COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Leaving Military: Veterans
A Post-Iraq G.I. Bill
JIM WEBB and CHUCK HAGEL, The New York Times
November 9, 2007
MEMBERS
of Congress and other political leaders often say that the men and
women who have served in our military since 9/11 are the “new
greatest generation.” Well, here’s a thought from two
infantry combat veterans of the Vietnam era’s “wounded
generation”: if you truly believe that our Iraq and Afghanistan
veterans are like those who fought in World War II, let us provide them
with the same G.I. Bill that was given to the veterans of that war.
In terms of providing true opportunity, the World War II G.I. Bill was
one of the most important pieces of legislation in our history. It paid
college tuition and fees, bought textbooks and provided a monthly
stipend for eight million of the 16 million who served. Many of our
colleagues in the Senate who before the war could never have dreamed of
college found themselves at some of the nation’s finest
educational institutions.
Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey went to Columbia on the G.I. bill; John
Warner of Virginia to Washington and Lee and the University of Virginia
Law School; Daniel Inouye of Hawaii to the University of Hawaii and the
George Washington University Law School; and Ted Stevens of Alaska to
the University of California, Los Angeles, and Harvard Law School.
Veterans today have only the Montgomery G.I. Bill, which requires a
service member to pay $100 a month for the first year of his or her
enlistment in order to receive a flat payment for college that averages
$800 a month. This was a reasonable enlistment incentive for peacetime
service, but it is an insufficient reward for wartime service today. It
is hardly enough to allow a veteran to attend many community colleges.
It would cover only about 13 percent of the cost of attending Columbia,
42 percent at the University of Hawaii, 14 percent at Washington and
Lee, 26 percent at U.C.L.A. and 11 percent at Harvard Law School.
College costs have skyrocketed, and a full G.I. Bill for those who have
served in Iraq and Afghanistan would be expensive. But Congress has
recently appropriated $19 billion next year for federal education
grants purely on the basis of financial need. A G.I. Bill for those who
have given so much to our country, often including repeated combat
tours, should be viewed as an obligation.
We must put together the right formula that will demonstrate our
respect for those who have stepped forward to serve in these difficult
times. First-class service to country deserves first-class appreciation.
Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, and Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, are United States senators.
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