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Benefits Fading Away: Steady Attacks on G.I. Bill

By VVAW

The GI bill is under attack. The attack is hard to pinpoint for what it is - an attempt to completely undermine the GI bill and the VA system. The form the attack takes is small attacks, here and there, chipping away at dollars and services for vets. The final result will be millions of vets screwed out of their benefits - if we stand by and let it happen. We won't!

When we were GIs we longed for the day we got out of the military, out of the claws of lifers and officers. We knew things couldn't be as miserable as the service. We looked forward to decent jobs, an education, and all those bennies promised by the VA and the GI Bill. Now a lot of us have had that bubble burst. We're disgusted by the way we have to live, and the conditions we face sure isn't what we expected then.

The rich shipped us off to their war in Vietnam, and when they needed us to protect their business interested there, they ran a good rap and promised us the sky. They never delivered. Sure, some of us got benefits, often having to fight to get them, but it's a hell of a situation when they give us some loose change and then try to pick out pockets before we get out the door. The economy is going down the drain, and they would like to flush us down too and pocket the buck at our expense.

The GI Bill was never something the government gave us out of the goodness of their heart. It started after World War II when the rich had Congress hand it out before millions of World War II vets tore the hell out of the country. Then they only delivered out of fear for their wealth. Then and now, they will only cough up what they owe us when we stick the big fist of a powerful veterans movement in their face.

That World War II GI Bill was the beginning, and from there it went downhill. Congress continually "restructured and reformed" the various GI Bills up to today. Along the way they axed off sections, benefits, eligibility time and bucks. Some times the attacks were right out in the open on a national scale. For instance, in 1976, they cut 3.7 million vets (those who received discharges between 1954 and 1966) off the bill with no warning. Or the recent refusal to give benefits to the vets who got their discharges upgraded under Carter's phoney program.

We all know about the big attacks, but they're socking it to us every day with the "little" ones too: Late checks that drive us out of school, saving them millions of bucks annually; roll calls in classes that intimidate us like grade school kids; spot checks on grade averages that result in us being "advised" on what we should study or we're out on our ass.

These small attacks vary in intensity and type from school to school, but they are aimed at the same thing - drive thousands of vets off the Bill every year. One current attack is going on at Kent State University. The school claims that due to the fuel costs of last winter and the expected costs this year, the school is closing for 36 days to cut costs. Seizing on this opportunity, the VA announced that because vets won't be in school for a period of over 30 days, they won't be getting their Christmas GI bill checks. For a vet with a family of 3 this means the loss of $400 during the month when all of us have higher expenses because of the holidays. Added to this is the fact that since school is closed for only 36 days, most of the 1,800 vets effected will not be able to find worked to make up their losses.

This attack at Kent hasn't and will not go unanswered. Meetings to plan their fight have drawn up to 250 vets. The on Oct 7th over 50 vets from Kent went to the VA regional office in Cleveland to confront the regional director. Setting up a picket line out front, a delegation went into his office for some answers, but found he was continually "out." His flunkies said, "anyway, there isn't anything that can be done." The vets at Kent didn't swallow this crap and have since regrouped to plan their strategy.

Vets at Kent State and across the country, all of us, have a fight on our hands. The GI Bill belongs to us, but the way the VA hands it out, you would think it was theirs.

We aren't going to these rats at the VA, in Congress or their rich bosses to beg for our money. When someone steals from you, you don't crawl to them and say, "Please Mr. Thief, give us back what is rightfully ours." Hell no! You march in and unhinge that mother! We aren't begging for anything, but we'll fight like hell for what's ours.