May 19, 2008

New GI Bill Not Enough

Posted by Sarah Burris at 12:00AM

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Reprints
• Share

Legislation passed by Congress this week will finally help US Armed Forces members cope with rising college tuition rates. Along with mental health care and homelessness, education is a key issue for returning vets.

But as the report above details, a skeptical President Bush may veto the bi-partisan bill. Understand, of course, that this is a declaration to support the troops when they come back home from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a email, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said:

"House Democrats also voted to create a GI Bill for the 21st Century that ensures our veterans have the right to an education when they return home. This part of the bill restores the promise of a full, four-year college education, and makes the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan part of the American economic recovery, just like the veterans of World War II were. "

In an emotional floor speech Rep. David Obey (D-Wisconsin) spoke in strong support of the bill:

But, of course, we all know that this is not enough. This past week we learned that Army Physicians in the VA have been falsifying diagnoses for soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (see email document below).

As Mike Connery accurately states, this is a disgrace.

According to Mike's report,

"A study by the RAND corporation, [approximates] 300,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan display symptoms of PTSD, or nearly 20% of veterans. . .only half of those 300,000 veterans have ever sought treatment.

A 2004 story in the LA Times reports no conclusive evidence to pin-point the causes of homelessness among veterans, but along with high housing costs, unemployment, and little education, past injuries and PTSD were also listed as root causes.

That same piece quotes Department of Veterans Affairs 2004 estimations that say homeless Vietnam veterans account for more than twice the number of soldiers, 58,000, who died in battle during that war.

According to an piece by MSNBC from November of last year,

"The Veterans Affairs Department has identified 1,500 homeless veterans from the current wars and says 400 of them have participated in its programs specifically targeting homelessness."

A similar New York Times piece says that the VA and aid groups are bracing for those number to increase. Those interviewed for both stories that served in Iraq and Afghanistan who were homeless were all under 30.

As I said before, the New GI Bill is hopefully just the beginning in a series of legislation that will continue to help keep our promises to our soldiers.