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A conservative friend of mine ..., 2007-11-03 15:11:34 | Main | human rights activists and lawyers oh noz!..., 2007-11-05 12:23:18 Like Judas of old/You lie and deceive: Minnesota: nearly half the MNARNG's 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, found they weren't eligible for full education benefits under the [G.I. Bill], despite being one of the longest-serving units in Iraq. The unit returned home from a 22-month mobilization that included 16 months in combat as part of the surge force in Iraq. Army SGT Benjamin Hattan, a two-time Purple Heart recipient who was denied education benefits because his deployment orders were written for up to 729 days. The Montgomery GI Bill requires 730 days of service to quality for full benefits Iowa: More than 500 members of the Iowa National Guard have been shortchanged on their GI Bill education benefits... The soldiers are members of the so-called "Ironman Battalion," which has served longer in Iraq than any other U.S. military combat unit ... their tour of duty was extended as part of the buildup of troops ordered by President Bush. Because of the way the soldiers' individual orders were written, many soldiers will not be eligible for full educational benefits under Chapter 30 of the Montgomery GI Bill, even though they served the required minimum of 20 consecutive months on active duty. Each soldier has individual orders, and in some cases they were for 725 to 729 days of active duty - just short of the 730 days required Are you shocked? Are you appalled? Do you want to find and defenestrate the penny pinching bureaucrats who shafted those orders? Do you have half a dozen sarcastic, biting punchlines on the tip of your tongue for that old joke, "support the troops"? Well you probably shouldn't, you should already know how this works: Among recruits who sign up for the Montgomery GI Bill, 65 percent receive no money for college, and only 15 percent ever receive a college degree. The maximum Montgomery GI Bill benefit is $37,224, and even this 37K is hard to get: To join, you must first put in a nonrefundable $1,200 deposit that has to be paid to the military during the first year of service. To receive the $37K, you must also be an active-duty member who has completed at least a three-year service agreement and is attending a four-year college full time. Benefits are significantly lower if you are going to school part-time or attending a two-year college. If you receive a less than honorable discharge (as one in four do), leave the military early (as one in three do), or later decide not to go to college, the military will keep your deposit and give you nothing. You could also bitch at your senator - particularly if they're on the Veteran Affairs committee - and tell them to support S.2139, which would cut the requirement for "an obligated period of active duty of at least two years of continuous active duty in the Armed Forces" down by 4 months. That way the Army will have to start writing orders for 607 days instead of 729, which ought to increase the odds of our men and women returning home with a brain left to educate. :: posted by buermann @ 2007-11-04 13:40:04 CST | link Comments: You might be interested in the Wounded Warriors Project. It's a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness for U.S. troops severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. It really puts a face on the cost of this conflict. Here's a link:http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/aarwebshow Thank... posted by Jeff @ 2007-11-04 14:00:22 | link Absolute crap. Someone should be ashamed of themselves...but I get the feeling that shame is not a common emotion emulating from Washington. Crap. John McCain is my senator! How surreal. Isn't he running for president or some other nonsense? I'll have to commence the bitching. posted by leahaz @ 2007-11-04 18:19:44 | link go ahead, express that vague notion Name: Email: Homepage: Comment your turing test: