Tuition Assistance Suspended for all Branches

reply to post by TheMadVet


That's bad news, especially just to spring it on you all like that.

Not exactly gratitude is it.

They choose to aid countries and be "The World's Heroes" rather than helping us right at home. They choose greed (congressman) increasing their pay rather than helping others. The U.S. has it's priorities wrong and needs a new leader. All branches of the US Military have now been stripped of Tuition Assistance and millions of "warriors" future for success has been forced to a halt. ... Thank you dear government and thank you Obama.

Seems things are the same both sides of the pond mate.

British MP's (politicians) have in the last two years, mandated a public sector pay freeze. This is in addition to slashing around 370,000 public sector employees, with thousands scheduled to be cut up to 2015.

And like your politicians, while hacking away at jobs and banning pay rises for employees...the MP's have voted to 'award themselves' a whopping 32% PAY INCREASE.

Charming isn't it.

Originally posted by sad_eyed_lady
I count on God alone.
Your post deserves APPLAUSE.

Thank you. But God gave us free will and control over our own destiny. We determine our outcome.

As they say, God helps those who help themselves.

Too funny. Obama attempts to hurt Republicans with this but really hurts the slavishly Democrat bloc of education.
They are not going to be happy with him for slowing down their gravy train.

Originally posted by braunbear
reply to post by TheMadVet

 

And your pissed with Obama, why???
Quit watching Fox News, pick a channel...any channel, just not Fox...
I'm an ex-vet-- watching and worrying about my VA benefits-- but I'm NOT blaming the wind!
Blame the 1%, politicians-- all of them...

Did I mention being pissed about Obama? Maybe you should read my post again.

Isn't funny how some folks consider accusing folks of the crime of Watching Fox News! unsolicited equivalent to making a point of some kind?

Has anyone else noticed this?

Methinks someone doth protesteth far too much.

reply to post by TheMadVet


I keep wondering if all this isn't an effort to undermine the armed forces. Just think of how many people will finish their time and get out. This is no mystery, and you could bet on it. TPTB & Obama and Co would have known the effect these cuts would have.

Obama is trying to get us into impossible debt and has artificially triggered sequestration.

IMO they want to leave the military in shambles and with the same stroke get rid of anyone loyal.

Then come Russian and Chinese troops under a UN banner during any emergency we can no longer face.

To everyone that is upset about TA getting turned off. First and foremost, I offer my sympathies. This is a bad time for our nation and our military. However, I can't just stand aside without giving my old 2 cents worth.

Tuition assistance is, and has always been a benefit, not an entitlement. There is a very sharp distinction between the two. Any promise that any recruiter gave you about paying for a college education by serving was referencing the GI Bill, not TA.

Now, to all of my friends and acquaintances that are not or have not been affiliated with the military, the GI Bill is a benefit that every service member is given after serving 3 honorable years in any branch of the service. The program pays for 100% tuition at most colleges, it gives a stipend for books and also provides money for living expenses for 3 years. Under certain circumstances, the benefit can be transferred to a spouse or a child.
...
TA, on the other hand, is money to pay for college given to a service member while they are on active duty. The AF was the first branch of service to offer TA as a recruiting and retention tool (back before the GI Bill was free and transferable) and only offered to pay 75% of tuition expenses. Other branches soon followed suit and eventually during OIF and OEF the benefit was raised to 100% of tuition.

Now here is the distinction...the GI Bill was passed into law by congress in 2008 or so and as such is an entitlement earned by serving at least 3 years in the military honorably. It is payed by the Veterans Administration.

TA on the other hand is merely a benefit that the services used as a retention tool. It came out of the DoD's discretionary budget. Now that the money is tight, it has been cut off. That sucks balls, I know. But if you look at the timeline, the DoD scrapped deploying a carrier group, cancelled all demonstration team performances and announced reduced flying hours and other training deployments before they cut TA.

So, to make a long diatribe short...suck it up. There are a lot more cuts to come, and if this really puts a cramp in your plans, you can always fall back and use you GI Bill to further your education.

