the department is still deciding whether to actually give out the bonuses.

After three weeks of being pressed by Military.com about whether it plans to pay ^[1] out any economic hardship bonuses, the Pentagon sent a brief statement saying it is still evaluating what to do.

"The department's top priority is taking care of service members and their families," a Defense Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement Wednesday. "The implementation of this benefit is still being assessed. Beyond that, we have no additional information to offer at this time."

As part of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, that Congress passed in December, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was given the ability to approve monthly bonuses for any troops in the rank of E-6 or below if he determines that "prevailing economic conditions may adversely affect" them. The bill also left it to the secretary to set the rate of the bonus.

The bonuses were authorized only through this coming December, meaning there's just eight months left for the Defense Department to act.

Lawmakers included the bonuses in the defense policy bill amid concerns that troop pay was not keeping pace with the private sector or inflation. While basic pay for service members has risen 16.4% since 2020, including a 5.2% raise at the beginning of this year, inflation is projected to increase by 19.3% from 2020 through the end of 2024, according to a recently released House report on military quality of life ^[3].

Though Congress authorized the bonuses in December, it didn't provide funding for the benefit until late March, when lawmakers finally passed a bill to fund the Pentagon through the remainder of fiscal 2024. The fiscal year started in October, but months of congressional gridlock left the Pentagon and the rest of the federal government operating on stopgap funding that didn't adjust any spending levels from the previous year.

Congress approved $43 million to pay for the economic hardship bonuses, as well as the expansion of a benefit known as the Basic Needs Allowance for troops facing food insecurity.

In explaining their reasoning for the funding, lawmakers linked inadequate pay for junior enlisted troops to the military's ongoing recruiting ^[4] struggles.

"The nation needs America's youth to strongly consider uniformed service," a report accompanying the spending bill said. "Exquisite weaponry and strategic concepts are of limited value unless they are operated by a fully manned, ready and motivated force."

The bill report, which does not have the weight of law, also requested the Pentagon brief the congressional defense committees on the department's plans to implement the economic hardship bonuses, among other issues related to junior enlisted pay, within 30 days of the spending bill becoming law.

That 30-day deadline came Monday, but a congressional aide told Military.com the briefing hasn't happened yet. The Pentagon, which typically adheres to briefing requests included in bill reports, also routinely misses congressional deadlines for briefings.

While the Pentagon dawdles on whether to give bonuses to junior enlisted troops this year, lawmakers are already working on other steps to improve service member compensation going forward.

The military quality-of-life report released by the House Armed Services Committee earlier this month recommended giving E-1s through E-4 ^[5]s a 15% raise, and committee leadership has introduced a bill ^[6] to make the pay hike ^[7] a reality. The committee has said the bill will serve as the basis for this year's version of the NDAA that the panel will begin debating next month.

Top senators have also expressed interest ^[8] in reforming junior enlisted pay in this year's NDAA, though they have not released a blueprint like the House, and it's unclear how budget constraints ^[9] will affect what Congress can ultimately approve.

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Military Clinicians Not Particularly Happy with DoD’s New Electronic Health Records System, Watchdog Finds

Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center color guard

Military health providers gave low marks to the Defense Department's new electronic health records system, ranking it behind the DoD's legacy systems.

A Government Accountability Office survey found that military clinicians were less satisfied with the MHS Genesis system’s efficiency, response time and care in terms of quality and providing benefit to the patients when compared with the department’s prior system and systems used by providers of civilian health care, according to a report released last week ^[1].

The only metric for which MHS Genesis surpassed another system was downtime -- the amount of time the system was not available for use -- for which 49% of survey respondents rated it as satisfactory, compared with 45% of those assessing the legacy systems. According to the report, 67% of those who use the commercial version of the Oracle Cerner product rated it satisfactory for downtime.

The DoD completed its rollout of the system, which it purchased in 2015, to all military treatment facilities this year, with its introduction at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center ^[3] in North Chicago, Illinois, in March.

The Department of Veterans Affairs ^[4], which decided in 2018 to also purchase the Oracle Cerner system, has introduced it at five health systems, plus the Lovell Federal Health Care Center, which it co-manages with the DoD.

