Letting Down Our Guard

Earlier this month we described the challenges many veterans face paying for college, because the GI bill benefits theyve earned through military service cover only about 75 percent of the average cost of attendance at a four-year public college or university, yet often make them ineligible for Pell grants or subsidized loan aid that could cover the remaining costs.

But one class of veterans gets an especially bum deal: men and women who serve in the National Guard and Reserves. The National Guard has borne an unprecedented share of the burden in the current Iraq conflict. Nearly 425,000 National Guard and reserve troops have served in Iraq or Afghanistan since September 11, and National Guard troops accounted for 46 percent of troops in Iraq in 2005. Even though National Guard and reserve soldiers are serving in the same theater, fighting the same fights, and risking the same injury and death as members of the active duty services, theyre eligible for far fewer educational benefits when they come home.

Education benefits are a key recruiting tool for both the active duty forces and the National Guard, but the benefits they receive are very different. To receive education benefits, active duty service members must contribute $1,200 out of their own pockets during the first year of their military service, and when they leave the service they are eligible for up to $1,075 a month in education benefits for up to 36 months. They have up to 10 years after exiting the service to take advantage of these benefits.

Members of the National Guard, in contrast, receive education benefits duringand only duringtheir term of National Guard service. They dont have to pay in up front, but the amount of education benefit they receive is far less than veterans of the active duty service get. Full-time students can receive $309 a month. If they leave the Guard or the reserves, they get nothing.

This system made sense before Iraq and Afghanistan, when the Guard was fulfilling its historical role of protecting the homeland and responding to natural disasters. Guardsmen and women could serve their country part time and get help paying for college while attending school. But with so many Guard units being called up to active duty14 of 38 brigades in 2005the pay for your education while you serve bargain doesnt hold up. Guard members cant use education benefits while theyre on active duty, but they also dont get any compensation for the education benefits they lose during that time. To continue getting benefits after their active duty service ends, they have to remain in the Guard.

Moreover, the heavy reliance on Guard forces in the current conflict has blurred the line between active duty soldiers and the Guard or reserve. Its fundamentally unfair that soldiers who bear the same burdens and face the same risks receive such different education benefit packages.

In 2004, Congress partially addressed this inequity by passing legislation offering more generous education benefitsup to $860 a monthfor Guard and reserve veterans who have served at least 90 days active duty since September 11. But its still not equitable, because veterans can get the benefit only as long as they remain in the Guard and reserves.

Several proposals currently in Congress would end the double standard for Guard and reserve veterans. Senator Jim Webbs (D-VA) Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, which expands educational benefits for all veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, would make National Guard and Reserve veterans who serve a total of two years active duty eligible for the same benefits as other veterans of the active armed forces. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) has also proposed legislation to help National Guard and Reserve veterans pay for school after their service ends. Thats a good start. Returning Guard and Reserve veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan should be eligible for one month of education benefits at the full active duty rate for every month they served active duty. And they should be able to keep those benefits even if they choose not to renew their Guard or Reserve commitments.

These proposals arent cheap: The total cost of Webbs bill is estimated at $5.4 billion a year. But thats modest compared to both the overall cost of the Iraq war and the sacrificesincluding severe personal injury and deaththat were asking Guard and Reserve personnel to make.

The Bush administration and congressional Republicans, who oppose education equity for National Guard veterans, claim Webbs bill would hurt active duty recruitment and National Guard retention. But we think the level of disrespect current double standards show our National Guard veterans at a time theyre making a huge active duty contribution is a substantial deterrent in its own right. Unlike President Bush, whose no-show Air National Guard placement got him out of Vietnam, todays Guard and Reserves are serving on the front lines in Iraq, and both they and our active duty forces deserve better thanks than current Montgomery GI benefits provide.