GI Bill Should Remain a Veterans’ Benefit
June 9th, 2008
The Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) strongly supports the upgraded GI Bill initiative offered by Sen. Jim Webb, endorsed by a broad, bipartisan list of legislators, and passed by both the House and Senate. We believe the new “greatest generation” deserves an education benefit more consistent with that the government provided the World War II generation.
We understand the concerns of those who would prefer to see enhanced GI Bill benefits tied to extended military service. However, the GI Bill has always been a veterans’ benefit, not a military retention benefit. In this regard, the benefit is provided for completing a term of arduous service rather being contingent on agreeing to serve additional tours of duty in uniform.
MOAA is, indeed, concerned about the serious potential for a retention downturn among today’s forces, but believes strongly that any such downturn will be due to too-frequent extended combat tours and family separations that have been imposed on a too-small force. If the military cannot grow fast enough to ease this unfair burden, the nation must find other ways to reciprocate the level of commitment that today’s service members have already demonstrated to their country at such a great personal cost. One way to do that is to provide a GI Bill benefit that fully covers the cost of attending college.
MOAA also supports the concept of optional transferability of at least a portion of the member’s GI Bill benefits to family members espoused by the President and Senators Graham, Burr and McCain. This has never been a part of any previous veterans’ education program, and MOAA believes it is reasonable to make such transfer contingent on the service member’s agreement to complete 10 or more years of service. We understand that Sen. Warner plans to offer an amendment to the FY2009 Defense Authorization Bill for this purpose, and MOAA supports that, as a proper recognition for the service and sacrifice of both service members and their family members. As a DOD career retention benefit, the additional cost of any such transfer program should be borne by the Defense Department, whereas the cost of the veteran’s GI Bill benefit is the responsibility of the VA.
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