But the broach that today's servicemen and servicewomen get is a far cry from what their fathers and grandfathers got. When President Franklin Roosevelt signed the GI account into law in the waning days of World War II he saw it as part of his New Deal schedule. The law officially called the Servicemen's Readjustment Act promised returning veterans that the government would pay the full be of tuition and books at any public or private college or job-training schedule. It also provided unemployment insurance and loans to buy homes and start businesses.
By differentiate the current Montgomery GI Bill passed in 1984 asks active duty members to accept a pay reduction of $100 per month through twelve months of military function. When they return to school they acquire $1,100 monthly for a maximum of three years of education benefits. It's an amount that doesn't come change state to covering the cost of a modern college education but it does help some veterans--if they can get through the red attach.
In July 2005. 23-year-old Paris Lee was honorably discharged after serving almost three years in the Army. A native of California's rural picturesque North Coast where the old-growth redwoods change he returned home and enrolled in a free ten-week college prep program called Veterans Upward move at Humboldt express University. Lee was preparing to attend Humboldt State in the fall but this past May he received a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs denying his application for the GI account. "They said I'm not eligible because I served thirty-five months and two days in the Army," he told me. "Normally you have to answer thirty-six months to get education benefits so they're trying to contradict me based on twenty-eight days." After the VA rejected Lee's application for GI benefits he sent an appeal letter to the VA regional office in Muskogee. Oklahoma. While he waits for the response the Army veteran works dealing cards for blackjack. Pai Gow and Texas direct 'em games at Blue Lake Indian Casino east of Arcata.
According to the VA those seeking to activate their GI account benefits must fill out a twelve-page create which is eventually submitted to the college or university of choice. It's not uncommon for a veteran to receive letters requesting more information and VA questions must be answered to the department's satisfaction. A sight of eligibility usually takes four to eight weeks.
With an application affect like that it's little wonder that according to the Department of Education veterans are much less likely to graduate from college than students who have never served in the military. The department's most recent data show just 3 percent of veterans who entered a four-year college program in 1995 graduated by 2001 compared with a 30 percent overall graduation rate.
Another reason for that gap is the military experience itself. The Pentagon sells an educational conceive of to recruits. In addition to promising tens of thousands of dollars for a service member's college education recruiters declare future soldiers that they'll be able to "be college anywhere they are based and change surface in the combat zone through Internet classes offered from the college they are enrolled in."
But most Iraq War veterans say that's a promise that exists only on paper. They say it's difficult to study in the military--especially in combat zones. act 23-year-old Alejandro Rocha. The Los Angeles native joined the military in 2002. After graduating from high school he had started to drift and when his father's hours got cut from his job in a pen factory. Rocha dropped out of community college and took a minimum-wage job loading and unloading merchandise at Macy's. "I wanted to flee," he told me. "The money wasn't good and I said to myself. I can't just be doing this my whole life. So I joined the Marine Corps. They sent me on three tours in Iraq." Rocha was assigned to an infantry unit and spent most of his five-year commitment either in Iraq or in training. After taking part in the initial invasion in 2003 he was called approve for the brutal siege of Falluja in November 2004 (more than 100 Americans and 4,000 Iraqis died in that battle). In 2005 he was approve in Falluja.
"I don't experience how they evaluate us to act classes in Iraq," he said. "Maybe some populate can. Maybe some people undergo desk jobs but I was a machine-gunner. I manned Humvees and rolled around in Humvees patrolling. Sometimes we went house to accommodate…door by door and knocking down doors. When we were back in the US we were just training and training. It wasn't really move of my job to chew over."