The VA's rollout at additional sites, however, has been on hold since last year ^[5] when users encountered issues with the system that jeopardized patient safety.

The GAO study found that DoD clinicians' satisfaction with the system rose slightly from 2022 to 2023 but still ranked last when compared with other systems, with the exception of downtime.

And according to the watchdog, the DoD has not set any goals for improving user satisfaction.

"Without goals for improving user satisfaction, the department will be limited in its ability to measure progress, plan for improvements, and ensure the system meets users' needs," the report noted.

The report also assessed the system's deployment in March at the Lovell facility and found that, while the DoD and VA were able to successfully deploy it, some integration issues remain -- both in the pharmacy system, which did not receive the latest module update, according to the VA, and in the dental clinic.

In fact, the report said, the DoD's dental software system, called Dentrix, overall continues to have "persistent problems."

As a result, the Defense Department is exploring alternatives to the dental records system, according to the report.

The GAO recommended that the DoD address issues with integration at the Lovell facility, set targets for user satisfaction, and develop an alternative to Dentrix. The agency also recommended that the VA tackle integration barriers at Lovell.

Both departments concurred with the recommendations, according to the report.

Small Fraction of Soldiers Experiencing Sexual Harassment Filed Complaints, Pentagon Watchdog Finds

Paratroopers ruck march through the Fort Liberty training area

After the alleged sexual harassment and gruesome slaying of Spc. Vanessa Guillén in 2020, Army ^[1] leaders pledged to create a culture that protects the service's junior troops -- particularly women in the ranks. But four years later, it may still be struggling to understand the scope of the problem.

A report from the Pentagon's inspector general released Wednesday found that soldiers are still reluctant to report sexual harassment and other abuse. Between January 2021 and January 2023, 4,600 soldiers reported sexual harassment behaviors in their units in anonymous command climate surveys -- out of 27,000 total responses. Of that group, only 73 sexual harassment complaints were actually made.

Guillén's murder at Texas' Fort Cavazos ^[2], then named Fort Hood, and the subsequent national outcry served as a reckoning for the Army. Found two months after her disappearance, Guillen's body had been dismembered and burned, and authorities alleged she had been sexually harassed before being murdered by a male soldier, who died by suicide. His girlfriend, who helped dispose of the body, was sentenced to 30 years in prison ^[3] in August.

An independent review of the base after her death, colloquially referred to as "The Fort Hood Report ^[5]," found systemic issues with leadership and commanders allowing an out-of-control culture of sexual harassment, bullying and other abuse. Junior troops, particularly women, were found to have lived in a culture of fear and, whenever they did bring up issues, they were commonly ostracized and re-victimized.

The Pentagon inspector general, in its new report, found that the Army may have limited insight into whether similar issues exist -- or have been resolved -- due to poor handling and tracking of the anonymous command climate surveys. Those surveys capture snapshots of issues facing soldiers, such as sexual harassment, that can be compared to formal complaints.

"If the Army does not review and analyze inconsistencies between the [survey] results on sexually harassing behaviors and the number of sexual harassment complaints, then it may miss opportunities to identify possible barriers to reporting, including confusion with the sexual harassment reporting process," the report found. "The barriers could lead to soldiers under‑reporting."

The surveys are tools for commanders to receive anonymous feedback from their soldiers, and the Army units reviewed by the inspector general had systemic issues maintaining the critical data. Brigades did not compare command climate survey results from previous years or have any systems in place to identify results, according to the IG.

Instead, the investigators found that individual results were effectively viewed in a vacuum. In some cases, previous surveys were lost -- despite regulations saying units must maintain records for at least five years.

"As a result, the incoming commanders will not have the tools needed to understand the command climate and are at risk for duplicating efforts of the previous commander," the report noted.

The wide gap found by the inspector general between incidents of alleged sexual harassment in units and the relatively small number of formal complaints between 2021 and 2023 paints a picture of soldiers who are still reluctant to raise the issue with the Army outside of anonymous surveys.

The inspector general's report also found that close to half of men and women who reported incidents were coerced to "drop the issue."

