Vets Cheated Again, and White House finally admits Mission Accomplished not such a good idea!

Dear readers...

Well, long since the days when the G.I. Bill was supposed to give returning vets a leg up in civilian life, a thank you for the time they took out of their everyday lives to bleed and die for those who found excuses not to serve, today we have a watered-down version of the G.I. Bill that barely passes muster.

If you are a veteran from within the past 30 years, you know that original version of bill was changed sometime back in the 1970’s. I served at a time when I was supposed to get the benefits under the old bill, but somehow the Veteran’s Administration didn’t see things that way. Fortunately, I live in Illinois, where a wisely crafted Illinois G.I. Bill covers things the federal program no longer does. And it does so for the life of the veteran.

Be that as it may, vets today are rightly complaining that the things they were promised have also been somehow forgotten by the recruiters. According to an AP story posted on CNN.com, vets returning from Afghanistan and Iraq feel “cheated, baited and switched”. Most seem to blame their recruiters. I had the same experience. My recruiter told me I would be heading to college to become a physician, a program he forgot to tell me had been cancelled more than a year before I enlisted.

The same crap goes on today! After all these years, how can any recruiter or military person in charge of anything larger than latrine duty claim they don’t know anything about it?

The vets interviewed, and one would assume many others were weren't, are finding it nearly impossible to get the help they need for college, not to mention other promises left unfulfilled. According to the AP report, benefits today cover about half of the expected tuition and other costs. The total comes to a national average of $1,101 dollars per month for up to 36 months, but only for active duty, honorably discharged vets. For the National Guard and reservists, the average is $440 per month. That’s hardly enough, one vets tells us, to cover community college tuition, let alone other costs of getting an education.

Our vets put their lives in danger, and for those who survive the ordeal, they also put them on hold, and for what? Will it take a reliving of history, when WWI vets built Hoovervilles in Washington to protest the government neglect of vets? There, vets protested and were driven off by regular army troops, under the leadership of Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, (And McArthur and Patton, too!). I wonder if the regular army troops were thinking, “Hey, this might be me some day!” As this occurred, the House of Representatives was debating the Patman Bonus Bill, which was staunchly opposed by Republicans loyal to then president Herbert Hoover. The bill passed the House but was defeated in the Senate, and then all hell broke loose as regular army troops with tanks, teargas and cavalry drove the protesters and their families from the nation's capital.

Of course, the local Republicans brought out the "communist sympathizer" attack, and retired Marine general Smetley Butler gave a fired up speech to the vets which fueled opponents of the vets to claim communist infiltration had taken place. Man, they never get tired of that one, do they?


More about the G.I. Bill fiasco can be found at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/29/new.gi.rally/index.html

More about Hooverville can be found at: http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/53/4.pdf

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In related news, Dana Perino, the president’s White House press secretary, admitted that”…we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner.” As she explained that the crew of the ship had something to do with it being displayed. She went on to blame the press for pointing out the error in Bush’s thinking with her usually display of disdain. “And I recognize that the media is going to pay this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year.” Oh, so telling the truth is inconvenient to the White House?

Fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice, shame on you. That is how I am beginning to size up the legacy of the Bush administration for the past sever years of what were, in my opinion, some of the most messed up mistakes on record.


OK, I exaggerate a bit, but looking back over Bush’s tenure I begin to wax nostalgic for the Clinton years, which at the time I thought were pretty messed up. Still Bush has managed, by whatever means, to, in my opinion, get us bogged down in a war that has no victory in sight. Yes, there have been small, even important victories on the field, mainly obtained through the excellent spirit and work of our armed forces.

However, it seems to me that our leaders have managed to squander too many opportunities to make our eventual exit from Iraq something to be proud of. Yes, the surge has had its successes, but did it really, truly accomplish the goals it was supposed to win? I remain highly skeptical.

And now we find out that the White House has, in what is in my opinion a back-handed way, admitted that the famous Mission Accomplished banner was a mistake. Well, 4,000 plus lives later, in a war that has lasted longer than WWII, using armed forces that are woefully understaffed, that is the best they can do? Then, they even blamed some of it on the ship’s crew! At least in ancient Rome disgraced leaders would fall on their swords; in our time I guess we should be grateful they at least trip on their own words.

Whatever the truth of that, I do think that our jingoistic attitude, or at least the loud saber rattling done in those days by certain administration officials, elected and non-elected, should lead to some sort of consequences for the leaders who lead us astray. I would start at the top, and one by one, work our way down the list. People, this is way worse than Bill Clinton’s Monicagate, and yet we see absolutely nothing being done about it!

You know, when my students chew gum in class they are chastised in greater degree than our leaders when they lie to us, deceive us, and then try to cover up their fabrications. Many of my students are angry that a president can do such things and get away with it.