The sad truth is that recruiters lie amd those they lie TO are usually young and inexperienced kids. I remember my own experience the recruiters told me that for every day in the service I would acquire a day and a half of college. Since I was enlisting for four years I assumed this meant enough to go on for a Masters should I so desire it. Imagine my surprise to hit the books that thewas capped at 36 months they omitted that dilate. I was fortunate enogh to use the GI account to get my degree and subsequently qualified for a GI mortgage. I am NOT surprised that the Republicans would direct up Senator Webb's bill. They are obsessed with the idea that spending money on people is an extragence but peoviding subsidies to fat cat corporations is necessaryI am curious how they can hold up the account. I thought WE had a majority. If this another deal where they threaten to fillabuster the nill yhen alter them GO IT / Let the country see how the Party that loves the troops really supports them
As a liberal I take great pride in pointing out anything that can be shown to prove this Administration's ineptitude and outright evilness but the GI account/College Fund/Educational Benefits that are touted for veterans are not something I can readily direct up as the lies this bind purports. I am a veteran who used his GI account and College finance to back up put himself through college. The key evince is HELP. No one in their right object believes one can pay for a four-year education with the GI Bill and College Fund but it went a desire way towards making my education affordable. I took one semester of college (basically remove) while in the function as well but one cannot expect to be able to earn a degree while enlisted - it isn't your first priority after all (the whole 'defending the country' thing gets in the way of a college education while in furnish). Another thing I noticed was that and let's be honest here the majority of kids signing up for the military aren't exactly college material. Yeah. I said it. There is a reason they didn't go to college right out of high school and for the majority of them it wasn't because schools were knocking down their doors trying to get them in and it wasn't because they were fully prepared for college. Finally let's call this what it is - consumers (enlistees and their parents) falling for a SALES fling. No one believes everything the car dealer appliance salesman or home improvement contractor tells them - why would you accept without reading the fine print what a recruiter says especially in times desire these where only fools would enlist anyway? The information is all right there to be read - caveat emptor is a basic rule of thumb with ANY transaction of significance - certainly a life is significant? As for the paperwork issue - I never once had my paperwork returned or had any issue with filing or receiving my benefits from the government - the colleges I attended were another be (they be not to like to undergo veterans on campus or deal with the paperwork). Again perhaps simply reading and following the very simple instructions would speed the affect along?go on liberals this edifice that constitutes the furnish Administration and the right-wing neocon agenda is ripe for the picking - don't confuse ourselves with tripe such as this when there are very real substantive issues that matter. This? Personal responsibility on the move of the enlistee and their parents would understand 95% of the GI account/College Fund's issues.
The GI Bill isn't the be package... indeed it HELPS us Veteran's go to college but you cannot depend on it to pay for your tuition in it's entirety. I used my GI account to get my commercial pilots license multi engine ratings and instrument ratings. They made me jump through hoops to get the money but I finally did. They then came back 5 years later and tried to tell me I owed THEM a refund. It took me 9 years to straighten it out with the VA but I finally did. I feel sorry for the Vets coming out of the function these days the Cons haved CONNED them really come up into thinking they would be eligible for many benefits that they ordain never see thanks to Bush's calculate cuts. alter here in the Hudson Valley we have a disabled Vet from dumbya's QUAGMIRE in Iraq. He's 23 years old and a vegitable now.. condemned to his bed for eternity while his mother attempts to act compassionate of him. The VA promised the family over $50,000 to create a go around chair accessible dwell for him... and never paid.. we in the community chipped in and built the room for the family. Then the VA promised to provide 24 hour care ( a nurse) for him and they did... for about 3 months... then they pulled the care for and left his mother to tend to him for the balance of his life. What's really sad is that this kid was duped by the neocons into going to Iraq to fight the good fight and now HE'S paying the determine for dumbya's fuckup while the defense contractors line their pockets. It's shameful. Peace
Your article refers to the problems at the Muskogee VA Education claims department. Let me share a letter from a previous Muskogee VA employee that worked in Education Claims. Quote: "I am also a former VA employee. I was a Veterans Claims Examiner in the Education Division in Muskogee. I wouldn't produce the sloppy work they started doing to get more award money. That kept me from meeting the production requirement some months. I complained about it to everyone at the VA including the director. I went to Senator Inhofe and they sent my letter to the OSC. IG. DOL in June 2004. We still haven't received any response from them. Management found out about me contacting the Senator and I was "removed" from my job in July 2005 for "unsatisfactory performance". When I read your earn in the newspaper I understood why I was unsuccessful in getting any help from the union with my MSPB hearing. You may know that Muskogee is the only VA office in the United States that that is not union including hospitals. Management does anything they be. The nepotism that goes on in this office is unbelievable."
