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Emergency Payments for Veterans Awaiting VA Educational Benefits Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has authorized advance payments up to $3,000 for Veterans who have applied for VA educational benefits and who have not yet received their monthly education payments. If you are a Veteran who has applied for one of VA’s education programs and have not yet received your monthly benefit payment for the Fall 2009 term, you can submit a request for an advance payment on this website. Advance payments will be issued by the U. S. Treasury within 3 workdays (Monday through Friday) following submission of...

The U.S. government failed to send promised college tuition checks to tens of thousands of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars before they returned to school this fall, even after being warned that it was inadequately staffed for the job. The Veterans Affairs Department blamed a backlog of claims filed for GI Bill education benefits that has left veterans who counted on the money for tuition and books scrambling to make ends meet. Veterans like American University student John Kamin, who received a letter Wednesday from the Army. He was hoping it contained news that his overdue GI Bill...

More than half the student-veterans at three Ohio colleges are waiting for tuition payments under the new Post-9/11 GI Bill from the Department of Veterans Affairs, reflecting a similar situation nationally. The delay affects 83 percent of the vets at Cleveland State University, about 56 percent at Cuyahoga Community College and 88 percent at Ohio State University.

A new educational benefit for veterans kicked in at the beginning of this month, marking the first time since 1984’s revamping of the Montgomery GI Bill that Congress has acted to improve education opportunities for servicemen and women after separation. This new program, known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill, is exclusively available to military veterans (and the dependents of veterans) who served on or after September 11, 2001. Sponsored in the Senate last year by former Navy Secretary and current Virginia Democrat Jim Webb, the “Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act” (S.22) rewrote and rebuilt the entire veterans’ educational benefit structure....

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) - President Barack Obama said Monday a new GI Bill for those who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan is an investment in both a new generation of veterans and the future of America. The Post-9/11 GI Bill is the most comprehensive education benefit offered to veterans since President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the original GI Bill for World War II veterans in 1944. In the next decade, $78 billion is expected to be paid out under it. "We do this not just to meet our moral obligation to those who sacrificed greatly on our behalf, on behalf...

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2009 – The Post-9/11 GI Bill takes effect Aug. 1, but in the meantime, servicemembers may submit a request to transfer benefits to their spouses and children now. Army 1st Sgt. Steven Colbert takes a moment out of his day to read with his son, Jordan. Colbert is looking forward to transferring his GI Bill benefits to pay for Jordan’s college education. U.S. Army photo by Rob McIlvaine  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Transferability of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits has been the most requested initiative we receive from our servicemembers,” said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary...

When the new GI Bill kicks in Aug. 1, the government's best-known education program for veterans will get the biggest boost since its World War II-era creation. But the benefit is hardly the "Government Issue," one-size-fits-all standard the name implies. In fact, depending on where service members and veterans decide to attend college, they could receive a full ride, or very little. An Associated Press review of state-by-state benefits under the new bill shows huge discrepancies in the amount veterans can receive. (snip) But Congress also wanted to help veterans attend often pricier private schools. So the new bill offers...

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2009 – With the Department of Veterans Affairs ready to begin accepting sign-ups for the Post-9/11 GI Bill May 1, the Defense Department is working to get word out on its proposed policy regarding the bill’s transferability provisions to help servicemembers decide if the new benefit is right for them. Bob Clark, the Pentagon’s assistant director for accessions policy, called the Post-9/11 GI Bill that takes effect Aug. 1 an important new benefit. In addition to providing broader educational benefits, it includes a provision that enables enrollees to transfer their benefits to immediate family members. This...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2009 – Troops nearing retirement eligibility may be able to tap into the transferability benefits provided in the new Post-9/11 GI Bill, even if they’re unable to serve four more years of duty due to service policies, a senior defense official said. The Post-9/11 Veterans Education Bill that takes effect in August and will offer more benefits and the ability to transfer benefits to a spouse or child has proven to be a hit with the troops, Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, told the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service....

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 2009 – A series of educational assistance programs administered by the Veterans Affairs Department, commonly called the GI Bill, have helped servicemembers pursue post-secondary learning for decades. Soon, another program will be added to the mix: The Post-9/11 Veterans Education Bill will be available to qualified individuals Aug. 1. “We previously administered four major education programs before this bill came along,” Keith M. Wilson, VA’s education service director, said. “The new Post-9/11 GI Bill has different eligibility criteria [and] pays for different types of training.” The new GI Bill provides three separate types of benefit payments...

