No Soldier Left Behind

The other day, I read a story about how the average soldier, when leaving the military, only received enough money to attend the average two-year junior college. While the GI Bill previously covered full tuition for returning veterans, today the bill only provides $9,600 a year for four years, which is basically chump change when it comes to college today. I would have thought that one of the benefits of us living in wartime would be that we as a country would appreciate our soldiers by taking care of them when they came home. They took care of us abroad so we could take of them here, right? Um, wrong.

It seems that part of the reason the GI Bill is not being funded is because the government fears that too many people would leave the military to go to college if they received halfway decent benefits. The reasoning being that if the benefits only get you a place at a junior college, why even bother? Two things get me about this argument. First, it is just wrong. Veterans deserve whatever we can do for them. They need health care. Done. They need an education. Done. They need help buying a house. Done. They need help starting a business. Done.

Second thing, knowing that you will get a real education after you leave the military, instead of an illusory promise of one, will draw more people into the military. Of course people will leave the military if more educational benefits are waiting for them. But people can leave the military for all sorts of reasons. The government needs to make it more attractive to join the military. I bet an all-expense paid trip to the four-year state university of somebody's choice would bring in a whole lot of recruits. A whole new generation of people just looking to make their lives better and more full. The American Dream, if you will.

Conservatives always deny it but they expect all these things from government. They want us to fight all these wars. They want us to build all these walls to keep out those hordes of illegal immigrants. Yet when it comes time to do something about all this, they only get around to talking about tax cuts. Talking about that or their man-crush Ronald Reagan. When the reality differs from their hopes and dreams, they blame gay marriage. The bad news for conservatives? Due to the policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," gay marriage can't be blamed for soldiers not being taken care of once they come home. Since gays aren't allowed anywhere near the military, they can't possibly be the ones messing it up, right?