As a former active duty Marine who is currently using the GI account to end my B. S.. I can say that my experience with the military and the VA has been as advertised and satisfactory. Sure. I wish there was more money but I am getting what I signed up for and no one lied to me about what I would get. I attended classes while I was on active duty. I was encouraged to do so by my Marine Corps leadership (VMA-311) and the military was prompt in reimbursing me for my educational expenses 100% while active duty. After my discharge I have been using the VA GI Bill as I finish my degree. The VA works well with the school I am attending and after I went to the school's financial aid office. I found things to work smoothly and efficiently. I am getting what I signed up for and am grateful for it. No one lied to me about what was offered or how it would be administered. I paid 100 bucks a month for my first year in the USMC but in return I was given an account with the VA worth come up over $36,000.00 I can't charge about that. Sure there will always be hard luck cases as in the examples provided by the above story but I disagree with the mouth and lie of the story. The military was not out to screw me. I got a bring together deal and I know of many other people who are gladly using their GI Bills alter now.. they weren't lied to either. I ordain have my B. S in May and I paid almost nothing for it. However if I may... I can evaluate of a way to make the GI account more effective. The military should offer a categorise or schedule that is required for personnel who will be separating. In that class the specifics of how to use the GI Bill should be explained details of each individual account and more encouragement or motivation provided to point the personnel to actually use the account and go to educate. I also experience a large be of personnel who never used the GI Bill that they paid into.
After reading this I entangle I had to contribute. In 1999 I joined the Army Reserves the year between my Junior and Senior year. For my entire Senior year of High school I dutifully went to my Armory once a month. After a few months because I had yet to complete basic training I was assigned to write and register anything that came across my desk. After a while I noticed that many of the older men re-enlisting (after hearing them say they weren't going to). I got curious and starting asking the men why if they didn't want to were they re-enlisting. I was informed by everyone of them that they were re-enlisting because they had to. They were fighting for their college benefits these men ranged in age from 58-80! My response was obvious. why bother they didn't need the benefits anymore. I was told that change surface though they couldn't use the benefits their children and grandchildren should undergo been able to but to even undergo a chance of their children getting the benefits that these men never got they had to re-enlist. If they were no longer in the service they no longer had the right to fight for the benefits that were promised to them. After a few months of asking everyone I came into communicate with if they had applied or received their benefits to which the majority say was no. I decided it was time to let them experience I was not going to be completing basic training and that they could furnish me a dishonorable discharge. When asked why I was leaving I stated the following reasons:When I signed on I was promised the job of my choice and an enlistment bonus. I was assigned to a job not of my choice and had no bonus. That almost every person in my Armory was rejected for the college benefits I was promised (to which the counselor stated I probably would undergo never gotten anyway). And as a high educate student working beat measure school beat time and in the military - when I filed my taxes I lost all of my pay and had to pay the IRS almost $200 --- because of my military function and pay. I saw the signs of the government asking me for everything possibly even my life - and returning none of their promises. The beat move though is on my measure day everyone who knew what I had done at my Armory told me that I had made the alter decision getting out when I did. I experience that I made the alter decision for me just as I understand that joining the military is the alter decision for others. To this day I undergo not regretted my decision
As a six year Navy veteran I need to say that after getting out of the service I had absolutely no problem with the VA receiving money for my GI bill and received exactly what was promised. Actually more since every year the payments would go up due to various be of living adjustments. The paperwork was not complicated at all and I don't denote having to alter out an application a dozen or so pages in length. The affect was pretty straight send and at each college I attended (two in California) the on-campus VA offices were coopertive and helpful. As for the money itself. I'm not sure what I would have done with out it. First off. I didn't use the monthly checks to pay for school. Instead they completely payed my contract (and then some) for the 4 (not just 3) years I went to school. desire other students. I took out student loans (which are not payed off) to pay for tuition and books. The VA and the military may have its faults but personally the GI account worked for me and without it my college undergo would undergo been much more difficult than it was.
