title: obama admin targets soldiers bonuses lets bad va employees keep theirs
text: california national guard members wont have to pay back bonuses pentagon had been seeking repayment of enlistment bonuses paid to california guardsmen usa today  october   comments 
  defense secretary ash carter ordered the pentagon on wednesday to stop clawing back excessive recruiting bonuses paid to california national guardsmen 
  the move came after news broke over the weekend that the pentagon had been seeking repayment of enlistment bonuses paid to california guardsmen some of the payments were made by mistake others were taken fraudulently 
  while some soldiers knew or should have known they were ineligible for benefits they were claiming many others did not carter said in a statement about  have been asked in keeping with the law to repay erroneous payments 
  as first reported by the los angeles times  the pentagon sought repayment of the excess bonuses from almost  california guard soldiers the paper reported that many of the soldiers affected had served multiple combat deployments and had been ordered to repay bonuses plus interest some had had their wages garnished and tax liens slapped on them when they refused to pay the bonus scandal was revealed after audits showed widespread overpayments