Defense officials are alarmed by the very real prospect that Congress this year will enact the robust GI Bill education plan designed by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.
Webb reintroduced his bill, Veterans Educational Assistance Act (S. 22), last week with changes that attracted strong bipartisan support, including the endorsement of fellow Virginia Democrat Sen. John Warner, former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“I’m just going to go full bore on this thing,” Warner told Military Update in a phone interview.
That’s a worrisome vow for Defense officials who believe enhanced post-service education benefits, particularly if enacted while troops face multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, could trigger an exodus severe enough to put the viability of the volunteer military at risk.
No one disputes Webb’s claim that his enhanced GI Bill would boost recruiting sharply. But a Defense official said it also would encourage thousands of young service members, trained at great expense, to separate after completing their initial service obligation.
Webb, in an interview, described such arguments as “absurd.”
The Department of Defense, he said, “is doing a very good job managing its career force, given the strains that are on it. But it’s doing a very poor job of taking care of the people who don’t come in for a career.”
Raising GI bill benefits nearer to those offered to veterans returning from World War II, Webb said, will give every volunteer “a proper reward for their service” and be a great tool for transitioning to civilian life.
His enhanced GI Bill would be available to any member, active or reserve, who has served at least three months on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001. The level of benefits would be tied to the length of service. The $1,200 member buy-in under the current Montgomery GI Bill would be returned.
The bigger change would be in the value of benefits. Maximum benefits, earned for 36 months of active duty, would cover tuition for up to four years at a level to match the most expensive in-state public school. The average is about $1,900 a month. The existing benefit is $1,100 monthly.
Webb’s bill also would pay a monthly stipend to cover living expenses. The stipend would reflect local housing costs near the school and would be set to equal military Basic Allowance for Housing for married enlisted in grade E-5.
A feature added to win Warner’s support would encourage private colleges to make their schools affordable to veterans. Schools that agree to pay half of their tuition in excess of the most costly state schools would see the government cover the remaining half. Thus academically qualified veterans could attend some of the best schools in the country. Warner said it’s the kind of opportunity he got after World War II using the GI Bill.
Warner said he believes Webb’s plan deserves “a try.”
Senior defense officials declined to be interviewed. But Bill Carr, deputy under secretary of defense for military personnel policy, said in a written statement that the Defense Department’s top personnel initiative for Congress is to allow members with unused benefits to transfer them to spouses or children.
Webb and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., who introduced companion GI Bill legislation in the House (HR 2702), don’t like the concept of encouraging service members to trade away earned education benefits. Too many veterans, Webb said, could come to regret the decision years later when they want to go to school.
Scott said it also would be unfair to put members in a situation where they would be perceived — or would perceive themselves — as selfish if they withheld their earned education benefits from a spouse or a child.
Warner said he views transferability favorably, as a good retention tool. But he agreed with Webb, he said, not to include it in GI Bill legislation.
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