National Veterans Foundation

SFGate
Patrick Campbell
Saturday, May 3, 2008

I still laugh when people ask me whether the military paid for my education. When I tell them how meager the actual education benefits are, their shock always make me feel like I just told a child that there is no such thing as the tooth fairy. Unfortunately, many of my battle buddies realized the hard way that the GI Bill isn't what it used to be. The education benefits for troops are so low that they either never enrolled, or dropped out of school because they couldn't handle working two part-time jobs or living back home on Mama's couch to afford to attend school.

My fellow veterans are struggling because the current GI Bill is woefully inadequate. Service members are forced to take out loans just to start classes, and then wait months to get any reimbursement. Even then, the benefit only covers 60 to 70 percent of the cost of a four-year public university. For expensive private schools, the GI Bill is barely a drop in the bucket. And every year, the GI Bill is losing value because education benefits have failed to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of education.

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Problems Present Long, Hidden Toll; Help Often Avoided

Wall Street Journal
By YOCHI J. DREAZEN
April 30, 2008

WASHINGTON -- The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused heightened stress, depression and sleeplessness among some military personnel and their families, a new report says.

The survey by the American Psychiatric Association, set to be released Wednesday, found that 32% of military members believe their tours in the two war zones had "at least some negative impact" on their mental well-being. Among military spouses, 40% believed their mental health was hurt by their husband's or wife's service overseas.

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VA Media Relations (April 24, 2008) – On May 1, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will begin contacting nearly 570,000 recent combat veterans to ensure they know about VA’s medical services and other benefits.

“We will reach out and touch every veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom to let them know we are here for them,” said Dr. James B. Peake, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. “VA is committed to getting these veterans the help they need and deserve.”

Los Angeles, Calif. – February 28, 2008 - A study released today by the National Veterans Foundation reports that the United States Government is shortchanging veterans benefits to the military veterans that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The report, “Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans in Crisis,” compares the benefits received by WW II, Korean, and Vietnam War veterans to today’s veterans who have served in the middle-east in order to keep this country safe from terrorists.

Contact:
Jim Goyjer (310) 207-1524
Shad Meshad: (310) 339-0679

By JASON WITZ
Assistant Englewood Editor

Eric Hall would often pinch his lapel to his lips and whisper, as if a microphone was transmitting the cryptic message.

No one knew what to make of the gesture.

A friend would ask the baby-faced Marine whether he needed anything. Hall would release his shirt and smile, downplaying the episode. Nothing more was said.

"During the last seven years, this administration has nickled and dimed our vets," said U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-FL . "It seems to me if we are going to continue to call on people to serve, we need to treat them like gold."

Since the Iraq War started in 2002, Marine, Army and National Guard troops have faced extended deployments, with little rest in-between. Mahoney believes the additional tours increase the risk of soldiers developing mental stress later.

"We have put a burden on them that we have never asked soldiers to do before, and we are seeing the repercussions of it," he said.

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The 'Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities' (EBV) offers cutting edge, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines disabled as a result of their service supporting operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. The intent of the EBV is to open the door to entrepreneurial opportunity and small business ownership to you, by developing your competencies in the many steps and activities associated with creating and sustaining an entrepreneurial venture, and also by helping you coordinate your efforts with programs and services for veterans and others with disabilities.

EBV will be offered at Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, UCLA Anderson School of Management, Florida State University’s College of Business and Mays Business School at Texas A&M.

To learn more and apply, please visit their website.

The Mehadi Foundation is offering scholarships to United States Armed Forces veterans who served in the Iraq/Afghanistan conflict and who have struggled with drug or alcohol addiction but are now at least six months sober. The award is good for tuition at any college or trade school nationwide (international schools will also be considered).

1 award of $1000 USD and 2 awards of $250 will be given for Fall 2008 Semester/Quarter.

The deadline to apply is June 15th, 2008.

More information about The Mehadi Foundation and scholarship applications can be found here.

When: Wednesday, April 23rd, 12 pm to 5 pm

Where: Embassy Suites Los Angeles, 1440 E. Imperial Ave., El Segundo, CA 90245.

MilitaryStars' free hiring events give current and prior US military the opportunity to meet face-to-face with top civilian employers who want to hire people with military experience. Any time job seekers are able to stop by, employers will be ready to speak with them.

Positions are available across the LA area, the state of California, the western US, and nationwide.

Job seekers can pre-register online to attend the event for free here.

For more information about the event and MilitaryStars please check their home page.

A Fallen Marine’s Father Waging a Righteous Battle

The New York Times
By KEVIN COYNE

“You need to do for guys today what people did for us at the beginning, because they’re still dying,” said Mr. McGinnis, 54, of West Deptford.

The longer the fighting continues in Iraq and Afghanistan, the clearer it becomes that the widest divide in America may not be the one between those who support the wars and those who don’t, but the one between those who have borne the cost personally — those who have served overseas themselves, or have waited anxiously as a loved one has — and those who have not. Mr. McGinnis drives a tractor-trailer across southern New Jersey each working day, but for almost five years now, just about as long as his son was a marine, he has made it his other job to try to narrow that gap.

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Boosting GI Bill benefits may hit military snag

USA Today
By Dennis Camire, Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON — For Sen. Jim Webb, it's a question of fairness: Why don't veterans of today's armed services get the same benefits the GI Bill provided "the greatest generation" after World War II?

But the Virginia Democrat's effort to remedy the perceived slight, which has gained support in Congress, runs afoul of how officials at the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs want to manage the all-volunteer military. Besides being too expensive and more administratively complex than the current GI Bill, they say it would make it more difficult to retain experienced troops beyond their first hitch.

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