Sen. Jim Webb is a leader on veterans issues. A prime example of this is Sen. Webb's bill to enhance GI benefits for veterans of the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan (S.22). While the military is afraid of the bill's impact on retention, Sen. Webb makes a very cogent observation about recruitment, retention and the benefits proposed in his bill.No one disputes Webb's claim that his enhanced GI Bill would boost recruiting sharply. But a Defense official said it also would encourage thousands of young service members, trained at great expense, to separate after completing their initial service obligation to attend college fulltime.Webb, in an interview, described such arguments as "absurd."
More on the "flip," including how you can help Jim Webb help our veterans.
The Department of Defense, he said, "is doing a very good job managing its career force, given the strains that are on it. But it's doing a very poor job of taking care of the people who don't come in for a career."Sen. Webb's point bares repeating: A volunteer military is "only a career system to a certain point." Retention is always going to be a problem for people who see military service as the first, not only, step in their career plan. As such, the key to the strength of our future military is expanding that pool of first-step candidates. Sen. Webb's bill is a cornerstone of that expansion.Raising GI bill benefits nearer to those offered to veterans returning from World War II, Webb said, will give every volunteer, particularly those with no intention of making the military a career, "a proper reward for their service" and a great tool for transitioning to civilian life.
Defense officials have to understand, Webb said, that a volunteer military is "only a career system to a certain point." The current system isn't properly rewarding those who enter "because of love of country, or family tradition, or the fact that they just want to serve for a while," he said.
The services, he said, "have got this one demographic group they keep pounding on and throwing money at. Yet there's a whole different demographic group that would be attracted to coming in and serving a term." - Military.com
The bill has 51 co-sponsors, including some Republicans. Virginia's own John Warner has joined with his fellow Senator to co-sponsor and advocate for the bill. Notably missing from the list of co-sponsors however, is perhaps the most famous veteran in America today: John McCain. It seems reasonable to ask John McCain why he would ask for heavy service from our soldiers while allowing inflation and time to massively erode their benefits. Today's veterans serve with just as much honor and patriotism as John McCain did, but they have far fewer available benefits from a grateful nation than he did. If honor is measured by how little you ask of your country compared with how much you give for it, then Tammy Duckworth has more honor that John McCain.
General Wes Clark has started his own campaign for Sen. Webb's bill. And you can sign a petition urging support for the bill here. It is shameful that America is not offering today's veterans the benefits that helped their grandparents found America's strong middle class. It is even more shameful that Sen. John McCain has been AWOL in this important battle.
(With a tip-o-the-hat to KagroX at DailyKos.)