National Guard Member Worried Pentagon Just Stalling On Repayments

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — As the National Guard bonus backlash grows, the U.S. Defense Secretary has now ordered the Pentagon to stop asking for the money back.

The Pentagon says up to 6,500 soldiers in California may have improperly received the bonuses a decade ago during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And since it started collecting, more than two-thousand soldiers have paid back $22 million.

"If I have PTSD from being in horrible places, and I have been in some horrible places, it would be this, this is a nightmare."

California National Guard Platoon Sergeant, Bryan Strother, is devastated by the Pentagon's latest decision to suspend bonus repayments.

"It's like cancer in remission," Strother said, describing the Pentagon's decision.

Strother calls it a ploy by the government to punt the issue to the next administration -- he says the suspension is not a solution.

"We can bail out the banks but not the veterans?" Strother added.

Strother says he in 2012, he was ordered to pay back a $25,000 bonus that he received while serving with the California National Guard.

But Strother fought back, and hired an attorney.

In August, Strother received notice that his payment would be waived in good faith, but not the bonus payments of other soldiers who put their lives on the line like Strother did.

"It's appalling," said Daniel Willman, who represents Strother.

Willman has represented Strother since 2012, and says he and his client will stop at nothing to get their fellow soldiers the justice they deserve.

"We want them to stop it, give it back and don't let it happen again," said Willman.

The California National Guard issued a statement on Wednesday, saying "we established the Soldier Incentive and Assistance Center in 2011, helping about 4,000 soldiers retain approximately $37 million in bonus money."

Strother's personal fight with the government may be over, but the real battle is just beginning to get bonus repayments eliminated for every other National Guard soldier in the state.

Strother's class-action lawsuit is pending; He says soldiers from across the nation have reached out to him claiming they were also ordered to pay back their bonuses.