Jenn, your comments about the length of the benefit payouts is not quality journalism, as you are highly inaccurate on the payout amount, the length of time it pays out for full time students.

The real problem is not with democrats wanting to give Veterans benefits that lure them out of the military, but with stubborn Republicans who are so used to having mommy/daddy pay their way through college that they are out of touch with the cost of college for those who don’t get free handouts.

Thanks for trying though.

Also, it is almost laughable that you considered the previous GI Bill’s benefits “great.” Compared to the typical college student with no income it is, but our veterans are anything but typical; sacrificing daily while their age-group peers go to college or get a start on a civilian career.

The new GI Bill will give our returning vets a chance to get an education and go on to do other great things for our country, like the WWII GI Bill did (which allowed 3 future Supreme Court justices and 14 future Nobel laureates go to college after returning). I’ll gladly be using my post-9/11 GI Bill to pay for my MBA and am confident our military will continue to be as strong as ever.

Separate note, where do you get “not have to work for 6-10 years”? I thought it only covers 36 months of full-time use? If someone wants to sit around unemployed, rack up student loan debt, or enroll at a part-time rate (at which they would get a reduced payment-either way that’s their prerogative and won’t cost us any “more”. I appreciate your concern for our military but feel your worries are unfounded.

Attending school is not easy for anyone. Everyone who makes the decision to return to school must make tough decisions about whether the cost, in terms of finances and time, is worth it.

No one here is suggesting that veterans don’t deserve good educational benefits. But I disagree that someone should be able to serve 3-4 years as a G.I., then return home and not have to work for 6-10 years as long as he or she remains enrolled in school.

Luckily, I live in the fine state of Texas, so I have the hazelwood act to fall back on if my GI Bill runs out before I finish college. Do you even know what that is?

Also, you failed to mention the tuition reimbursement program that active duty and reserve soldiers can take advantage of. In addition, your bit on the GI Bill wasn’t entirely honest. Yes, you do get 1k a month, but not for ten years. You get that 1k till your 40k runs out. Should someone who has put their life on hold for 4 years have to get a loan to become a lawyer or a doctor? No, I don’t think so.

It’s also been pretty hard for me to get a job. I did some pretty cool stuff when I was in, but as of today, after 4 months of searching, I’m still on unemployment. Shouldn’t I be able to study and take care of my time without working full time? Let me see here, full time father, full time husband, full time student, and full time employee. Doesn’t leave much time. Or maybe I can go to school part time, and take 6 years to get my degree. Or work part time, and eat ramen every night? Maybe I should have stayed in after all…

I don’t think I deserve all that much, but I know plenty of people who served with me that do. Many of us went in, and came out with things we can never be rid of, or loss things we can never have back. What have you sacrificed, on your soapbox?

Educational benefits are a plus. Are you trying to tell me that the veterans in your family think a person should be able to serve for three years in the military, then come home, enroll in school, and not have to work for ten years as long as they stay enrolled in school?!

Sorry - I simply don’t believe that.

Don’t get me wrong, I respect the fact that you don’t agree with this GI Bill, that’s fine, this is America after all. But I’m guessing if a survey were done of veterans about this issue, you won’t find many who think it’s about undermining the military. No, you’ll most likely find that most think it’s about time, and many others think it will actually increase recruiting efforts.

I come from a military family, going back to WWI (my great grandfather & great aunt-a nurse), WWII (grandfather and 4 uncles, one who survived Iwo Jima, another who survived Normandy but was paralyzed), the Korean War (my father), Vietnam and Iraq (cousins). The ones still alive that I’ve talked to love this bill, even if it doesn’t help or pertain to them. Their opinions are the ones that matters to me…

And the educational benefits that veterans have currently are far better than what the veterans of WWII received - even better than the veterans of Korea and Vietnam received.

I’m all for veterans (and current service members) receiving excellent educational benefits. This “new GI Bill,” however, is NOT about the soldiers. It’s about undermining the military. It’s wrong.

Then, 6 years later, when, ugh, the phrase Mission Accomplished is a national joke, when, oops, Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11, when whoopsy, no weapons of mass destruction after all, you guys still somehow, some WAY try to find a way to stick it to the troops, the brave men and women who put their lives on the line for YOUR completely unwarranted, most likely illegal war. Who cares that those lucky enough to survive have had their lives interrupted for years because of endless trips back to a sectarian civil war? We can’t now reward them with educational benefits, why, then they’d actually try to have a normal life after SERVING THEIR COUNTRY instead of fighting OUR endless war!! We can’t have that!!

And the most ironic part is that most of you clowns haven’t served 5 minutes in the military, yet YOU are the ones to decide that they shouldn’t get the same GI Bill that WWII veterans received.

Fortunately, by a 75-22 vote in the senate, when many Republicans finally came to their senses, you won’t get your way. This time.

As with any job, a person becomes (or should become) more valuable with time, because his or her knowledge and skills increase. Giving new recruits the opportunity to serve three years active duty, then come home and not have to work for up to ten years while they’re going to school would not necessarily motivate the kind of folks we need to join and stay in the military. And it would motivate anyone who’s already in there to decline reenlistment.

If Americans at some point in the future are ever given the opportunity to actually (realistically) have a say in how our tax dollars are spent, educational benefits for veterans would certainly be on my short-list of priorities. I do think it’s very important. And it is important that the dollar value of those benefits is increased as the cost of education and living increases.

But this particular proposal, IMO, is not realistic, and not good for our country. There are better ways to go about it.

This is kind of important, because you’re arguing that the democratic party is trying to damage the capabilities of the armed forces. This bill could have the opposite effect instead, giving discontent soldiers the opportunity to leave and making the army more attractive to potential recruits.