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2008 – The latest GI Bill considerably improves the opportunity for today’s servicemembers to obtain their education, a senior Defense Department official said. President Bush signed the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008 on June 30. The new law mirrors the tenets of the original GI Bill, which gave returning World War II veterans the opportunity to go to any school they wanted while receiving a living stipend, Bob Clark, the Pentagon’s assistant director of accessions policy, said. “The original GI Bill was said to be one of the most significant social impacts of the...

With the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008 signed into law June 30, military members and veterans crave information on whether, when and how they will gain access to the richer education package, known also as the Webb GI Bill or the Webb-Hagel GI Bill. Keith M. Wilson, director of education service for the Veterans Benefits Administration, gave refreshingly direct and detailed answers during a Military Update interview July 2. Wilson said the VA also has a pamphlet on the new GI Bill posted at its website, www.gibill.va.gov, and a toll free number, 1-888-GIBILL1, for follow-up questions. Here are...

WASHINGTON - President Bush today signed legislation ushering in a new era in GI Bill benefits. The legislation, which the Senate last week passed overwhelmingly, is part of a $162 billion war spending bill. "We are very excited that after 18 months of working on the GI Bill that it's been passed into law," said Patrick Campbell, legislative director for IAVA. "Now veterans everywhere will see their opportunities greatly expanded." The administration has opposed the new GI Bill on the grounds it would be too expensive, while the Pentagon has been concerned the more generous benefits - including a free...

Lately I've emailing anyone on Capitol Hill who will listen about the new GI Bill that should be going to the President for signature as part of the defense funding package. While this bill goes a long way towards addressing a shortfall in educational benefits for military members, it doesn't do enough for older veterans like myself who have not served since 9/11. I can't post the comparison chart for everyone to see because I don't know how so I included the URL above for everyone to click on, but I wanted to know your take on the matter. The...

President Bush made a statement this morning on the recent bill passed by Congress. (Transcript) Yesterday the House passed a responsible war funding bill that will provide vital resources to our men and women on the front lines in the war on terror. This legislation gives our troops the funds they need to prevail without tying the hands of our commanders in the field or imposing artificial timetables for withdrawal. Congress is also very close to granting retroactive immunity to phone companies who help (and have helped) intelligence agencies monitor foreign terror suspects—something that Democrats have vehemently opposed. It will...

"This is a different kind of war." --Representative Harry Mitchell Student-Veterans Come Marching Home: A New GI Bill for Scientists Alan Kotok United States 6 June 2008 Since World War II, the U.S. government has offered education benefits to veterans through a series of "GI Bills" both as an incentive to encourage military enlistment and as a "gesture of gratitude" to young men and women who serve in the military. But, since the WWII era, these benefits have failed to keep up with the increasing cost of higher education. A new bill--it has passed both houses of Congress but...

WASHINGTON - After promising to veto a huge Iraq war-funding bill because it contains unrelated domestic spending, the White House now wants to boost the costs even higher by letting troops transfer ramped up GI Bill education benefits to their spouses or children. The White House is signaling that President Bush could sign the hotly contested and long overdue war funding bill if the benefit transferability provision is added to the 10-year, $52 billion improvement to GI Bill college benefits proposed by Democrats and many Republicans. "It's like the Yogi Berra story: 'I don't like that restaurant. Besides, the portions...

You can measure the continuing power shift in Washington by looking at the costly package of veterans’ benefits sponsored by James Webb, the Virginia senator elected on an anti-Iraq war platform in 2006. President George W. Bush has promised to veto the measure. The scene is set for a showdown and Mr Bush is set to lose it. Over Memorial day, the editorial pages of US dailies backed Mr Webb’s bill as the least the country could do for soldiers who have sacrificed so much. A majority of Republican senators joined Mr Webb’s Democrats to render the bill veto-proof. John...

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2008 – With Congress preparing to return from its Memorial Day recess, President Bush used his weekly radio address this morning to urge lawmakers to pass various pieces of pending legislation. Here’s what the president had to say about two defense-related issues: War funding: “Congress needs to pass a responsible war funding bill that puts the needs of our troops first, without loading it up with unrelated domestic spending. Our troops in Afghanistan are performing with courage and honor, delivering blows to the Taliban and al-Qaida. Our troops in Iraq have driven al-Qaida and other extremists...

Traduce: v.t.; to cause humiliation or disgrace to by making malicious and false statements; to make defamatory statements about: asperse, backbite, calumniate, defame, malign, slander, slur, tear down, vilify. It's a vile word. It combines slander and vilification, the essence of what the Bible calls "bearing false witness." A traducer is a person without a conscience, without a chest; a hollow, soulless spirit. Stitching together the worst segments of a harpy and a demon, traducers are sociopaths who literally feel absolutely nothing for their fellow men and women but contempt. They are unable to conceive of other human beings as...