It's time to correct the problems of the Montgomery GI Bill by eliminating the required $1200 payment to enroll, and extend the eligibility to 15+ years after getting off active duty.
I think eliminating the time frame to use the bill coupled with a transferability to a spouse or a dependent of a disabled veteran would be nice to see along with some element of the GI Bill Second Chance option. Although if they passed the "NO Pay" option the Second Chance Option would be a moot point. 24 bills, lets hope one of them makes it! A good start would be GI Bill For Life that way our benefits don't expire while they argue about the other amendments.
The current G.I. Bill system totally blows.I started college last September and it took until the second semester before I recieved a G.I. Bill payment. On top of that I payed out of my own pocket for all books and fees. Between two semesters this cost more than two thousand dollars. The tuition was taken care of by the N.J. National Guard tuition waiver. Each semester's tuition was about 1,700.00! Community college is not so cheap after all. Started another year of school without any help from the G.I. Bill again. I'm not expecting a payment until about December again, if I'm lucky. It's only about 280.00 a month anyway. Which now a days won't even pay for two books. At least I can use it to make payments on the credit cards that are being used to pay for books and fees every year.
Nothing is Too Good For our Troops!...And Nothing is Exactly what they Get! To those who tried in the 110th Congress, thanks for the Warm and Fuzzy! To those politicians who obviously don't care, your inaction is beginning to awaken a sleeping Veteran Giant that hopefully will begin serving your Retirement Papers next year!
Another indication that R. Nadar was probably right. There is essentially no difference between republicans and democrats; a lot of talk, no action. Do what is necessary to keep their jobs; screw the american public who vote them into those jobs.
I like the proposed bills. It's just too bad that military members are taken for granted. If only those politicians wore our shoes. I guess our sacrifices and/or our lives don't mean a whole lot to someone who can just order more by way of recruiter. We are after all worthless, until needed.
I firmly believe it is the lack of real veterans in the Federal government.
The bill that sent me through college in 4 years was inacted by the WW II vets.
I was a high school dropout and taking a min of 14 semester hours was tough but I did it. I had enough money from it to eat, pay for tuition and books.
Now so many many things like this are looked upon as wellfare, entitlements and worse by both sides of the isle.
They did not serve. They did not pay any price and thus fail to see the need or value in things like the GI Bill.
Originally posted by pltou812: The current G.I. Bill system totally blows.I started college last September and it took until the second semester before I recieved a G.I. Bill payment.
Yikes! I agree it takes way too long to recieve your initial payment, but it never took me that long! You must have dropped a course at the last minute or someone messed up your paperwork
Originally posted by anoldnotboldrecondo: I firmly believe it is the lack of real veterans in the Federal government.
The bill that sent me through college in 4 years was inacted by the WW II vets.
I was a high school dropout and taking a min of 14 semester hours was tough but I did it. I had enough money from it to eat, pay for tuition and books.
Now so many many things like this are looked upon as wellfare, entitlements and worse by both sides of the isle.
They did not serve. They did not pay any price and thus fail to see the need or value in things like the GI Bill.
Yes you could be right, the thin veteran ranks in the civil service government employees and elected official service is telling! But, its the same everywhere in out society, there are fewer vets. Already a full generation has had the few volunteers carry the weight, while the rest went about their lives without a thought of service.
Lets be clear on something, the GI bill funds that our vets receive has not kept up with the rapidly escalling inflation in the academic world. The GI bill, at best, may pay a students monthly living costs; but, in no way will it contribute to tuition, books, fees. Our vets deserve better, those having served in combat should be entitled to a meaningful benefit, similar to what the WWII vets received, adjusted for academic inflation. The benefit should be a real contribution to the cost of an education.
The generation that fought, served and championed the benefits for the veteran are dying off. When 'my' GI Bill was passed over 60 % of the population was a vet or married to one.
The count of vets is shrinking rapidly and I am afraid there is nothing to be done about it. Heck! They have to offer raw recruits a huge bonus just to get them to join up now.
I have never understood the 10 year limit on the Gi Bill, You should be able to use it until it is use up. I don't care if it takes you 100 years to use it, you earn it and it should be there to use.
It's time to correct the problems of the Montgomery GI Bill by eliminating the required $1200 payment to enroll, and extend the eligibility to 15+ years after getting off active duty.
honestly , it takes time to readjust to civilian life. some vets have medical disability notations on their medical charts. on their administrative discharge papers - the record does not reflect a service connected disability. The route to recognition for their disability sometimes takes decades to square away. the issue of pay in arrears only back tracks to 5 years. in the meantime , a hobbled veteran had been working and faceing the world out of pocket demoralised and too ill to use his education benefits. when the vet finally crawls out of the hole ; his benefits have near expired or finally expired. the vet came into the military whole and exited challenged with disability. i remember the recruiters during the nam war getting us signed up on the college campus. we were going to get our degree ; but our country called first. the time limited on earned gi education benefits should be unrestricted. no soldier marine or sailor should exit the military with less than what he came in with. we are supposed to be a fair nation. the military active retired veterans and the military disabled rate a fair deal. if we academically qualify and perform well in college ; we should be allowed to utilise our education benefits. one time congress was loaded with war veterans ; who honored the sacrifices of the duty conscieous military. we ask for not what is free ; but for what we have earned. i hope our young people will get a fair shake. if unfairness does happen ; future generations will catch on and note the possible inequities and fate of our military veterans. there are many degenrates feeding off the social programs. many have never served nor will they serve their country. while these undeserving people shun the military ; they are getting education benefits our future military veteran leaders should have recieved. there is no 8 hr job in the military. there is no limit on the structured amount of work load stress and danger a military person will endure. in 1 month you could have done the manpower labor of more than 2 men in 3 months. duty hours are long and extensive. you are obligated under contract to serve. there is no walk off on the job because you may have endured an abusive situation under which you no control. some people are so beat down ; that when they hit the civilian world ; the shock of a new life disarms them from surviving as well as they could have in their early young pre service years. our youth are taken in the prime of their life where they have set aside their goals to help their country. in all conscience ; we should do everything we can to enable our military to succeed to live a normal fruitful life. my son has belayed active duty because i warned him to get his degree first and then go OCS. he may get his flight training before taking any promises from the military. he is network and CISCO certified. He also is adept in cyber security. Hes learned about people and he has picked up a treasure of military tactics. i regret he did not join at 17 and go aerodale and subsequently to flight training as an enlisted person like his Commander Grandfather ; who graduated 1 class before Poppy Bush. i don't think people come cheap and i believe in doing no harm to my military people. i m for our military men and women. congress is doing right to promote their success. conscription would put the fire under some people ; who otherwise didn't know their military needed them. Switzerland for example.
