On Monday, an angry U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro of Connecticut joined Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal at Southern Connecticut State University to discuss U.S. Department of Defense officials "breaking the law" by failing to notify some reservists they qualify for education benefits.
The military has been lying to Reserve and Guard troops about their education benefits when they return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many troops are told if they quit drilling they lose their GI Bill benefits.
Retention officers claim this to retain the numbers in Guard and Reserve units – to keep them in a deployment ready status.
These are benefits already earned by the veteran, they cannot be held over a veteran’s head for retention issues. The truth is that Guard and Reserve troops are eligible for their benefits – equal to the time they were activated, plus four months.
Since reporters pinged the DoD press office – they have now added new information to their website acknowledging the fact that Guard and Reserve troops are eligible for GI Bill – even if they stop drilling.
This was brought to light following the hard work and solid determination of Giacomo "Jack" Mordente, director of veterans affairs at SCSU. Mordente is continuing to press officials to make this more widely known.
Now, the DoD need to make every effort to inform returning Guard and Reserve soldiers the truth about their GI Bill. But what about those who were already turned away? They need to know too.
This is a national issue. The national press and local news around the country should consider reporting on this.
Here are some links to coverage of Monday's SCSU press conference.
WNPR broadcast
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wnpr/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1068381
New Haven Register
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18218764&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=7576&rfi=6
New Haven Independent
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/04/going_after_gi.php
Showing posts with label GI Bill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GI Bill. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Veterans Deserve a Better GI Bill
While most of the focus on veterans' care has focused on the shortcomings at Walter Reed, we are overlooking a huge problem with veterans' education benefits. In the long run, this can severely hurt America's ability to recover from this time of war.
Troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan should be afforded every ounce of opportunity our country can squeeze to get them onto a college campus - the use the benefits that lured them into the service.
Yet, so many come home and have been falsely told by their unit retention NCOs that if they stop drilling in the Guard or Reserves that they will not get any education benefits. The VA will pay claims for benefits equal to the time a veterans was deployed, plus four months.
For example, a generator mechanic with the state national Guard deploys to Iraq and is away from home (and school) for 15 months. If he has completed his six-year commitment to drill with the Guard, he can return from Iraq and go to college - with his benefits, for 15 months+four months - a total of 19 months of GI Bill benefits.
The retention NCO is directed by the DoD to hang those already -earned GI Bill benefits over that veteran's head to get him to re-enlist and keep the unit staffed and ready for future deployments.
So, great - we kept a generator mechanic in the National Guard - in five years that person is going to be - well, a generator mechanic.
But perhaps he says, screw you - I've done my time and the Army lied to me. So screw the Army, screw going to school and heads for the nearest liquor store or grabs a bag of weed. Now, we have someone who could have gone to college - who should become a future leader and productive member in society - but we let him down.
Education and life around a college campus can be such a positive thing for a returning veteran - why would we chance the alternative route for someone who has honorably served in our wars?
This is just one topic in the highly-Greek language of the VA Gi Bill. There are legislators now who are looking to re-vamp the GI Bill to make it more like the one that made our grandfathers so successful after WWII.
Here's the beginning to a story about some other challenges vets face with the GI Bill. The article will be published by In These Times and the Vermont Guardian.
You can read it in full on on reporter Terry Allen's website. http://www.terryjallen.com/journo-subP/Vets%20GI%20bill.htm
By Terry J. Allen, April 2007, In These Times & Vermont Guardian
With his boyish face and soft tangle of curls, Matt Howard looks like he should have carried a fishing rod though a Norman Rockwell summer. Instead, the 26-year-old Vermonter lugged a gun through two tours in Iraq. Now, what the former Marine really wants to wield is a college diploma. But he and other returning veterans are finding it hard to collect the college benefits they expected when they enlisted in the military.That expectation was fueled by promises from military recruiters and the soldiers’ own financial commitment. All new recruits are given a one-time, use-it-or-lose-it opportunity to buy into benefits eligibility by paying $100 a month for their first year of service. Any benefits unused 10 years after they leave the military are forever lost, including the $1,200 "kicker." The almost 30 percent of active duty veterans who bought in and didn’t collect their educational benefits over the last decade effectively donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury.Many veterans who applied under the 1984 Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) say they faced black-hole bureaucracy and college costs that far exceeded benefits."I was so disgusted by how hard it was to get my college benefits, I just gave up," says Howard about his first experience enrolling in the University of Vermont (UVM), a relatively affluent state/private school in picturesque and progressive Burlington. "I volunteered for the Marines, served in Iraq and I appreciate the pat on the back and being called hero, but the military sells itself on money for college; it is the major recruitment tool. This is supposedly why I sold my soul to the devil."
Troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan should be afforded every ounce of opportunity our country can squeeze to get them onto a college campus - the use the benefits that lured them into the service.
Yet, so many come home and have been falsely told by their unit retention NCOs that if they stop drilling in the Guard or Reserves that they will not get any education benefits. The VA will pay claims for benefits equal to the time a veterans was deployed, plus four months.
For example, a generator mechanic with the state national Guard deploys to Iraq and is away from home (and school) for 15 months. If he has completed his six-year commitment to drill with the Guard, he can return from Iraq and go to college - with his benefits, for 15 months+four months - a total of 19 months of GI Bill benefits.
The retention NCO is directed by the DoD to hang those already -earned GI Bill benefits over that veteran's head to get him to re-enlist and keep the unit staffed and ready for future deployments.
So, great - we kept a generator mechanic in the National Guard - in five years that person is going to be - well, a generator mechanic.
But perhaps he says, screw you - I've done my time and the Army lied to me. So screw the Army, screw going to school and heads for the nearest liquor store or grabs a bag of weed. Now, we have someone who could have gone to college - who should become a future leader and productive member in society - but we let him down.
Education and life around a college campus can be such a positive thing for a returning veteran - why would we chance the alternative route for someone who has honorably served in our wars?
This is just one topic in the highly-Greek language of the VA Gi Bill. There are legislators now who are looking to re-vamp the GI Bill to make it more like the one that made our grandfathers so successful after WWII.
Here's the beginning to a story about some other challenges vets face with the GI Bill. The article will be published by In These Times and the Vermont Guardian.
You can read it in full on on reporter Terry Allen's website. http://www.terryjallen.com/journo-subP/Vets%20GI%20bill.htm
By Terry J. Allen, April 2007, In These Times & Vermont Guardian
With his boyish face and soft tangle of curls, Matt Howard looks like he should have carried a fishing rod though a Norman Rockwell summer. Instead, the 26-year-old Vermonter lugged a gun through two tours in Iraq. Now, what the former Marine really wants to wield is a college diploma. But he and other returning veterans are finding it hard to collect the college benefits they expected when they enlisted in the military.That expectation was fueled by promises from military recruiters and the soldiers’ own financial commitment. All new recruits are given a one-time, use-it-or-lose-it opportunity to buy into benefits eligibility by paying $100 a month for their first year of service. Any benefits unused 10 years after they leave the military are forever lost, including the $1,200 "kicker." The almost 30 percent of active duty veterans who bought in and didn’t collect their educational benefits over the last decade effectively donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury.Many veterans who applied under the 1984 Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) say they faced black-hole bureaucracy and college costs that far exceeded benefits."I was so disgusted by how hard it was to get my college benefits, I just gave up," says Howard about his first experience enrolling in the University of Vermont (UVM), a relatively affluent state/private school in picturesque and progressive Burlington. "I volunteered for the Marines, served in Iraq and I appreciate the pat on the back and being called hero, but the military sells itself on money for college; it is the major recruitment tool. This is supposedly why I sold my soul to the devil."
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