WASHINGTON -- Army Spc. Justin Sheeter of Wooster would like extra pay for the extra time he's had to spend in Afghanistan fixing trucks for the 101st Airborne Divison.

Although his enlistment was supposed to end in February, the 22-year-old former All-Ohio defensive lineman instead became one of 120,000 soldiers since 2001 to be involuntarily kept in the Army through a controversial program called "stop-loss." He's rooting for Congress to pass legislation that would pay him extra for each month he's forced to remain in the military.

Copley Township Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton introduced a bill this year with New Jersey Democratic U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg that would give stop-lossed soldiers an extra $1,500 each month on top of their regular pay. But a defense spending bill approved last week by a House of Representatives subcommittee made it $500 instead, with the payments retroactive to the start of their involuntary service. Discharged soldiers would also get money for their stop-lossed time.

To read the rest of this article, please click the source link above.