One might assume that the benefits for American veterans, most notably a college education, are guaranteed. That's the advertising we've been listening to our whole lives, isn't it? "Join the Army" is the same thing as "Go to College," right?
Wrong. In fact, it turns out that the current G.I. benefits barely pay for about half the cost of tuition, room, and board.
I was reading some stuff from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I - VT), and came across this article. Here are some highlights:
* The bill "would guarantee a full scholarship to any public, in-state university for veterans who served three years in the military, including activated National Guard troops and reservists."
* Sanders says, “The original GI Bill [following WWII] was an appropriate way for a grateful nation to say thank you to the service and sacrifice of those who wore our country’s uniform. That bill also helped reshape the American economy and allowed millions to enter the middle class.”
The full article is here: http://sanders.senate.gov/
Now, Republicans are totally pro-troops, right? Well, President Bush just decided to rescind his threat of vetoing the GI bill that would guarantee a full college degree (in-state, public universities) to all veterans.
Here's that: http://news.yahoo.com/s/hu
Now, doesn't that seem a little odd? A little while back the Bush Administration severely hindered our soldiers' access to body armor -- or at least didn't provide the armor, and didn't even reimburse them (look here: http://seattletimes.nwsour
And what about this? From the White House itself -- scroll to page 5 to read about how Bush "strongly opposes" an additional 0.5% pay increase for soldiers in 2009: http://www.whitehouse.gov/
Not enough for you? Well, page 1 of the same White House report has the part about the need to maintain open competition for contractors in Iraq -- which they proudly report saved taxpayers a whopping $7 billion dollars from 2001-2007... umm... but... the current war chest is over half a trillion dollars deep... uhh... (*banging head against wall*).
In fact, Bush is misrepresenting the facts: the Pentagon recently performed an audit on Iraq spending and found that tax money was spent to the tune of $8.2 billion on contractors in Iraq (here: http://www.nytimes.com/200
Does your head hurt yet?
Now, finally, we may be able to finally do something good for them. I urge you all to contact your senators and representatives and tell them to support Sen. Sanders' new G.I. Bill. Quite simply, it's the right thing to do. And we owe them for this mess.
Epilogue = This Gem
"If we don't stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we're going to have a serious problem." — George W. Bush, Jan. 2001.
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