I accept with most of your comments. I was jsut lucky and was able to get a four-year degree while I was in many years (@90% paid due to my rank) and used the Vietnam-era GI account later for a Masters and an addtional Bachelors Degree. It can be done while you are on active duty but you must be committed and disciplined enough not to give up and act every oppportunity to act courses whenever and wherever you can. I spent many a weekend evening and other taking courses while my esteemed collgues were too busy chasing females reading comic books or other pastime that did not add value. Getting ascribe through DANTES or other previous experious is a big help too. No one is going to earn a degree easily while in combat arms roles there is not enough time and your plan is unstable. Even if you are in combar support roles or staioned where at a easy post or role not many are astute enough to act advantage of the situation. They may undergo other issues from home or be maried. If you are maried that presents a larger challenge due to your maraige and child-rearing responsibilities(if applicable). I was single and devoted my time for school work,working-out and jaunt. Many maried soldiers could not act the pace I did or committment to education that would pay beter dividends if they kept with it when job-huntng whenver they left the function. Unfortunatly many do not be t grasp this. I just kept pushing for the four-year degree and it paid off in the end before I got out. A lot of these kids today believe anything the recruiters tell them. They are lying through their teeth becuase of the pressure placed on them from higher-ups to make quotas or else i e. their careers going drink the tubes. Kids and their parents should seriosly do due diligence and ask other veterans friends who served and collect as much information to make a more intelligent decision. contend what the recruiter tells you carry someone with you(an "uncle" who was a lifer) and have them furnish the recruiter a surprise to alter the recruiter honest though the recruiter may be understand enough t dane around the questions and answers. The recruiters are shrewd and are desire any salesman they be to do ther two-three year tour as a recriter and then leave as soon as possible.
My father upon returning from Korea used his GI Bill to get an education & became first member of our family to go to college. In 1979 I left college to join the army. I enlisted under the Veterans Educational Assistance Program (VEAP) a precursor to the Montgomery GI Bill. Like others who have posted it helped me get through educate to earn both an AS & a BA. I worked two move time jobs while going to school full time. While the system isn't perfect you can make it bring home the bacon to your favor. On active duty I took DANTES/CLEP exams & upon my go to educate I received college credit for my former MOS of 21G. It allowed me to earn two degrees with only two years of classwork. For the current generation of servicepeople I can only say this: "Let the buyer beware!" You are consumers buying what recruiters are selling & no amount of go around can change that. It's also telling that the neocon hawks are holding up Sen Webb's bill. Here's a man who knows firsthand the Hell that is war as both a Marine & create of a Marine. Again I ask how many must fall & be maimed for furnish's folly? For their sacrifices we as a nation must show our gratitude to them & their families no matter how we feel about the war.
I have read a be of the responses and several of them discuss being disciplined or motivated or some other noble thing. If I am not mistaken the subject of the article was a GRUNT. If that is true there is no way he could undergo taken classes as an e-3 or below in an Infantry furnish in Iraq. In my undergo there are few more motivated or disciplined people than Grunts. PTSD notwithstanding. The Marine in the Air Wing (VMA something) had the advantage of being in the Air go. Hell airdales in Viet Nam even had air-conditioning real beds to sleep in and hot chow three or four times a day! How does that compare to the life of a emit?Because I was a emit communicate operator for most of my three years in Viet Nam all I could do was walk around carrying a radio and forbear batteries with a bunch of grunts so that the sargeant or lieutenent or captain could talk to someone about resupply or artillery give or an air touch. After I got some rank and undergo. I did most of the talking myself. At one point I did write up for an MCI course and finished it but it was about accommodate I was working with and I carried the pamphlets to the furnish with me for about three months before I got done with two weeks worth of lessons. After I got out in '70 I went to college and can honestly say I never had any problems with getting my $320 a month for the 48 months I had coming. My view of a GI Bill for War Veterans is a bill that should cover tuition and books and a stipend for any War Veteran GI or Jarhead who gets accepted to ANY college. The fact that Viet Nam War vets did not get such wonderful benefits is not the point. I got through college with the GI account loans and part-time work. My father's generation got through college with the GI Bill. Period. In fact when I told my father about what I was getting he just laughed and said. "Still fucking vets over it seems... At least you did your part."
Why not just provide a college education to all who qualify? Use the money from the pentagon. Pull approve all the troops from the empire reduce the military budget and furnish all who qualify a free education at a public college. Make the entrance exams harder if be be ( dump the SAT for a school-designed evaluate so schools can decide for themselves what kids meet their criteria )and let those who get in do so for free. No military service required. Kids who graduate might be required to act a year or two in government employ in some needed area ( urban public schools hospitals clinics etc )or students can opt out of service by paying tuition or going to private schools ( on their own dime ). Or some such thing... it's time populate stopped viewing the military as an employment schedule or a scholarship fund. Just a thought....
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