SACRAMENTO, Calif. — More than 17,000 California National Guard soldiers won’t have to repay more than $190 million in enlistment bonuses and other payments handed out in error between 2004 and 2010, the Pentagon has determined.
The decision closes several years of wrangling over whether soldiers should be forced to pay back the money after an audit revealed the Guard was overpaying bonuses as it faced pressure to hit enlistment goals during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
