Max: A Fucking Travesty
Vets say they feel misled about GI benefits
Cheated. Baited and switched. That's how veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan say they feel about military recruiters who sold them on how the GI Bill would benefit them.
Soldiers, Marines and airmen spoke Tuesday at a Capitol Hill rally sponsored by a group called the "Campaign for a New GI Bill." They complained they were not given enough funds from the bill to cover college expenses.
Najwa McQueen said she joined the Louisiana National Guard in 2004 on what she thought was a promise to help pay for her college education.
"They kind of sell you a dream," she said after the rally. "You think you're going to get all of this stuff and in reality you don't get that. I just kind of believed what my recruiter told me, which is not the truth."
McQueen left behind her husband and 18-month-old daughter in October 2004 and served 10 months in Iraq. After her service she enrolled in college and found her total benefits from the GI Bill would be $400 a month for four months, totaling $1,600. Her classes alone, she said, cost $1,000 each.
Cheated. Baited and switched. That's how veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan say they feel about military recruiters who sold them on how the GI Bill would benefit them.
Soldiers, Marines and airmen spoke Tuesday at a Capitol Hill rally sponsored by a group called the "Campaign for a New GI Bill." They complained they were not given enough funds from the bill to cover college expenses.
Najwa McQueen said she joined the Louisiana National Guard in 2004 on what she thought was a promise to help pay for her college education.
"They kind of sell you a dream," she said after the rally. "You think you're going to get all of this stuff and in reality you don't get that. I just kind of believed what my recruiter told me, which is not the truth."
McQueen left behind her husband and 18-month-old daughter in October 2004 and served 10 months in Iraq. After her service she enrolled in college and found her total benefits from the GI Bill would be $400 a month for four months, totaling $1,600. Her classes alone, she said, cost $1,000 each.
posted by Max Dobberstein at 4/29/2008 05:16:00 PM
17 Comments:
How is it we can spend 3 Trillion on this war and nothing on the benefits to the soldiers fighting it?
And now they want to bomb Iran and Syria?
Lets see, when I joined, IF I had opted for the GI Bill, they take $100 out of each months paycheck for the first year. Then, if I remember correctly, AFTER serving a full 3 years I can access the GI Bill, but it won't have much value. The longer you serve, the more money becomes available for your education (up to $31k when I signed). Instead of this, I chose the tuition reimbursement program, where they pay off your PAST tuition loans, up to $20k during the first 3 years of service (1/3 of your total loans each year). I got injured and was med discharged before my 3rd year was up, still ended up with 2/3 debt paid. Anyone who went in expecting to have $31K after serving a couple of years spent absolutly no time looking in to the program. It gets on my nerves when people complain about what the military "did to them" when in truth they didn't do any basic research on the contract they were signing.
Now, I am not saying the military doesn't do some screwed up stuff that I think should be stopped, Hell, I just got done paying off the military for a bogus "overpayment" they say I got at discharge but did not get. No way to fight it as I don't have any records proving it didn't happen, so I had to pay them. But The MGIB is can be very helpful, if you know what you are signing up for.
I see now that I was wrong to listen to the complaints of veterans.
But then you are a veteran and are complaining, so I shouldn't listen to you.
But then if I don't listen to you, then I should listen to you.
But if I listen to you...
Why is blood pouring from every orifice in my head?
Maybe I live in some kind of dream world, but I see it this way: if you give your life over to the military, even for a year, the government should carry your ass for the rest of your life.
Maybe that's extreme, but the military ensures that I get to live my life as free as I do. Sure I have complaints about the government, but I'm free to complain. And the camo collar workers out there make that possible.
Is housing, health care and an education too much to spend to return the favor for giving up your life? Even temporarily? Considering what a great deal of soldiers go through, even if they come back alive, they are so changed, often for the worse, you might as well say they lost their lives for their country.
I may not agree with the politics or the war, but the soldiers gave their all and we owe them.
I met a woman yesterday. Ukrainian. Served in the Army. Took her Basic at Fort Lost in the Woods (She even called it that.) She spent most of her time going from base to base, cleaning teeth. Served nine years and never saw combat. But, because of her, who knows how much pain and suffering was prevented from lack of dental care? It might sound minor, until you see someone suffering from a tooth ache, trying to perform other duties. Thousands of soldiers owe their health to her and her skills. She did her part and we owe her, too.
The way we treat our veterans is shameful. I've said this before, but if I knew my taxes were going to fund soldier benefits instead of an endless war, I'd be willing to be taxed more.
