incompetence, but something systematically nefarious, at play. A position that validates your persecution complex.

Perhaps it’s the whiny persecution complex that Wingnut was referring to?

For the record, junior enlisted do get their pay messed up (as do officers and senior enlisted). And I’m guessing their relative lack of experience in navigating the military finance system is what often leads to it taking an unusually long time to fix the problem. But that’s just my hunch, after 14 years of experience watching this play out over and over again.