Supporting the Troops

This Memorial Day, I was thinking a lot about where we are as a country. We are a country because people were willing to take up arms to defend this land. The GI Bill (Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944) was written to provide educational or vocational training for WWII Servicemen. In addition to money for schooling, the GI Bill offered unemployment compensation for one year, low interest no down payment home loans amd low interest business loans. By 1947, universities like Michigan saw enrollments double or triple. That means the returning Servicemen took advantage of the GI Bill and educated themselves. In the last 60+ years, the education benefit has not kept pace with educational costs.

Senator Jim Webb has authored a bill to update the GI Bill (Webb-Hagel). Webb-Hagel is written to increase the educational benefit by approximately $50,000. The President is against it- say the new incentives will make it harder to retain personnel. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that retention of service personnel at the first reenlistment point will drop from 42% to 36%. This is what Bush and McCain have cited as a reason for not supporting the bill. But wait, the CBO also estimates a 16% increase in new high quality recruits.

The bill passed, but Bush will probably veto it, citing other spending attached to the bill. Even worse, you now have republican members of Congress and their media shills saying that the troops don't deserve full benefits because this is a volunteer force! As far as I am concerned, our service personnel deserve full educational benefits, full healthcare from providers of their choice, and guaranteed housing. They deserve the best equipment, best support services, best housing, and the best of everything. That is a lot, but so is what they sacrifice.