I just got out of the USMC and was a Sergeant. I don't believe anyone who hasn't been on active duty should be able to recieve equal GI Bill benefits unless they meet some criteria, like a period of time deployed and the like. I know guys who did 4 years active, got deployed into a combat zone twice and were booted for pattern of misconduct like 3 NJPs, those troops don't get a GI Bill because they couldn't hack an honorable enlistment. This pity party for reservists and Nat'l Guard is B.S. if they think they should have equal GI Bill benefits as someone on active duty then they shouldn't have decided to be a weekend warrior, and its not to late to sign up.
I am a viet vet and am now retired trying to live on S.S. It won't work. Therefore I am trying to go back to school and get some formal education to be able to support myself and spuse until the end. This senate and congress is obcessed with providing free rides for illegals but yet won't alow a veteran to get some education to take care of business. Something is wrong here. I just need to have the 10 year limit dropped in order to get enough ficancing to complete a degree program. Not asking that much. Why in the g_d awful hell can illegals, who are criminals, get paid by my government and I cannot live in retirement?
Although this GI Bill Reform sounds okay it is unsatisfactory for me. I have been serving in the military full time for over 28 years and planning to retire in the next 12 months. I have no intention of going to college when I retire but have paid into the Montgomery GI Bill Program. I would like to transfer my GI Bill benefit to my spouse or children but there is no provision or policy to allow that. The only way a soldier can transfer a potion of the GI Bill to a spouse is by reenlisting. I reenlisted for indefinite status about 10 years ago but that option was not offered then. I am extremely frustrated because I cannot reenlist anymore therefore I don't have that option. Many soldiers feel the way about the BI Bill program.
Here's a copy of the letter that I sent to the members of congress that represent my area:
I am a combat veteran who is currently going to school at DeAnza College in Cupertino, CA. I would like to address some problems with the current G.I. Bill that are not on any of the proposed bills. These are limitations that when brought up to friends and family elicit strong reactions of not only frustration with the current G.I. Bill, but also disappointment in our congress for refusing, year after year, to pass legislation that allows our nation's veterans to have the educational freedom that they deserve. The first two issues that I would like to bring up are those of choosing a major and taking classes. Veterans are required to immediately decide on a major and are then restricted to only taking classes that pertain to that one major. When I challenged the validity of this policy my veteran's coordinator showed me the paperwork that he received from the VA that not only confirmed the aforementioned restrictions but actually said that the reason was to get veterans through the system as quickly as possible. What was not written but was plainly obvious is that the VA wants to get veterans out of the system in order to spend as little money as possible on their education. This goal is achieved through a series of limitations. I have already mentioned two yet another is denying veterans the opportunity to double-major. Getting degrees in two different subjects is quite common among college students yet veterans are restricted from this as it would require the veteran to take more units and thus utilize more of their G.I. Bill benefits. Another tool that the VA uses to save money is pro-rating the monthly payment to each veteran. I will use my situation as an example. I started school on the 24th of September. When I call the VA at the end of September to claim my benefits I will only get paid for six days. None of my quarters begin at the start of a month which means that I will only receive a full month of benefits one month out of three. This makes it so that the average amount of money received by veterans each month is actually quite low compared to the official monthly allotment. So low, in fact, that one ends up questioning whether or not the numerous unjustifiable educational restrictions are even worth the paltry sum that one gets in exchange. Is this what the VA as well as congress wants?
we need life time g i bill some of us have exhuasted over the 10 yr and did not have a chance to use it because of going to summer drills or being activated!
Originally posted by Jedidiah: I just got out of the USMC and was a Sergeant. I don't believe anyone who hasn't been on active duty should be able to recieve equal GI Bill benefits unless they meet some criteria, like a period of time deployed and the like. I know guys who did 4 years active, got deployed into a combat zone twice and were booted for pattern of misconduct like 3 NJPs, those troops don't get a GI Bill because they couldn't hack an honorable enlistment. This pity party for reservists and Nat'l Guard is B.S. if they think they should have equal GI Bill benefits as someone on active duty then they shouldn't have decided to be a weekend warrior, and its not to late to sign up.
You bet sarg...a National Guardsmen killed in action isn't worth nearly as much as a Marine killed in action!
I agree it takes way too long to recieve your initial payment, but it never took me that long! You must have dropped a course at the last minute or someone messed up your paperwork
