Government has clawed back more than $2.5B given to veterans to leave the military, data shows

The Department of Veterans Affairs has clawed back billions of dollars that countless veterans were given as incentive to leave the military, including when it needed to downsize, according to new data obtained by NBC News.

Disabled veterans have been told in the last 12 fiscal years to return nearly $3 billion in special separation pay — lump-sum incentives that were offered when the U.S. had to reduce its active-duty force or release slightly injured service members, the data shows. 

Since fiscal year 2013, the earliest year for which the VA shared data, about 122,000 veterans have returned more than $2.5 billion so far, with about $364 million still left to be recouped, according to the VA. 

“It felt like I would never see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Damon Bird, who struggled to repay the roughly $74,000 incentive he received to leave the Army in 2015.