More proof that "supporting the troops" is just a slogan:

When they came home from Iraq, 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard had been deployed longer than any other ground combat unit. The tour lasted 22 months and had been extended as part of President Bush's surge.

1st Lt. Jon Anderson said he never expected to come home to this: A government refusing to pay education benefits he says he should have earned under the GI bill.

"It's pretty much a slap in the face," Anderson said. "I think it was a scheme to save money, personally. I think it was a leadership failure by the senior Washington leadership... once again failing the soldiers."

Anderson's orders, and the orders of 1,161 other Minnesota guard members, were written for 729 days.

Had they been written for 730 days, just one day more, the soldiers would receive those benefits to pay for school.

"Which would be allowing the soldiers an extra $500 to $800 a month," Anderson said.

But hey, the administration has to cut back somewhere so they can pay Blackwater security people their $1,222 per day salary.  

Say you do your tour in Iraq, and you are lucky enough not to come back injured and have to face the still broken VA's hospital system stateside. Say you also come back with all your marbles intact after seeing the hell on earth that is war. Say you even have plans to get a better education when you get home, to make more of yourself after you have given everything of yourself to your country. Well, guess what, you are still screwed.

In yet another brilliant move in assholery, National Guard troops are being denied benefits after the longest deployment of any ground combat unit in the Iraq War. This unit, the 2,600 member strong Minnesota National Guard (Is it me, or is the GOP really trying to piss off their convention state?), was in Iraq for 22 months after being kept there for President Bush's surge.

But when they got home, they had a special kiss of fuck-offedness from the Bush Administration and the Army. The troops are now being denied their GI Bills for furthering their education. See, their orders were written for 729 days, had their orders been written for 730 days, just one more day, they would have qualified.

1 day.

When the President announced his surge, I wrote my first diary regarding my daughter and son-in law. He was one of nearly 3900 members of the 1/34th BCT of the Minnesota National Guard who found out through family members and media reports (not even their chain of command knew) they were being extended. Their unit served in Iraq longer than any other.

It wasn't enough to have required they put their lives at risk, then on further hold for a madman's delusion. Below the fold is the story of how many of our troops are being deliberately denied access to the full GI Bill educational benefits.