I also am Hillary supporter that has bookmarked McCain’s website. If the DNC should nominate Obama as their candidate, in that same moment I will go to McCain’s website and make my first of many donations.

However, that’s IF that should happen. Hillary will have the popular vote, and it doesn’t look like she’s backing down anytime soon (no surprise there – god I love that woman!).

Hillary or McCain in 2008 (and if McCain, then Hillary in 2012).

The letter from the young man tells me he served 5 years active duty w/multiple deployments in Iraq but because he’s no longer a drilling reservist, he can’t collect his educational benefits. Something is terribly wrong with that picture.

Currently, veterans’ educational benefits are administered under the Montgomery G.I. Bill—a
program designed primarily for peacetime – not wartime – service. With many of our troops having
served two, three or four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is past time to enact a new veterans’
education program modeled on the World War II era G.I. bill. These individuals have a short window of
time in which to take advantage of an educational benefit after serving, and with six years already passed
since 9/11, that window is now closing for many.
• The G.I. Bill of the World War II era sparked economic growth and expansion for a whole
generation of Americans; a more robust G.I. bill holds the same potential for today’s economy. The
United States has never erred when it has made sustained new investments in higher education and job
training – and its veterans. Educated veterans have higher income levels, which in the long run increases tax
revenues. Approximately 7.8 million veterans used the benefits in some form, out of a wartime veteran
population of 15 million. For every dollar invested in WWII veterans, seven dollars were generated.
• A strong and reliable G.I. bill will have a positive effect on military recruitment. Better educated
veterans also have a more positive readjustment experience and lower levels of post-traumatic stress
disorder.
• The education of our nation’s veterans is a cost of war. A very small percentage of Americans have
stepped forward to serve our country through military service; they have earned the right to have a bright
future when they have completed their service. A G.I. bill that properly rewards honorable service is the
right thing to do. The estimated $2 billion a year needed for the program equals less than one week of
war in Iraq.
• Three former Presidents, a dozen U.S. Senators, three Supreme Court Justices and fourteen Nobel Prize
winners went to school on the G.I. bill. Under today’s Montgomery G.I. Bill, these same leaders would
receive only a fraction of the money necessary to get the same level of education

http://webb.senate.gov/pdf/factsheetgibill042508.pdf

For the life of me, I can not understand why our vets are seen on street corners and elsewhere.

This letter strikes at the heart of a nation that has not kept it’s promise in full to those that serve it.

Thank you Taters, for bring this up. I got an email from Wes Clark on this topic as well.

From her piece in Foreign Affairs, from the Nov/Dec 2007 issue…

Our brave soldiers who are wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq must receive the health care, benefits, training, and support they deserve. The treatment of wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center was a travesty. Those convalescing or struggling to build new lives after grievous injuries need an expanded version of the Family and Medical Leave Act to enable their families to provide the support they need. Beyond health care, it is also time to develop a modern GI Bill of Rights in order to expand professional and entrepreneurial opportunities as well as access to education and home ownership.

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20071101faessay86601-p20/hillary-rodham-clinton/security-and-opportunity-for-the-twenty-first-century.html