This is a huge mistake:
Silva has scrambled to apply for scholarships and loans to pay for classes at the University of Washington-Tacoma, where she's a junior studying social work. She thought part of her financial problems were solved when she learned of a Defense Department program that pays military spouses $6,000 to help them with their education. Yet just as Silva prepared to apply earlier this year, the military abruptly shut the program down.
The Pentagon was overwhelmed by the number of applicants, which had grown from an average of about 10,000 a month to 70,000 in January alone as the nation's economy continued to sputter. Money for the Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts program, known as MyCAA, was rapidly running out. Rather than ask Congress for more cash, Pentagon officials decided to close the program to new applicants and stop payments to those who were already enrolled.
Ending the program when military families are already struggling is cruel enough. But cutting off payments to those who were already enrolled and depending on that assistance to get them through college? That's nothing short of abusive.
This decision is leaving tens of thousands of long-suffering women--and likely many men, too--in a lurch right at the time that they could use this assistance the most, all for the price of one bomber or submarine. Senator Murray of Washington is right on the money:
"How they have handled this is infuriating. This is crazy."
Seriously--can the Pentagon start acting like it actually cares about its soldiers, for a change?
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