National Guard Troops Denied Benefits

[Calanen]

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=71741

National Guard Troops Denied Benefits After Longest Deployment Of Iraq War


Rhonda Erskine, Online Content Producer
Created: 10/3/2007 2:39:29 PM
Updated: 10/3/2007 5:32:02 PM

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (NBC) -- When they came home from Iraq, 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard had been deployed longer than any other ground combat unit. The tour lasted 22 months and had been extended as part of President Bush's surge.

1st Lt. Jon Anderson said he never expected to come home to this: A government refusing to pay education benefits he says he should have earned under the GI bill.

"It's pretty much a slap in the face," Anderson said. "I think it was a scheme to save money, personally. I think it was a leadership failure by the senior Washington leadership... once again failing the soldiers."

Anderson's orders, and the orders of 1,161 other Minnesota guard members, were written for 729 days.

Had they been written for 730 days, just one day more, the soldiers would receive those benefits to pay for school.

"Which would be allowing the soldiers an extra $500 to $800 a month," Anderson said.

That money would help him pay for his master's degree in public administration. It would help Anderson's fellow platoon leader, John Hobot, pay for a degree in law enforcement.

"I would assume, and I would hope, that when I get back from a deployment of 22 months, my senior leadership in Washington, the leadership that extended us in the first place, would take care of us once we got home," Hobot said.

Both Hobot and Anderson believe the Pentagon deliberately wrote orders for 729 days instead of 730. Now, six of Minnesota's members of the House of Representatives have asked the Secretary of the Army to look into it -- So have Senators Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman.

Klobuchar said the GI money "shouldn't be tied up in red tape," and Coleman said it's "simply irresponsible to deny education benefits to those soldiers who just completed the longest tour of duty of any unit in Iraq."

Anderson said the soldiers he oversaw in his platoon expected that money to be here when they come home.

"I had 23 guys under my command," Anderson said. "I promised to take care of them. And I'm not going to end taking care of them when this deployment is over, and it's not over until this is solved."

The Army did not respond questions Tuesday afternoon.

Senators Klobuchar and Coleman released a joint statement saying the Army secretary, Pete Geren, is looking into this personally, and they say Geren asked a review board to expedite its review so the matter could be solved by next semester.

Minnesota National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Kevin Olson said the soldiers are "victims of a significant injustice."

NBC

[Calanen]

Although, it's apparently now being fixed.....

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1460969.html

LGF www.littlegreenfootballs.com covered the story and made it more widely known.

U.S. Army secretary works to fix GI Bill for Minnesotans

More than 1,100 Minnesota troops are being denied expanded educational benefits because they served too few days in Iraq, sometimes one day too few.

By Nina Petersen-perlman, Star Tribune
Last update: October 02, 2007 – 9:15 PM

WASHINGTON - Almost half of the 2,600 Minnesota National Guard soldiers who deployed with the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 34th Infantry Division are getting shortchanged on their education benefits.

The 1,162 affected troops served just as long as their colleagues -- 22 consecutive months, the longest of any U.S. unit in Iraq -- but they are not eligible to enroll in the Chapter 30 Montgomery GI Bill because they were demobilized before serving the 730 days of active duty deployment required by the bill.

How long before? From one to 12 days.

Members of the Minnesota congressional delegation have been working with the Minnesota National Guard to correct what they consider an inequity.

The state's U.S. senators, Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar, announced Monday they had received word from Army Secretary Pete Geren that he was attempting to fix the problem.

"Many of these soldiers have put their education on hold in order to serve our nation, and awarding these benefits is the least we can do for them when they return," Coleman said.

Streamlining appeals process
Geren told the senators he was recommending that the Army Board of Corrections, which has the authority to award the benefits, expedite the review process so the soldiers could get their benefits in time to enroll for spring semester. Usually, each soldier would each have to file a personal appeal, but Geren requested the Army review them as one group.

Those who qualify for Chapter 30 Montgomery GI Benefits can receive $894 per month to be used for education, after making a $1,200 down payment. The benefits are available up to 10 years after the soldiers leave the service.

Those who don't qualify, like the 1,162 from Minnesota who are recorded as serving 729 days or less, can receive $660 per month as full-time students through the Reserved Education Assistance Program (REAP). The benefits expire once the soldier leaves the service.

"The Minnesota National Guard believes all soldiers who served 20 consecutive months on duty as part of the First Brigade Combat Team's extended mobilization should be entitled to the same set of benefits for their dedicated service to the nation," said Lt. Col. Kevin Olson, a spokesman for the Minnesota Guard.

Olson said they discovered the discrepancy in July when the soldiers were preparing to return to civilian life at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.

The U.S. House unanimously approved a resolution Monday authored by Rep. Tim Walz commending Minnesota's National Guard soldiers for having the longest continuous deployment in Iraq of any U.S. military unit.

The troops mobilized in September 2005 for training and deployed to Iraq in March 2006. They were set to return home in January, but their tours were extended another 125 days as part of President Bush's troop surge.

The unit completed 137 reconstruction projects and captured about 400 detainees, according to a release from Walz's office. They also helped start Iraqi newspapers and produced documentaries on the U.S. military's work in Iraq.

Nina Petersen-Perlman • 202-408-2723
Nina Petersen-perlman • nperlman@startribune.com

[Zoomie]

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...National+Guard

[Invisigoth]

The tour lasted 22 months

Wow...that must seem endless. Good to hear they (hopefully) aren't getting shortchanged.

[Calanen]

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...National+Guard

Apologies for that....missed it. Although the article about the fix is new, but I should have included this on the other thread..had i seen it.

[zonk]

thats alot of months in robot mode...i feel for those guys 12 months over there to me seems like forever