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Vets' Notes

By VVAW

The history of the struggle of veterans, both past and present, shows that the only way vets win things like the "Bonus" or the GI Bill or any of the other vets benefits is by uniting and fighting for them. One of the tactics used by the VA and other bureaucrats which serve the rich bosses of the country is to try to confuse and divert the struggle by mountains of regulations, red tape, rules, restrictions and legal type gobbledygook. Another tactic is secrecy: Ashby Leach, for instance, only found out about the apprenticeship program (where the VA will pay the difference between apprentice and journeyman wages) from other vets on his job; and, many of the Korean and "Cold War" vets whose GI Bill benefits were obliterated back on May 30, 1976, only found out they were entitled to these benefits after the benefits had stopped.

In the interest of cutting through some of the VA produced fog about benefits, The Veteran is beginning this column called Vets Notes which will identify benefits that bets have won and point out some of the ways in which those hard-won benefits are under attack. The Veteran welcomes your suggestions concerning future topics for this column.

The GI Bill; Passed on October 15, 1976, what is officially called "the Veterans Education and Employment Assistance Act of 1976" (also know as Public Law 94-502 and Senate Bill #969) is the most recent collection of additions and amendments to the basic GI Bill. Some of the features of this Bill are fairly well known--for instance, the increase of 8% in educational benefits, in the subsistence paid disabled vets in vocational rehabilitation programs, for vets on apprenticeship or OJT programs, and for vets' survivors now in school. This Bill also kills off the GI Bill for men and women joining the service after January 1, 1977, and replaces it with a matching funds program for the future.

The 1976 GI Bill also:

*Permits vets to use the GI bill for graduate school; vets now are eligible a maximum of 45 months for schooling, though it must be completed within 10 years of getting out of the military.

*Provides that GI Bill checks will continue during vacations or changes in schools as long as the time involved is less than 30 days. In talking with vets around the country, VVAW has found that many vets are not getting these checks; if you are in school now and are going to register again for summer school, and if there are not more than 30 days in between, you should be getting paid. If you're not, get together with other vets who are being screwed over and raise hell!

*Increases VA educational loans from $600 a year to $1500 a year maximum. The total loan can't be more than $292 (the monthly GI Bill payment for a full-time single vet student) times the number of months of eligibility you have left. Repayment of the loan, at 7% interest, begins nine months after you stop going to school. The catch to all this fine-sounding "aid" to veterans is the necessity of going to two banks and being turned down for loans (most vets on the GI Bill have no trouble finding banks that will turn them down, of course, but remember all the job application forms and credit forms which ask you, "Have you ever been turned down for a loan?"), and providing written proof that you cannot get the loans.

These are some for the so-called advantages in the new Bill. Some of them have been well-publicized. But the Bill also contains sneak attacks on vets.

*An end to the system of "prepayments." In the title of the Bill is a section which reads that the purpose is "to clarify, codify, and strengthen the administration of educational benefits to prevent or reduce abuse." Or, to put it another way, tighten down the screws on vets.

The VA's justification for ending prepayments is that vets will register for school, get the first check in advance, and then not go to school--and thus "cheat" the government out of $292. To correct this "abuse" the VA will only pay checks after vet can prove that he or she has been in school. For most vets what this will mean is no check at all for periods up to 4-6 months; even the VA (which lies whenever convenient) says there will be a 2-month period of no bucks. And that dry spell will come at the same time that vets have to pay tuition, buy books, and materials to get started in school.

This is not minor attack; it will mean that thousands of vets will not be able to go to school. Thousands more who are in school won't be able to afford to continue. Vets are angry--a meeting called in San Diego by VVAW brought out 35 vets who want to fight around the end of prepayments. The no-prepayment policy is aimed to go into effect on June 30, 1977; the fight to stop this change has to start now! Vets--get together; contact the local VVAW chapter and close ranks to stop this attack!

Another attack that vets are already fighting is the so-called 85-15 rule; according to the new Bill, the VA will no longer pay benefits to vets enrolled in a school where over 85% of the students get GI Bill money or other federal grants (the "other" federal grants include hundreds of federal programs where students get financial assistance). The VA, in sponsoring this change, said that it was aimed at the rip-off schools which have nothing but veteran enrollment. In fact, many schools, particularly city colleges in large cities, have a high percentage of students (vets and non-vets) who get some king of federal assistance. According to the new law, vets in these schools can be cutoff the GI Bill.

The economy of the US is not in all that great a shape. The rich bosses who run the country want to use what money is available to prop up railroads, build new bombers, anything on which they can make a profit. And so they come down on vets programs along with all the other programs like food stamps, which don't make them a profit. They're afraid to come down too hard all at once because they can't handle a raging battle with angry veterans. So they go one step at a time in hopes that vets won't fight. They're wrong. Vets will fight!

Join the Struggle--
Extend and Expand the GI Bill!
No End to Prepayments!
Decent Benefits for all Vets!