An d just for the record, I'm retired military. I've seen my benefits erroded significantly over the years. Get over it.

reply to post by TheMadVet
Ummm...What the hell do you people want? I think it's disengenous to expect tuition assistance when we are ramping up to bomb Iran, shipping arms to terrorists, building and buying drones by the score...and who can forget all that foreign aid?.....Hmmmm??? I mean...these are really necessary things on the checklist to hegemony...The march of empire building...must go on and FRAK all the naysayers, the dogooders.........Remember, resource conflict is only going to get better and better.

So suck it up, cause soon you get to live in a world of drones, drones and more drones..........And those, are just the inhabitants.........

YouSir

Its not just TA!


My wife and I are moving on PCS orders and they told her this morning that she will not be able to take the advance pay for up to 80% of our moving expenses as they have done in the past. Her command also informed her that we may not get reimbursed at all.

Needless to say we are not too happy about it.

I don't see this plan of screwing with the military going well for this administration.

Originally posted by TheMadVet
I am enraged.

I know there are several topics regarding the matter but I thought you guys would like to see a direct email from Uncle Sam Air Force edition. I am in the military in the air force and enlisted for not just it's benefits but to serve my country as well only to be threatened every year to have something taken away from me such as a pay reduction to us underpaid warriors.

Tuition Assistance is what kept military members in line striving for success in the future after enduring hardship and sacrifice. The least that could have been done was give a warning such as "Next semester TA will be cut off" but instead they chose to sweep everything under the rug at the last minute leaving thousands unprepared, men and women.

They choose to aid countries and be "The World's Heroes" rather than helping us right at home. They choose greed (congressman) increasing their pay rather than helping others. The U.S. has it's priorities wrong and needs a new leader. All branches of the US Military have now been stripped of Tuition Assistance and millions of "warriors" future for success has been forced to a halt.

With that I give you the email. The header removed. Thank you dear government and thank you Obama.

edit on 12-3-2013 by TheMadVet because: (no reason given)

Oh... now we're upset about sequestration and it's effects on things? At least you're not taking a 20% pay cut for the remainder of the fiscal year, being told that your deployment is being cancelled, and having your 75%TA coverage (That's what civilian Airmen recieve... not 100%) taken away. Just be glad that you're still better off than your civilian Airmen which by the way... many have served just as you are and work in their jobs as continued service to the country. Be upset... but realize that there are 180,000 people working beside you that are worse off than you.

By the way, you can always use your GI Bill to cover education expenses for the next 6 months... 3 of which are during summer months when many don't take classes anyway.

Originally posted by Destinyone
reply to post by TheMadVet

 

This is the precursor to initiating a full out draft in the U.S.

Des

Highly disagree. It's all about funding due to sequestration. If the military can't fund it's civil servants, then how can they fund a draft??? Congress isn't going to increase funding... they won't even negotiate against the sequestration cuts.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is about engineering a soldier with no career options, except for being a soldier. Well that, and why offer aid with tuition when the government is putting troops in conditions where they either die involuntarily, or come home and kill themselves.

Without this upside of free tuition, the draft will become necessary.

Israel, please send money.

Originally posted by boogiegk
reply to post by sad_eyed_lady

 

There are so many wrong/backward things going on. The World is upside down! It is always the Military active and retired that gets threatened or cut. Or Social Security. I think we need to quit sending money all over the World. It is PAST time to take care of the USA.

No... DoD civilians were first by being furloughed 1 day each week for the remainder of the fiscal year. Effectively a 20% pay cut for 5 months.

Originally posted by sirjunlegun
Do you think they want veterans in our institutions of future power calling BS on all the global grab? Cut the tuition... If we could find men and women smart enough we could devise a plan to assist them in place of the illegal government.

It seems as though many are lost as of why this is happening. It's called Sequestration... you know the 86 Billion cut budget cut that DoD just took as of 01 March 2013 because congress refused to negotiate an aversion plan within the past 2 years. DoD needs to find places to cut it's funding. Furloughing civilians only cuts roughly 8% of the 86 Billion. The have to cut other things as well. This is just the beginning of what's to come.

Originally posted by dave_welch
I sure hope they leave the MGIB alone. I don't understand why they always go after the enlisted guy's wallet first..

