I am, in some ways, very lucky. The Post 9/11 GI Bill has afforded me the opportunity to continue my education. I don’t know how many veterans will qualify for this version of the Bill, but I do know that any that have served for the past 9 plus years will. There are those that say that this war, my war, is becoming the next Vietnam. I disagree. The defining characteristic of Vietnam was not that of a war lost or a victory for youth culture, but of a nation that lost its veterans. The men and women that served in the conflict have been stereotyped, marginalized and forgotten when convenient. This will not happen this time.
This generation of veterans has the benefit of the lessons learned by those that ignored and misused the veterans of Vietnam. We are being properly cared for. Even the youth of this country have learn that, despite being veterans of an all volunteer military, we didn’t want to go to war in the first place. We went off to war willing, and after the events of the day this Bill is named for, signed up in droves to defend our country. But no one hates war like a soldier. We deserved something. We deserved to have an advantage of a proper education. On 30 June, 2008 we got what we deserved.
Virginia’s own Senator Jim Webb, himself a Vietnam veteran, proposed this new bill on 7 January 2007, the day after he was sworn into office. In June of 2008, President Bush signed the Bill into law, with benefits going into effect on 1 August 2009. This was truly a great day for veterans of the protracted Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. The door was wide open, and all we had to do was step through.
Senator Webb’s bill was not easily passed, however. The President Bush, Senator John McCain and even members of the Department of Defense were opposed. The thinking was, at the time, that such an excellent benefits package would seriously hurt retention of active duty troops. As late as early June 2008 President Bush threatened to veto the bill if it came across his desk. Amendments to the bill, including transferability of benefits to the children and spouses of active duty service members, were made. This compromise finally brought the Bill’s detractors around and the greatest veterans benefit package since the end of the Second World War.
The benefits included are excellent. A qualifying veteran is eligible to receive their full tuition paid, with a state by state variable maximum pay out. Also, each veteran will receive the basic allowance for housing (BAH) that they would have received for their pay grade when they were discharged. The exact amount of this BAH payment varies by their location. In addition, the veteran receives a $1000 per year stipend to defray the cost of books and supplies. This is a massive perk of service, and also a potentially lucrative recruiting tool. The promise of a better education has been an enticement for veterans for many years.
In all, the Post 9/11 GI Bill was a brilliant piece of legislation. America has always tried to take care of its veterans, with varying degrees of success. After the failure of the post Vietnam era, America has finally gotten things right. I can only hope that it will last forever, and that there will never be another generation of veterans that gets the short end of the stick.
Shankar, R. (2009). Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 Harvard Journal on Legislation, 46(1), 303-321. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete Database.
Image of GI Bill logo retrieved 12/10/2010 for World Wide Web www.veteransadvantage.com
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