Forever GI Bill Passed

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Posted: 8/3/2017 8:55:57 PM EDT

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Congress passes $3B expansion of GI Bill education benefits

I only just heard about this yesterday.... thought it was awesome news based on the headlines.
Then I read this:

"The bill would remove, for new enlistees, the 15-year limit on when recipients must use their GI Bill benefits — a provision meant to give veterans more flexibility to attend higher education and obtain new skills later in life."

So it's only for soldiers from the snowflake generation (or children of people that were serving in OEF/OIF)... the ones that didn't get stop-lossed, blown up, mangled, and/or killed when they were serving during the period that was a result of 9/11.

But hey... congress, senate, and The Don get their bipartisan happy emojis and can jerk eachother off for actually putting their differences aside long enough to fuck over soldiers yet again.

<thunderous applause>

Posted: 8/13/2017 12:40:03 AM EDT

[#1]

I am curious how many people this would actually help. It would seem to me that if you didn't use your GI Bill after 15 years after leaving AD, you probably were't going to use it, anyway.

Posted: 8/13/2017 3:14:53 PM EDT

[#2]

Quote History

Quoted:
I am curious how many people this would actually help. It would seem to me that if you didn't use your GI Bill after 15 years after leaving AD, you probably were't going to use it, anyway.

View Quote

I just started using mine.... 1 year out from my last year. If this applied to the post-9/11 GI Bill, it wouldn't definitely help me. I have less than a year to use mine and there's a lot I'd still like to do.

Why didn't I use it sooner? My location makes it the most difficult. Places that offer a program to use it are non-existent where I live.
The paperwork process is typical and a pain in the ass.... probably a deterrent for some people.

Some people that get out might be struggling just to keep it together for several years after getting out.
Some may use the VA Chapter 31 Vocational Rehabilitation first (I did).
Life gets in the way.

Whatever the reason... it's a benefit service members earn and shouldn't have an expiration date on it. Especially the ones that gave their pound of flesh in some God forsaken shithole on the other side of the world.

Posted: 10/7/2017 6:15:00 PM EDT

[#3]

I don't why anyone would hesitate to use their GI Bill of any Generation.
When I got out my priorities were about tied: Get a job and go to College on my GI Bill. I turned one job down because it would have interfered with my Night School

Posted: 10/7/2017 6:37:44 PM EDT

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:
I am curious how many people this would actually help. It would seem to me that if you didn't use your GI Bill after 15 years after leaving AD, you probably were't going to use it, anyway.

View Quote

When I got out I got a job. Then I got married. I finally forced myself to use it just before the term ran out. At that point it was 10 years. Sometimes life just gets in the way.

Posted: 10/10/2017 9:09:46 PM EDT

[#5]

Most people leaving the military are not making the most of it

Posted: 2/28/2018 10:10:45 AM EDT

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:
I am curious how many people this would actually help. It would seem to me that if you didn't use your GI Bill after 15 years after leaving AD, you probably were't going to use it, anyway.

View Quote

My GI bill ended 10 years after I got out.

I started school 9 years after I got out. I only got a year of schooling on my GI bill and paid for the rest OOP.

I am thinking of going back to school to bolster my resume, and luckily Dad was in during OEF so I can use hie.

Posted: 3/18/2018 3:44:15 PM EDT

[#7]

<<< Victim of VEAP

Posted: 3/21/2018 10:38:10 PM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:
I am curious how many people this would actually help. It would seem to me that if you didn't use your GI Bill after 15 years after leaving AD, you probably were't going to use it, anyway.

View Quote

Me...

I was part of the Vietnam Era GI Bill. I did not go back to school until 1990, then got a bachelors and a couple masters that I paid for myself. If I could get the govt to pay for it, I would go for my PhD (or an MFA). My wife thinks of my schooling as a hobby, so wont pay for it anymore.....

Posted: 4/17/2018 4:47:51 AM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
I am curious how many people this would actually help. It would seem to me that if you didn't use your GI Bill after 15 years after leaving AD, you probably were't going to use it, anyway.

View Quote

After I got out in 08 I got a degree in Diesel Science (fancy way of saying I have no self respect and can turn wrenches

). Currently working at a CAT dealership and its good money, and I like it most days. But I flirted with the idea of getting a hyrdrologic technician degree and working in municipal water supply. After being in industry for a few years I really wish I had pursued the hydro tech thing more, if I could I would go back to school and finish my hydro tech stuff I would...

Posted: 4/25/2018 12:48:30 PM EDT

[#10]

Good. No, most won't use it, but that just leaves money on the table for those who do. I got stop lossed after 911, finally got out, went to school, got a degree, a decent career and now I'm set. But if I had any time left on my MGIB, I'd go back. More of hobby/interest training like machining and welding. Would be a great fallback for when the IT field goes entirely outsourced. Can't go wrong learning a skilled trade.

Posted: 8/1/2018 10:57:01 PM EDT

[#11]

Quote History

Quoted:
I am curious how many people this would actually help. It would seem to me that if you didn't use your GI Bill after 15 years after leaving AD, you probably were't going to use it, anyway.