Instead, our money is going to build more bombs for whomever our next target is:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/McCain_unplugged_Bomb_bomb_bomb_bomb_0419.html
We're spending $49 billion dollars to rebuild Iraq. How many veterans and their families could that have helped? A lot of that money is simply going to waste or into the pockets of unscrupulous contractors who aren't doing any actual work.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=aqM9vF5GfX.M&refer=africa
http://uspolitics.about.com/b/2008/04/28/iraq-reconstruction-audit-details-contract-failures.htm
But we shouldn't listen to Hud.
But then we should listen to Hud.
Which means we shouldn't listen to Hud.
Which means we should listen to Hud.
Which means we shouldn't listen to Hud.
Which means we should listen to Hud.
Which means we shouldn't listen to Hud.
Which means we should listen to Hud.
Which means we shouldn't listen to Hud.
Which means we should listen to Hud.
Why is everything going gray?
I never said not to listen to people or soldiers who complain, just that it is rediculous when people complain about something that that they could have easily avoided if they had put any research in to finding out the facts first.
But thanks MAx, for letting me know EXACTLY how welcome my input is here. Hasta.
Wow.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to go all Broke Back here and tell you both how much I love you both.
And, yes, I mean that in the gayest way possible! :)
I can see it was a bad day for light-hearted mockery. Or perhaps you are so use to squabbling with me that you just saw an attack when there weren't one. Or were you just hoping to piss me off?
If it will make you feel more comfortable:
Hud, you retarded, crypto-right-wing fucknut. Why are you opening your sewer? You got your war. Shut up, be happy and let the folks with brains and a sense of decency talk...
Ah, my heart's just not in it. Sorry, Hud. Maybe I'll feel like kicking your ass next time.
At this point I am just trying to figure out where all your personal attacks on me stem from. Are you angry at me because instead of sitting and bitching and moaning, I decided to take action, join the Army and try to do something I believed was right? Maybe I should have just signed a petition or something? Or is it that I am one of those obviously confused fools who is not bitter about my experiences in the Army? Or is it the fact that though I got hurt, and am now a disabled vet, I still refuse to hold a grudge against the government about it? Sorry, not my style. I make my decisions and life with the outcome, good or bad, without having to try to find someone to blame for my problems. BTW, no, not a "right wing fucknut", I am a libertarian fucknut. But unlike you liberal left wing commies ;) I understand that I am responsible for my own actions, I am responsible for my situation, good or bad.
I don't have anything against you at all.
When you were beating the war drum you accused me of not caring about my family among other things. Personal attacks in response to a(n attempted) logical argument are pathetic, so I gave up and started ripping back at you. You cried foul and ran away, so I gave up for the time.
However, I reserve the right to mock anyone who posts here. If that makes you want to run away and cry, or somehow is a threat to your philosophy/politics, tough shit home boy. Jericho may worship the air you fart in and may dream of one day having the chance to blow you. To me, you are just another schmuck like the rest of us and a fair target.
Didn't I just say I wanted to blow you both?
Wow. I got misunderstood and dissed and rejected all at one time.
Last time I go gay for anyone!
I just don't understand what you have against me, Jericho. Is it because I do things that make me better than you that you are too much of a loser to do? Or is because I don't hate the things that I blindly assume you must hate because all losers like you hate them? Or is because I take responsibility for things I assume a loser like you could not possibly take responsibility for?
Jer, you know I love you like a brother, but Linda won't let me take it any farther than that. Sorry.
Max, if I actually ever insulted you FIRST, I am sorry. I don't remember doing so, but I know that I try not to go that route until someone else makes a personal attack on me first. Then the gloves are off. By the way, straw-man arguments don't become you, you're trying too hard now.
Clearly there is a misunderstanding. Perhaps you thought I was insulting you when I pointed out how the whole "Saddam was behind 9/11 and is mere minutes from nuking us" was clearly bullshit. Hence when you responded by saying that I am "a coward", "looney", "warped" and "don't "care enough about the safety of my family to actually get off my ass and do something," about a threat I knew did not exist, you were merely gittin' back at me.
But let us return to the present. Let me state this as clearly as possible. I don't have anything against you. I don't hate you. I disagree with you. I have been mocking you for shits and giggles. Just like I do to everyone I know.
Dipshit.
One thinks I'm a loser and now Linda thinks I'm a slut!
Ima go suck my own dick!
I only called you a loser because we can smell our own.
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