I work in Louisiana. I can tell for many reasons, one of which is that today on the way to the library I crossed the path of a female administrator who waved, smiled, and said, “Hey, Sugar!”
When I walked into the first class I ever taught in Louisiana I was somewhat taken aback to see how many students were dressed in full military uniform. “Will they shoot?” was my first, and in its way prejudiced thought. They did not. “Will they study?” was my next question – and they did. “Will they form opinions of their own, or will they check first with the government?” was my third question – and they formed opinions of their own.
I was surprised to find that I quite liked my military students, but I did like them and I still do. Several former ones are now my friends on Facebook. Sometimes we send packages to other students on hiatus in Afghanistan and Iraq. If these come back we have been known to pass them cigarettes and whiskey in the first weeks to help calm their nerves, and then to ease them onto coffee and water. I even faced down a post commander once, who wanted to write my student up as AWOL for having left work to come to class.
I support the troops in these quite material ways, although I am very well aware of what they may have done. I also try not to be judgmental, and to contain my angst, when our graduates decide to join the military in hopes of starting their careers and funding their postgraduate degrees. They do not believe me when I tell them of the problems of Specialist Town. I am not sure how long G.I. education benefits will really last, however, and I do warn them about this. Now, thanks to WoC PhD, we have this news, from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune:
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.
Read on. I intend to warn my students more seriously now, and if you have students, I recommend that you warn them, too.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
Here is an article from Military.com regarding the situation. As I posted to WoC PhD, there are differences between the Guard/Reserve G.I. Bill and the Active Duty version.
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,128537,00.html.
I would have psted the actual story, but since I downloaded IE 7 I can’t seem to copy webpages like I could before. The link is current, however. While there was a dispute between the VA and DoD regarding the policy, it has been ironed out and the DoD has recognized the error in their interpretation.
Hey Sugar! (you made me laugh)
I, too, have returning soldiers and appreciate (as alwasy) what you have to share about their experiences. Some of mine have been reservists who feel shortchanged and used in many ways.
Once again, I am reminded that blogs allow us to get info out there – and get it out there quickly – in ways that were not possible before. (Did I say that right?)
Anyway, it’s a good thing.
I’ve been out of the loop lately – teaching is kicking in (3 classes) plus my own writing work plus family plus a new blog project:
http://themarkonthewall.blogspot.com/
Always good to find you…
Hi RG, you are leading a great life and the new blog looks fantastic!
BTW I am secretly toying with the idea of applying IRL to your writing workshop so as to try and take some material from this blog and turn it into a paper form of life writing / creative nonfiction / general nonfiction / something.
what is IRL?
I am a bit, well, out of it sometimes. I used to be hip, way back int eh 80s but it’s all over.
IRL is “in real life” (i.e. as my real life identity). I’ve now linked your new blog to my secret blog (but that blog is a secret … or rather, the fact that it is also mine is a secret … so you have to just run across it and Know ;-)).
I love secrets.
P.S. I do have as we all do the Board of Regents/ Supervisors whoever they are, the state/system policy on national guard mobilization. This is not of course about the GI bill, it is state policy, but still it is interesting. It seems that if you are mobilized in the middle of the semester, lose financial aid, so that money goes back to the feds, so the school doesn’t get paid, so when you get back from Iraq, if you do get back from Iraq, you may find yourself in debt to the school for the semester you were not able to finish. There are other rather tenebrous warnings, such as to make sure you actually get insurance coverage … it may be that people just aren’t good at dealing with bureaucracy, but it may also be that they aren’t getting a very good deal. It is hard to tell.