The review included units at Fort Cavazos, where Guillén was murdered. Those units include the 1st Cavalry Sustainment Brigade; 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team; the 3rd Security Force Assistance Brigade; and the 166th Aviation Brigade.

"We are dedicated to addressing all reports of harmful behaviors," Lt. Col. Tania Donovan, a spokesperson for III Armored Corps, which includes Fort Cavazos, said in a statement to Military.com. "Harmful behaviors have no place in our ranks: They corrode trust, fracture unit cohesion, and imperil readiness. Perpetrators are held accountable, and victims receive assistance."

The inspector general also reviewed data from two 82nd Airborne Division units, including its sustainment brigade and the 20th Engineer Brigade; and two Army Special Operations Command units, the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade and 4th Psychological Operations Group.

Following Guillén's death, the Army fired, suspended or otherwise punished 14 leaders ^[6] at the base. The installation was also rocked by a series of unrelated suicides, murders, and cases of sexual assault and harassment.

The Army has since made slight adjustments to its sexual assault and harassment prevention training, to include more scenario-based training instead of PowerPoint presentations. Fort Cavazos established a three-day course that covers sexual harassment prevention, fair treatment of soldiers, and other workplace etiquette.

Pentagon Vows to Press On with Counterterror Mission as Negotiations to Depart Niger Begin

National Guardsman prepares a worksite for a major drainage project in Niger

The Pentagon said Monday that it is not abandoning the counterterrorism mission in West Africa even as it begins negotiations to withdraw the U.S. military presence in Niger and questions are arising over military operations in neighboring Chad.

The potential military withdrawal from Niger comes more than a month after the military junta ruling the country made the demand, after it came to power in July through a coup. A U.S. official told The Associated Press on Saturday that there is no timeline for the withdrawal from Niger, which hosts American bases and has played a key role in the U.S. effort to combat a proliferation of terrorist groups in Africa.

"There is a significant counterterrorism consideration here throughout Western Africa and something that we continue to work very hard on," Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Monday. "We'll also continue to explore options and how we can ensure that we're able to continue to address potential terrorist threats."

Discussions have begun between an American delegation and Niger about an "orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country," according to Ryder.

The U.S. military has two bases in the country that have been used in counterterrorism operations against organizations such as the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, and al-Qaida affiliate Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM.

Between January and June 2023, the region experienced more than 1,800 terrorist attacks that killed more than 4,500 people, according to a press release from the United Nations ^[2].

In 2017, 12 U.S. Army ^[3] Special Forces soldiers were accompanying 30 Nigerien troops on a mission to capture or kill a high-level Islamic State group leader when they were ambushed by more than 100 extremists ^[4] just outside the village of Tongo Tongo, leaving four American soldiers dead and two more wounded.

In July 2023, a military junta in Niger ousted democratically elected ^[5] President Mohamed Bazoum from power. Since then, the Pentagon has evacuated some personnel from the country and consolidated the majority of its military footprint at one of its two bases.

At the moment, there are around 1,100 U.S. personnel in the country.

Ryder would not say what would happen to the two bases should U.S. forces withdraw completely.

After the coup, international news outlets have reported that ^[6] Niger's rulers have begun to pursue closer ties with Russia. Nearby Mali and Burkina Faso -- countries also run by military juntas -- already have Russian troops in place ^[7].

The news of the withdrawal negotiations comes just days after outlets such as Reuters reported ^[8]that at least one military official in neighboring Chad has also issued a demand that the U.S. military halt its activities in the country.

Ryder stressed Monday that "to my knowledge, U.S. forces have not been asked to leave Chad" but noted that there have been discussions with the country about the legal agreement that governs the U.S. presence there.

However, unlike Niger, where the American military maintained a significant presence that included airfields from which drone missions were launched, a defense official told Military.com that there are only around 100 U.S. troops -- mostly officers who manage military coordination efforts, not operations -- in Chad, and that total also includes embassy staff.

"We're going to continue to take ... the terrorist threat seriously and we're going to continue to work with partners throughout Africa on that front," Ryder said. The Pentagon wants "to work with reliable partners to address the threat that affects countries and citizens all throughout the region."

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