Gi Bill is VA... not DoD. DoD has no control over VA budget... separate department of the government.

Originally posted by ANNED
this is part of the democrats plan to get even with the GOP .

since many service men vote republican and the democrats can try to blame the GOP its one of the many things the democrats can do to hurt the GOP.

No mater what the democrats say they still hate the military and have since the Vietnam war.
it can be seen by there acts and words.
www.mrconservative.com...
www.youtube.com...
www.thedailybeast.com...
www.mrconservative.com...
www.mrconservative.com...

If anyone in the military or a veteran thinks the democrats are on there side think again.

You can also check on military equipment to protect the guys in combat. The democrats have cut or done away with new equipment and research into new equipment that our troops may need in the future.

They are even robbing the military of armored trucks to supply Homeland security. gun grab??????.
www.dvorak.org...
www.thenewamerican.com...

Wrong... this is higher echelon DoD officials figuring out where budget cuts should come from. This is not politics other than the fact that 86 Billion needs to be cut from DoD budget.

Originally posted by ChuckNasty
Seen this coming for a while now. Next cut will be no more free medical coverage for active duty families. They'll raise copayments and not allow dependents to be seen on base. Maybe even scrap tricare and rely on champus. Active duty retirement will be given at 57 years of age and not upon retirement.

TA cuts are the tip of the iceberg.... Even if they get the budget situated, DoD wreck less spending will cause the above to come true.

For those of you out there that think no TA is a reason to not reup...good. The military needs people who actually want to serve. Go ask a policeman on how much TA he gets now, then ask him how much bah he gets, now ask how much bas, and ask him if how much more he gets paid for getting shot at.

TA loss? TA was a burden to the tax payers. Time to start spending wisely for our country's future and stop thinking about ourselves.

Stop thinking about being entitled to stuff.

edit on 13-3-2013 by ChuckNasty because: added loss after ta and questionmark.

Good analysis IMO. Thanks for chiming in with logic and a since of knowing what's going on within the DoD at this point in time with these forced budget cuts. Many ATS personnel said that sequestion should happen not realizing that DoD's leaders will shy from cutting weapons system power, but instead will cut manning and entitlements.

Originally posted by SWCCFAN
Her command also informed her that we may not get reimbursed at all.

Needless to say we are not too happy about it.

Because you are ENTITLED to be reimbursed.

Its the OTHER GUYS Entitlements you wanted to be stopped.

This is #$%#$% disgusting. And we can send money to Egypt and other countries.

Good luck getting promoted without that CCAF. Time to pinch every penny so you can climb the ranks.

Honestly, cutting the TA for the military does suck. But at the same time, they could have cut far worse things.

reply to post by jimmiec


trust me this has nothing to do with socialism, nor is it communism(which has been demonized btw), this is looking like a plain old ill intended anarchist government that is morphing into a dictatorship, through the process of selectively passing laws that hinder or take away certain rights or aids that we have thanks to our constitution or government, to later on act upon those same laws and cynically justify the pass of other laws that progress their agenda, to the point that the collective entirety of all these changes equate to one big drastic change that was stretched out over a period of years, that will make this nation any different than a state controlled country.

Now to get a better idea(this following bit is hypothetical, i don't even know if it'll be like this): if i were them, i would cut tuition assistance, as well as cut other things that make people more willing to enter our military willingly. Once, the change has become obvious(too few joining the military now days), then a law will be passed that forces civilians to be trained and become military members for the sake of the "security" of the state and to "preserve our freedoms", just like in Cuba, Russia, Brazil, Denmark, and many others, which some of them don't have dictatorships and the service time is short, so it ain't a big deal, but... I'm talking about enlistment for years..and the worst example i could come up with is North Korea, just so you get an idea(which i didn't have, had to wiki this) that nutcase gov. has over 9 million active, enlisted and reserve soldiers "making it the biggest military organization on the entire world", and here i thought it was China which surprisingly enough doesn't have forced military enlistment. Either way, the point is that that's just an example of how it could go the wrong way to resemble hell states, were we become a militarized state.