After World War
II, returning GI's were offered a series of benefits
designed to make them a functional part of the US
economy. Among the most important benefits of the GI
Bill were funding for:
- a
full college education for returning
vets
- and zero down payment home loans for vets and
their widowed dependents
With
16 million military personnel deployed, GI Bill military
benefits and with so many taking advantage of these
benefits, there may be more than strong family values and
hard work to explain why the folks that fought in WWII are
called the "greatest generation". Those benefits, so widely
distributed and so tightly targeted at the age group that
has always been the "engine" of an economy, set the stage
for some long term prosperity.
Benefits provided to vets after military
deployment have declined over the years. The more than one
million military men and women who have been deployed since
9/11 do receive some benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill,
but they are far less comprehensive than what WWII vets
received.
Active
Duty service members who give up $100 a month for their
first year of deployment can receive a flat payment of up
to $1101 a month for college for 36 months under the
MGIB-AD program. Educational benefits for on the job
training or apprenticeship programs are less. Qualifying
for full benefits under this GI Bill military benefits
program requires that the vet have met a significant number
of service and requirements. Selected reserve and national
guard, though they may also have seen long deployments, are
not guaranteed the same benefits.
The VA
still guarantees loans for vets, allowing banks to make
some loans available for now down payment. But "regular
military" professionals must meet several eligibility
requirements related to their length of active duty service
in order to receive ACE certification. Selected Reserve and
National Guard may be eligible for these benefits if they
have complete six years of service or were discharged with
a service-connected disability.
There
are, as there always have been, additional benefits Vets
can receive. The Small Business Administration's Patriot
Express makes it easier for vets to get a loan to start a
new business. States sometimes provide business loans,
unemployment and insurance benefits to vets. But these
benefits are no replacement for the holistic support
originally provided to vets under the GI bill -GI Bill
military benefits
The VA
estimates that more than 200,000 vets are homeless on any
given night, and 400,000 experience homelessness over the
course of a year. These vets have served in every war, but
the majority have come from Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam
War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Operation Enduring Freedom
(Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. 47% of homeless
vets are estimated to be from the Vietnam
era.
Vets
from Iraq and Afghanistan are already appearing on US
streets. In some cases they are victims of slow or
inadequate treatment for injuries (mental and physical)
sustained in the war zone. In other cases they are simply
unable to find employment which makes exercising home loan
benefits or taking real advantage of piecemeal educational
benefits unfeasible.
After
World War II, a four year war, the US faced the problem of
how to reintegrate military professionals into the economy
head on. They developed the GI bill to support their
educational and financial requirements soon after their
return. The result was a generation of vets who were able
to contribute to our society in almost every
capacity.
Failure to meet the needs of vets returning from
subsequent wars has resulted in an increasingly ill and
desperate population of homeless vets. Perhaps the smartest
investment we can make in the military is to remake the GI
Bill for a new generation. GI Bill military
benefits are the best way to insure, as the "Greatest
Generation"would have wished, that this generation is
"Greater Still".