Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 11/05/2001

Dear Sgt. Shaft:

I am a former Marine and current student at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, VA, and I am about half-way finished with an associate's degree. However, while the Montgomery GI Bill provides me with enough income to study at a community college I have a hard time believing that a veteran would be able to pay for classes at a state or Ivy league university on that monthly stipend. Now I know there is little we can do about that, for anyone with an IQ over 15 knows that if the Department of Veterans Affairs increases our GI Bill stipends, we can look forward to universities raising their tuition accordingly.

Could this be defined as discrimination against veterans? Perhaps. Could it be defined as an example of blatant stupidity? Without a doubt.

I would like to think that a college or university gains its credibility by its alumni. For example, if Sgt. Joe Schmuckatelli is elected to Congress, changes are his photograph will grace the halls of his alma mater and college recruiters will make it a point to mention his name in passing -- over and over. Therefore, if you really want your university to have good credibility, you need to start out with raw talent. That kind of talent won't be found in a high school graduate. That kind of talent will be found in veterans.

That being said, I think colleges should recruit veterans to attend their facilities much in the same manner that professional sports teams recruit athletes. Forget the GI Bill. Colleges can house us, feed us, and teach us, free of charge, and in return, we veterans will represent their schools in our respective communities. If we like the experience, we might event get tattoos of the mascot.

We veterans don't come to class because our mommies told us to; we're on a mission. We want that education because we know that alternatives. We've paid our dues many times over, and college is an opportunity that I think we veterans hold in a much higher regard because we have paid those dues. Students are often surprised by, and sometimes envious of, how attentive the veterans are in their classes. They get nervous because we take notes, we listen, we ask questions, and we don't need to "cram" for exams because we already know our stuff. As a Marine I was trained to be competitive to a fault, and I apply that today. When I walk into a classroom, I don't see peers, I see opponents. I don't want to walk away with just an "A." I want to walk away with the highest score in the class and I do so often. I have two buddies who call me at the end of each semester with that same competitive nature that made us Marines just a few short years ago. They want to know who has the better grades, and for the record, I'm sitting on a 3.9 GPA. We work extra hours just so we can gloat. Are these Marines? Yes. We're faster, we're smarter, we're better. Oh, and we're cocky.

Face it, veterans eat rich college kids for breakfast each day in class and still have time to lift weights and come up with brilliant ideas like this one. While I highly doubt colleges will adhere to this suggestion, I certainly did enjoy writing it.

M.S.
Alexandria, VA

Dear M.S.:
The good news is the House of Representatives has passed two enhancements to the Mongtomery GI Bill. The first would provide accelerated payments to modernize the Bill and make it possible for veterans students to pursue studies in high technology fields with the assurance that they can receive maximum assistance from their educational benefits at the time of enrollment. The second would gradually increase the GI Bill monthly benefits to $950 per month, over a three year period.

However, the bad news is the Senate is stonewalling this important legislation. As Bob Wallace, Executive Director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars has stated so succinctly in his letter to Sen. John Rockefeller, Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, "We believe that veterans should have access to a GI Bill that would pay them the average costs of attending a four-year college. Only H.R. 1291 and its Senate counterpart, S.1411, come close to that number, increasing payments to $1,110 per month.

 "At a time when there is heightened interest in strengthening national security policy in light of the recent terrorist attacks, policy makers and security experts unanimously envision a greater role for all service members in homeland security.

"In the final report released by the Hart-Rudman commission in February 2001, entitled 'Roadmap for National Security: Imperative for Change,' it is noted that 'with respect to military personnel, reform is needed in the recruitment, promotion, compensation, and retirement systems, otherwise the military will continue to lose its most talented personnel.' The report also noted that 'the GI Bill should be restored as a pure entitlement ... and should equal, at the very least, the median tuition cost of four-year U.S. colleges. Payments should be accelerated to coincide with school term periods and be indexed to keep pace with college cost increases.'

"If education benefits are not fully upgraded, it will become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to recruit talented young high school graduates to join the ranks of the military. In an appearance before the House Veterans Affairs Committee last spring, a Defense Department manpower expert testified that incoming recruits consistently rank the GI Bill as the major reason that they join the military. Without improvements in benefits, retention of many of the military's most experienced and career personnel will suffer."

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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