A little less than three years ago my eldest son came bounding into the house to talk to me and his step-dad about joining the Army or Marines. His friends were joining and he wanted to, too. I have to say that when he announced to us what he was thinking I was more than a little appalled.
I understood the desire to be with one’s friends and the picture the recruiters had given him. I also understood how vehemently he was opposed to a rich man’s war that the poor and middle class were fighting. What I hadn’t counted on was the effect of what the Republican held house and senate and it’s upping the interest on student loans would have on my son.
Now it could have been the spin and hook the recruiters were employing, but my son was convinced that he didn’t want to start his life with a massive debt of student loans and that he/we couldn’t afford for him to go to college. Well, we had a mountain to climb. Forget for a moment that we can afford for him to go to college, but even if we couldn’t, why should he have to put his life on the line just to have a future? Why, especially when the richer kids, who want to have a future in this country, were not being sold the military this way.
Indeed I asked him, "Do you think the recruiters are at XYZ private high school (just down the road from his high school) presenting service to this nation the same way?"
He went back and asked them if they recruited at XYZ private high school. The response was "no" because they never have been successful getting new recruits at XYZ private high school. They don't even bother to go there.
But still my son persisted with the idea that he didn’t want this debt at the beginning of his adult life, something to be paid off throughout his life into the time when he would be sending his own children to college. I secretly wondered how long and how much access these recruiters had to my son. Three of his friends joined.
In the pit of frustration I forcefully asked him if he really thought the Republican lead government was going to keep it’s side of it’s promise. Did he really think there weren’t any "trap doors" in the fine print or that they wouldn’t do a "bait and switch." He said that he believed they wouldn’t. I think it was hope upon hope that his friends hadn’t been snookered.
I told him to call his biological father.
Why? Because his dad was* a Disabled Vietnam Veteran. His chopper (helicopter) went down on a mission in Indochina and he woke up at Wilford Hall Medical Center. He owed his life to his buddies who carried him out.
Years after his honorable discharge he was still navigating through the Veterans Administration. Through their health system, for continued surgery to reconstruct his hand, and dealing with the physical and mental/emotional effects of the severe head injury he suffered, and for his education and benefits.
Up until the Reagan administration he was at a disability rating of over 50%. When that administration began cutting benefits for veterans his disability rating dropped to 15%. Senator Gary Hart’s office worked for us for many years, we were able to restore his rating and benefits to 30%. If I remember correctly that meant he/we got a monthly disability check of around $200. To help care for our two children the government also had a dependant of a veteran benefit of $25 per month for each child (total of $50).
Due to his PTSD and domestic violence our divorce was finalize in 1988. Years later, under the Clinton administration his benefits were raised.
So I told our son to call his father and ask him to tell him about his experience with Republican administrations keeping it’s promises to veterans. He called and that was beginning of the end of his drive to go into the military.
I really wish the Republican administration had proved me wrong, but time and time again they have proven my fears, my warnings and my counsel to my son, correct.
Soldiers with PTSD are being mustered out without ever getting treatment or diagnosis so that benefits and treatment can be given outside the military. (Soldiers who’ve been on many tours without adequate down time will suffer more and more severely – are we equipped to handle that? Are their families? Are they?)
Veterans with suicide ideation are being left without counseling and are completing suicides.
Don’t even get me started about Walter Reed – but have you looked at the list of the problems all veterans hospitals have?
Now there’s over 1,000 Minnesota National Guardsmen who thought that they were eligible for Chapter 30 Montgomery GI Bill, which is for our veteran's education and a difference of $234/month. To be eligible for Chapter 30, they needed to be deployed for 730 days. These Minnesota National Guardsmen were deployed for 729 days. One day shy in what many believe was intentionally done to deny a higher benefit. Sort of like when a company keeps an employee at 38 - 39 hours a week, or firing an individual just prior to their retirement, hence no benefits for either.
Without Chapter 30 for 12 months of education: $660 x 12 = $7.920 (per year)
With Chapter 30 for 12 months of education: $894 x 12 = $10,728 (per year)
How much community college, junior college, technical college or public university can a veteran attend for $10,728 a year, including books, tutition and living expenses, without having to get a job to further delay their lives and education?
A damn sight more than $7,920 would give them.
Many of these soldiers have put their education on hold in order to serve our nation, and awarding these benefits is the least we can do for them when they return," [Norman] Coleman said
Star Tribune
If only this hadn’t happened before, but it has, after the first gulf war under a Republican administration.
Why are the Republicans seen as a friend to the troops and the veterans? How can we change that, and how can we insure our country does right by those who've given so much?
* My ex-husband died summer 2006
Please also read DailyKos Diary, "After 22-months, Iraq vets denied benefits for being 1 day short," for more information on this subject.
And also "Minnesota Guard Screwed on College Benefits"