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'Totally Betrayed.' War Heroes Forced to Pay $15,000 for Pentagon Mistake

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The Pentagon is trying to force nearly 10,000 soldiers to pay back their enlistment bonuses. The soldiers signed up for the California National Guard during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Los Angeles Times reports some of those troops received a $15,000 incentive to reenlist. Many of them are vets who served multiple combat tours.

Now the military is saying they should never have received the money and must pay it back.

"The system paid everybody up front, and then we spent the next five years figuring out if they were eligible," California Guard official Col. Michael S. Piazzoni told the paper.

Some troops are being forced to pay back even more than one bonus. Susan Haley is a 47-year-old former Army master sergeant who served in Afghanistan in 2008. She said the Pentagon has forced her to pay $650 a month to return $20,500 in bonuses.

"I feel totally betrayed," the 26-year Army vet said.

The vets say they should not be punished for the military's mistake. So far the California National Guard has taken back more than $22 million from American war heroes.

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