Download PDF of this full issue: v11n1.pdf (8.2 MB)From Vietnam Veterans Against the War, http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=2062&hilite=
| Download PDF of this full issue: v11n1.pdf (8.2 MB) |
DISCHARGES
Hundreds of thousands of vets came back from Vietnam not only with the many scars of the war but carrying the added problem of a less-than honorable discharge. Not only did this bad paper prohibit many vets from making use of various vets' benefits, but in a job market which has never been worth a damn for Vietnam vets, jobs were eve harder to come by.
VVAW, since 1970 has pushed for a single-type of discharge, pointing out where the bad discharges came from—often an administrative way for a unit commander to get rid of a GI who refused to put up with all the military nonsense or who fought against the war—and how they were used—as a threat hanging over the head of GI's. Whenever the question of amnesty was raised we raised the additional question of bad discharges.
While we still have not won the unconditional amnesty or the single-type discharge that we fought for, the battle did result in a number of victories: a large amnesty program was put into effect (though still not the universal and unconditional amnesty we demanded), and the Department of Defense was forced to institute wholesale discharge reviews.
The latest such review, in which certain type of bad discharges are automatically upgraded has had its deadline extended until the first of April, 1981. Discharges involved include certain kinds of administrative discharges and many bad discharges given for various drug offenses. For vets who fall into these categories it is well worth the effort since the complicated paperwork involved in individual upgrading through a series of discharge reviews is not required.
In an attempt to get the program as widely used as possible the Defense Department has set up an information packet which can be gotten merely by writing to: Department of Defense Discharge Review, P.O. Box 21, St Louis, MO 63166.
G.I. BILL & DEBT COLLECTION
After the usual prolonged struggle by vets, Congress finally decided to raise the GI Bill payments by 10%. While no student-vet is going to refuse the increase, it comes in the face of two related developments: a yearly inflation rate of well over 12%, and an unemployment rate among Vietnam-era vets which is almost double that of a year ago. According to recent statistics, over 500,000 Vietnam-era vets are unemployed; of these, 422,000 vets are between the ages of 25 and 39 (the average Vietnam vet at this time is 34 years old with two children, meaning that unemployment is likely to be a great problem than when vets were just out of the service). For many vets in the past a period of unemployment was an incentive to use the GI Bill in order to survive while increasing their job potential, but the majority of vets now unemployed don't even have the meager GI Bill to rely on since they have passed the 10-year delimiting date.
Given the situation that many vets were in (and are still in) it's not surprising that defaults on V.A. loans, inability to repay money for dropped courses, defaults on home-loan guarantees and not returning the V.A.'s overpayments have now reached a total of $570 million. While that is a large chunk of cash it's about the half the cost of B-1 bomber.
There are no statistics on the number of vets who started the semester in school but, because they found a job, because a VA check was late and they had to drop out, or just because the GI Bill payments weren't enough to pay the landlord and buy food, are now faced with having been "overpaid" by the VA. Given the closeness with which the VA monitored school records, requiring all kinds of paperwork for vets who missed classes, in many cases the overpayment was one month's check (and often this came even when the VA was informed that the vet had cut down his classes or dropped out of school).
For vets currently in school or for vets who are being chased by the VA for GI Bill overpayments, there are a number of circumstances in which the VA will allow classes to be dropped even after the final drop date without penalty:
For the majority of vets who are now under siege by the VA because of non-payment of whatever debt they owe, the reins are about to tighten as the VA pursues its money (it's unfortunate that they will not expend the same amount of energy to find a treatment of Agent Orange—we would now all be cured). For some years now vets applying for home loans have been denied these loans if they had an outstanding debt with the VA; for over a year debts of over $1200 have been turned over to the Justice Department for collection.
Many more plans are afoot to recover every dime owed to the VA—while wives of Congressional ABSCAM defendants find boxes of money under their beds. In September of 1980 the VA had passed along 85,000 cases to the Justice Department. By agreement with the IRS to help find addresses, the VA had referred 228,000 accounts to the IRS to help find the addresses. A computer told the VA that 3.3 thousand employees were among those with delinquent bills and the amounts were deducted from salaries or retirement accounts. A computer matching service is also at work with other government agencies, so if you work for the post office, the military, or any other government agency, the tap on the shoulder may come soon with some kind of agent from some government agency demanding that you pay your debts. Statistics are not available about price of this program, the salaries of the investigators and agents, and all the rest that goes into this massive collection attempt—and no one will tell whether or not the price of the program is great or less than the cost of the outstanding debt.
Of course we believe that veterans should pay their debts, particularly since the money comes out of our tax dollars. At the same time we know too many vets who were tossed off the GI Bill by not meeting some requirement or other because their landlord would no longer take the VA's promise that the check would soon arrive. Student loans required two lending institutions to turn the vet down before they could get the VA loan—that hardly makes for the best credit risks. And any vet who has dealt at all with the VA has met the functionaries whose only (well-paid) job is to mess with vets who need help, not hassle.