Sgt Grit Marine Forums

I saw Senator Chuck Hager on CNN this morning sponsoring a new GI Bill that would basically cover full tuition and housing in a vet's home state. He's co-sponsoring this new bill with Senator Jim Webb, so it's nice to see that it's a bipartisan bill. Both of the Democratic presidential candidates support it, but John McCain doesn't. I'm curious to see what your thoughts are to this.

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpgis135683945may13,0,2854798.story

It would be costly. But maybe they could put stipulations on who can receive it. Maybe you have to serve a certain amount of time before you can get it. Texas has the Hazlewood Act too.

 Jim Webb from Virginia...Holla! I was hoping he would do some good things, since his son is a Marine and I thought he would have a better idea of issues the troops currently face. He's a former Marine himself, I believe.

Expensive but I can't think of anyone who deserves it more.  

Renee:

It would be costly. But maybe they could put stipulations on who can receive it. Maybe you have to serve a certain amount of time before you can get it. Texas has the Hazlewood Act too.

 I think it's a good idea but I agree with Renee's statement there. I have a feeling that if this was offered after someone's first enlistment and they were on the fence about whether to re-enlist or not, this would be a good incentive for them to get out. And well, they need people to stay in. I read an article, I think upstairs, that said they wanted to enlist up to 200,000 by 2009 (dont quote me on that). This would kind of counter act that it seems...if people were swayed by the GI bill to get out and go to college.

I know that in our situation, John really wants to go to college and he's been nervous about the funds. This would definitely be something so beneficial to those who have their hearts on college. It mentioned on cnn that the bill hasn't been changed in 25 years or so, and those who had been in Vietnam especially enjoyed the coverage. Don't our servicemen and women deserve the same?

Renee:

It would be costly. But maybe they could put stipulations on who can receive it. Maybe you have to serve a certain amount of time before you can get it.

I think (don't quote me on it) you have to serve for 3 years to be eligible.

And I don't think it'll come cheap, but last I read, to finance the bill it'll cost $51 billion over the next 10 years. That's a proverbial drop in the bucket next to the cost of the Iraq War.

SassyAmes:

Both of the Democratic presidential candidates support it, but John McCain doesn't.

McCain doesn't support it because he's trying to push his own GI Bill. I'm frustrated with that, since I can't see any real valid reason for him to be pushing a different bill other than the fact that he's running for president and wants his name on it.

aka1982:

McCain doesn't support it because he's trying to push his own GI Bill. I'm frustrated with that, since I can't see any real valid reason for him to be pushing a different bill other than the fact that he's running for president and wants his name on it.

What does his bill entail? According to cnn, he doesn't support this bipartisan bill because it takes valuable servicemen away from the military or something like that.

 He's voted against this bill 4 times now. It's very frustrating. All the canidates in this year's election suck. 

I think it would be so beneficial for so many people. One of my friends is EASing (maybe not the exact term haha) in July, and is going to college in August. He's still trying to figure out how he's going to pay for it...He joined so he could get money for college, since his parents can't help pay, but he is still having some difficulty. 

SassyAmes:

aka1982:

McCain doesn't support it because he's trying to push his own GI Bill. I'm frustrated with that, since I can't see any real valid reason for him to be pushing a different bill other than the fact that he's running for president and wants his name on it.

What does his bill entail? According to cnn, he doesn't support this bipartisan bill because it takes valuable servicemen away from the military or something like that.

I *think* that the focus of McCain's bill is education benefits for people who are still in the military (instead of focusing on veterans). It's mainly about his argument that a really excellent GI Bill (like Webb's) will affect retention numbers. While I get his point, I think that's kind of missing the obvious thing that's affecting retention numbers -- the war?

I don't know, what I do like about the McCain GI bill is that it gives the option of transferring your education benefits to your dependents if you don't want to take advantage of them yourself. It's not really relevant to me personally, but I think that's a pretty cool idea.

aka1982:

I *think* that the focus of McCain's bill is education benefits for people who are still in the military (instead of focusing on veterans). It's mainly about his argument that a really excellent GI Bill (like Webb's) will affect retention numbers. While I get his point, I think that's kind of missing the obvious thing that's affecting retention numbers -- the war?

 

 

Hahaa my thoughts exactly girl.  

I kinda feel like if you enlist to earn money for school, then you probably aren't going to re-enlist anyway, no matter how they change the GI Bill.  If you aren't interested in college, then the GI Bill wouldn't affect your reenlistment or nonreenlistment.

wondergirl:

I kinda feel like if you enlist to earn money for school, then you probably aren't going to re-enlist anyway, no matter how they change the GI Bill.  If you aren't interested in college, then the GI Bill wouldn't affect your reenlistment or nonreenlistment.

Hmm, yeah, good point.