View Quote

I got out in 90, and got caught up in trying to make a living, and didn't have the time for college. Before I knew it, 10 years had slipped by and my GI bill was expired. When I really needed it, in 2002, and I had the time to use it, it was gone. I know at least a dozen other veterans that had the same experience as me. Sometime life gets in the way of your plans.

edited for correct year of need. I got laid off as a result of 9/11 and needed the money to get smarter.

Posted: 8/2/2018 12:28:34 AM EDT

[#12]

the classes I was recently in had guys using their GI bills...

thats fine,

but they were there just in class to use and receive their benefits.
quite a few didn't bother showing up.

meh, do what you want..but when you do that shit for an otherwise full
class that has to turn away people that really want to be there, then
we got problems, and I'll call it "abuse".

I think there were 14 people the first week, maybe (and I'm being generous here) two.
quickly dwindled down to 4 that were always there and 2-3 that came sometimes.. the rest never came back.

Posted: 8/8/2018 8:38:58 AM EDT

[#13]

Wait why is this a bad thing?

Posted: 8/8/2018 8:57:50 AM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:
<<< Victim of VEAP

View Quote

young pups don't realize that some of us didn't have a GI Bill to enjoy. We had to pay into a program ourselves.

I got $20,100 in VEAP benefits to attend college. Ran out less than 3 years in (I got $744/month) and I paid for the rest out of my own pocket. While not a bad return on the $2,400 I paid into the system, it's a far cry from what the GI Bill offers.

Posted: 8/9/2018 10:14:41 PM EDT

[#15]

I used my GI Bill right away for grad school. I haven't done the math, but I estimate between tuition, BAH, and books, I used about $140k in benefits. Not kidding.

Posted: 8/9/2018 10:35:26 PM EDT

[#16]

I got out before January 1, 2013; therefore, I don't qualify for this free shit.

Posted: 8/9/2018 10:37:17 PM EDT

[#17]

I have 5 years remaining to use mine. I may start using it next year.

Posted: 9/9/2018 1:29:03 AM EDT

[#18]

I used about $12k for OJT during my probationary year with the feds, but I recently found a degree path that I am interested in that I can also do the majority of the work online. It will have absolutely no bearing on my career whatsoever, is about as worthless of a degree as you can get, but it looks fun and its right up my alley pertaining to my favorite thing to do outside of work. On the reserve side Im taking a completely different path than both my primary career field and my proposed field of study; I want to reclass to a watercraft operator or engineer for the certs and licenses available in those MOS's and gain a better understanding of sailing before I retire to a sail boat and life on the open seas in 12 years.

Posted: 9/9/2018 6:12:49 PM EDT

[#19]

While I understand why the "forever" part wasn't made retroactive (All of the old fart like me would dry up those funds in a heartbeat), calling it forever is BS.

Posted: 9/9/2018 6:24:24 PM EDT

[#20]

Kind of off topic...but I have 18 years in. I get so tired of young soldiers hating on the Army and then want to get out and say how they plan to use their GI Bill (more power to them if they ACTUALLY use it)...yet, their lazy asses didn't want to take advantage of active duty college tuition assistance, which is essentially free full time student college money, while they did jack shit and played X-Box for 3 years. Same dudes that thinks the Army screwed them in every way possible.

If you play your cards right, you can make the Army work of you. Army paid for my BA and paid for my MA (1/2 completed currently)...and allowed me to transfer my Post 911 GI Bill to my son. #$$$

Posted: 12/21/2018 6:11:42 PM EDT

[#21]

Cold War Sailor. We got squat and VEAP was never explained by the ESO. Just a couple brochures on the counter.

Posted: 12/22/2018 1:36:24 AM EDT

[#22]

I got out in 2014. Between tuition, BAH, and books, I used about $140k in Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits. YMMV.

Posted: 12/22/2018 1:58:52 AM EDT

[#23]

Got out in 1999, got lucky enough to complete a bachelors degree with partial scholarship, while enlisted. Immediately got a job as a developer. Fully paid GI Bill I never got to use.

If there was anything i wished for, was to somehow donate what i put in to someone else that needed it more than i did.

Posted: 12/22/2018 2:20:10 AM EDT

[#24]

I only got to use one year of mine. It only paid something like $200 month total. I think I paid in more than that.

Posted: 1/3/2019 3:58:00 AM EDT

[#25]

Quote History

Quoted:
<<< Victim of VEAP

View Quote

Same.

Got out and learned quickly that I was lied to.

Couldn't use VEAP for a damn thing, that would pay the bills around here and was approved, and was saddled with Family ground.
Nearest Community college was a 40 Min. Commute each way, and didn't offer anything other than Liberal arts, and useless crap. Skilled trades were not covered, LE Academy was not covered....the only option to use it, was to move, and enroll in a state school, hours away.
No options existed to use the damn thing.

Glad to hear the kids now, have better options, and aren't getting fucked.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Forever GI Bill Passed

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