Hold Up On The Latest Military Scandal

The media has it and the politicians are weighing in, but there's something missing in the reporting:

National Guard Troops Denied Benefits After Longest Deployment Of Iraq War

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (NBC) -- When they came home from Iraq, 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard had been deployed longer than any other ground combat unit. The tour lasted 22 months and had been extended as part of President Bush's surge.

1st Lt. Jon Anderson said he never expected to come home to this: A government refusing to pay education benefits he says he should have earned under the GI bill.

"It's pretty much a slap in the face," Anderson said. "I think it was a scheme to save money, personally. I think it was a leadership failure by the senior Washington leadership... once again failing the soldiers."

Anderson's orders, and the orders of 1,161 other Minnesota guard members, were written for 729 days.

Had they been written for 730 days, just one day more, the soldiers would receive those benefits to pay for school.

Without getting into what's behind the formula for allowing benefits, I'd support a max in that regard - but how long is 22 months, the time they served? Even if each month had 31 days it would be only 682 days. So the issue isn't about how long they served, but for how long their orders were initially cut. According to a post here, were the orders cut for the 730 days they'd have gotten the benefits even if they only ended up serving 30 days in Iraq.

Now maybe that's the way it should be. But the details in this story appear to matter. And the reports I have seen don't go into them. Big MSM surprise.

Comments

[jordan]

Wasn't this the unit that wrote the "Halp We're Stuck in Irak" sign? Any connection?

[Dave Thul]

You are absolutely right on this. No one in the 1st BCT is claiming that we all served the 730 days, they are just pointing to the total time on orders that comes up to 729 in most cases. The regulation states that you have to actually serve 730 to qualify for the extra benefit.