More than 1000 Minnesota National Guard members returned from a 22 month tour in Iraq recently only to find that their educational benefits were not going to be paid to them. This is a unit that was deployed longer than any other ground combat unit to a festering [CIR]hole, but the government refuses to pay their GI Bill money.
Why, you ask?
Anderson’s orders, and the orders of 1,161 other Minnesota guard members, were written for 729 days.
Had they been written for 730 days, just one day more, the soldiers would receive those benefits to pay for school.
“Which would be allowing the soldiers an extra $500 to $800 a month,” Anderson said.
That’s right. The fetid sacks of pustulent hemorrhoids who are our government bureaucrats decided to save themselves some money by screwing the Soldiers. Because you see, it’s much more important to pay for the pet pork projects of congressional swine and overpay underrated government contractors for [CIR]ty work they barely know how to perform, than reward Soldiers for their sacrifices!
And they wonder why the Guard is losing good troops? Lack of leadership. Lack of integrity. Little more than lip service to Soldier care. Pathetic!
Senators Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman will be looking into this. And while the politicos are giving lip service to how outrageous this is, let’s see how long it takes to actually do something about it. I’m not holding my breath.
Tags: National Guard, politicians, veterans, veterans' benefits
1) I virtually guarantee this gets fixed.
2) I agree with most of it, but some of it is not really analogous. If this was a cost saving thing (and I bet it is not) then it would have nothing to do with other accounts. My guess is that the 729 was due to a different law dealing with how long they can be activated. Either way, it will be fixed.
I have no doubt it’ll be fixed. I’m highly offended that it has to be fixed in the first place.
Here is Greyhawk’s take on it:
http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/009471.html
Greyhawk is, unfortunately, correct.
Generally speaking, deployment orders are written with a “not to exceed” value.
Depending on how long Guard Soldiers spend on active duty, they can qualify for full GI benefits and can buy in. At least that’s what we’ve been told.
Hey, watch it on the contractor jab! Some of us are qualified ex-military or inactive reserve as a result of good-old Congressional downsizing to save money!
I’m with Greyhawk though- if you’re on active duty, you signed a blank check with your life regardless of whether or not you even see combat. The least they could do is not screw around with benefits during wartime. He’s got a good point about what they did for WWII vets.
I’m surprised anyone thinks Congress is actually going to fix the problems! The Air Force is still working on “Force Shaping”- getting rid of 40,000 people over the course of a few years to save money in the middle of a war!