This is a slap in the face of those who serve our country in this war, then want to come back and get an education with the benefits that were promised when they joined up.
Most times, the current G.I. Bill doesn’t even begin to cover realistic expenses of going to a four year institition. And, from personal experience, I know that college these days isn’t exactly cheap (even at Rose State).
Don’t the folks in Washing DC think our men and women in uniform deserve more than this? After all they put themselves in harm’s way, sometimes getting seriously injured, and when they return home and want to continue their education, paying for it shouldn’t be something they have to worry about.
The previous G.I. Bill that was in place after WWII paid for everything. Many veterans were able to get their education and lay the groundwork for their future careers (and a lot of them have now retired or are about to retire).
There’s a new effort to shore up the current G.I. Bill so it will at least be comparable to the previous one without veterans having to go into debt or drop out of school all together because of the expense.
There are vets out there who feel they were duped when they enlisted, and I can’t say that I blame them.
I think that we owe our soldiers more than this. Don’t you? Read the article and make up your own mind.
/end rant
That’s all from where I sit.
–MorelaterZ–
1 response so far ↓
hannie // Sunday, 10 February 2008 at 18:13
And Clarke said he doubts reports that military recruiters are painting an overly rosy picture of education benefits. “I think recruiters are always going to play up the best case, but I don’t think they are going to take that past what is the truth.”
And I’m Telly Savalas, and where’s my bag of tootsie pops I shouldn’t be eating! Recruiters will paint you any dang picture they WANT you to see, because they have quotas, and your warm butt on a bus to bootcamp means money in their coffers. I can’t believe the Secretary of Defense would make such a fake claim, and expect us as Americans to swallow it no problem. Oh wait, he’s part of the Bush regime. Yea, now I get it. (*waving bullshit flag* to the secretary)
The one “nice” thing that I’ve seen, that was NOT mentioned in this story and I don’t even know if most military members know they can take advantage of this is…all that time, experience, and study coursework you’ve done while *in* the military? Do you know that you can take it all, and have it “analyzed” for potential college credit time at the school you want to go to? Okay, now I have seen some of it just not translate well, in that what *you* did and the credit hours that they give you leave you feeling as unsatisfied as taking a sip of what you thought was diet Pepsi but is really Dr Pepper….but it’s an option that is out there and every hour that you can account for/get because of that time you served our country, by all means, you GET IT. We at least owe you something.