Gov't works

I had filed a congressional inquiry a few weeks back because I had and still have pay problems with the army, instead of crediting me for leave not yet taken, they decided to deduct my pay, equalling to the amount of leaven not yet taken. Also, my travel voucher for reinbursable expenses incurred while in Iraq and Kuwait had not been reinbursed for over 3 months now.

After unsuccessful attempts to try to get some help from some in charge in my reserve unit, I finally came to the end of my ropes. After all, after I got back from Iraq, they dissolved the company to which I was depolyed with, so there was really no one in charge.

I then sent a e-mail inquiry with my local congressman, and even though we've never spoke or met in person, I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with his helpers! Two people from his office made phone calls to me and on my behalf to people at the government agency level that I could not have done myself. Imagine how relieved I was when I got a phone call today, this guy named Mike called from the congressional office, asking me to fax a copy of my order to him, because, apparantly, defense accounting service had "lost" my order deploying me to Iraq. (It happens a lot.) He told me that once this is one, then I should see my travel pay in one week. If at the local level, there are competent people like that, then maybe we wouldn't even need politicians to sort this sort of mess out.

I don't know if anyone could identify with me for as far as pay issues with the service or other branches of gov't is concerned, I'd like to know about them, about how common it is and what you've done to resolve the issues, so please feel free to leave me comment or send me a e-mail! Don't be shy!