Drexel University has committed $2 million to offer free education to an unlimited number of military veterans across all of the University’s full- and part time undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and professional programs, both on campus and online, as part of its participation in the new GI Bill’s Yellow Ribbon Program.
In the program, a partnership between the federal government and Drexel, the University will match the government’s contribution to the cost of an education allowing eligible veterans to attend Drexel with no out of pocket expenses. The federal government will pay up to the highest in-state school tuition, any remaining cost will be covered between the government and the University offering eligible service persons a free education.
Unlike other institutions participating in the new program, Drexel is among a small group of universities with no cap on the number of veterans who may enroll. The University’s contribution allows veterans who meet government and University admissions requirements to receive a completely free education at all of the University’s schools and colleges including the Drexel University College of Medicine, Earle Mack School of Law, Drexel at Burlington County College and the Sacramento Center for Graduate Studies.
The educational assistance in the new GI Bill, including the Yellow Ribbon Program, differs from the Montgomery GI Bill’s benefits by expanding the government’s financial commitment to educational assistance. The new program allows the government to pay each student’s costs directly to the University rather than requiring veterans to request a reimbursement, as in the original GI Bill. Other new educational benefits include monthly housing and textbook stipends.
“Drexel University will continue its long tradition of providing educational opportunities to military personnel, be it on one of our three campuses or in one of our 60-plus fully online degree programs” University Provost Mark Greenberg said.
“We are proud to be able to give back to those who have sacrificed so much to serve their country,” Greenberg added.
In addition to its 73 full-time undergraduate programs, 78 master’s programs and 32 doctoral programs, Drexel offers comprehensive online undergraduate and graduate programs through Drexel Online (www.drexel.com).
Drexel Online, winner of the 21st Century Best Practice Award for Distance Learning from the United States Distance Learning Association, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Drexel University, specializing in innovative, Internet-based distance education programs for working professionals and corporations in the United States and abroad Online degree programs include engineering, teacher education, nursing, library science and business administration.
The Post-9/11 GI Bill, passed by Congress last year, is the most extensive educational assistance program authorized since the original GI Bill was signed into law in 1944. The Yellow Ribbon program was authorized by Congress under the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 and will take effect August 1, 2009.
The Department of Veterans Affairs expects 460,000 veterans to participate during the first year of the program. VA officials anticipate a 20 to 25 percent increase in the total number of applications for veteran’s educational programs.
According to the VA, eligible veterans include those who served an aggregate period of active duty after Sept. 10, 2001, of at least 36 months or were honorably discharged from active duty for a service-connected disability and served 30 continuous days after Sept. 10, 2001.
For information on the new GI Bill and specific benefit questions contact the Department of Veterans Affairs at 1-888-GIBILL-1
For more information about Drexel’s on campus programs contact Drexel University at 800-2-DREXEL or enroll@drexel.edu or visit our website at www.drexel.edu
For more information about Drexel’s online degree programs contact Drexel Online at 877-215-0009 or info@drexel.com.
For more information about using your military benefits to fund a Drexel education contact Jeffrey Linskens, associate director, Student Resource Center, at 215-895-6413 or jeffery.r.linskens@drexel.edu
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Army News Service, June 29, 2009) — While the Base Realignment and Closure decisions of 2005 are causing upheaval for some families, help is available through the Department of Defense National Relocation Program, the Homeowners Assistance Program, and soon, the Expanded HAP, thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Besides standard Permanent Change of Station or PCS entitlements, the Department of Defense National Relocation Program provides relocation services, including a guaranteed home buyout process, to eligible DoD civilian employees so they can sell their homes at the prior-duty station and locate housing at the new duty station.
Its primary benefit, known as Guaranteed Home Sale, offers an alternative to the PCS reimbursement process. It also offers other valuable services such as the Home Marketing Incentive Payment, a financial-incentive-bonus payment that may be authorized for employees who successfully market their homes.
Since its inception in 1987, the relocation program has helped thousands of employees sell their homes through the Guaranteed Home Sale Program, rent their homes through the Property Management Program, and purchase or rent in a new town through Destination Services. The complete DoD National Relocation Program Handbook, revised December 2008, explains in detail the services available and the process required to obtain these services.
The traditional HAP program provides benefits for transferring Soldiers and civilian employees only when an economic impact study determines that the depreciation of home values is specifically linked to the closure of a nearby military installation, according to David Gage, chief of the National Relocation Program Office for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, “In that case,” Gage said, “HAP guarantees all or a portion of the difference between the price a property sells for and the estimated value of the property prior to the base closure announcement.”
Expanded HAP will help even more.
On May 14, Vice President Joe Biden announced DoD’s plan to add $555 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand the HAP to help offset the effects of the country’s struggling housing market.
“The recently passed economic stimulus program that expanded the HAP eligibility guidelines to provide some financial benefits for BRAC-affected servicemembers and civilian employees who sell their homes at prices less than their purchase price or less than the mortgage balance owed, without requiring any economic impact study,” Gage said.
This temporary expansion, which includes the payment of closing costs to transferring servicemembers and civilian employees affected by BRAC 2005, was possible through the efforts of the Army Family Action Plan committee members who played a positive role in reviving the PCS issue.
**SNIP**
“When the implementing guidance (from DoD) is issued, employees who are eligible for HAP benefits who have already sold their homes can still file for HAP benefits after the fact,” Gage said.
Employees who are or will be moving due to BRAC can use the DNRP for the home sale at current market value, and file for HAP benefits to provide any additional benefit (e.g., loss-on-sale or negative equity payments) for which they may be entitled.
The DNRP Web site, http://www.nab.usace.army.mil/dnrp.htm, includes info and a link to the HAP Web page.
The guidelines for eligibility for expanded HAP benefits are already established, and can be found at the HAP Web site: http://hap.usace.army.mil/
This is the third installation to the list of questions I wrote about in an earlier post. My friend had specifically asked me about injury or illness. We have all heard about the barracks creeping crud. It’s the infamous upper respiratory infection that seems to go around when you squeeze a ton of guys into cramped living quarters and work them to the point of exhaustion mixed with high stress. Mind you, we understand why it’s done, but wives, mothers, and girlfriends are going to worry. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.
I want to caveat this with a new question that arose the other day. I got a call and was told “He asked me to send him his multivitamins and his vitamin C. Should I send it?” To which I emphatically replied “Absolutely, positively, NO way!”
She felt she shouldn’t either, but wasn’t sure after her soldier’s request. She received the form letter that most BCT Companies will send out warning you to not send pornography, drugs, or OTC meds including vitamins. It’s hard to refrain from sending them something that would be obviously beneficial during a time of training and stress, but sending them could at the very least get him smoked. I advised her, as I do anyone who asks what to send their soldier during BCT, to send only letters and send them regularly. Send them on plain white paper with plain white envelopes and no “frilly” stuff scribbled on the outside. I am only going by the tales of soldiers getting to do a push-up for every bunny and smiley face on an envelope. Life is hard in BCT we need not make it worse.
So, with those added ideas out of the way, let’s tackle the question at hand. What if my soldier gets sick or injured during BCT or AIT?
Those opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have tried to discredit the military for the last seven years by making claims that recruitment standards are being relaxed in an effort to keep enough recruits going through basic training to keep the ranks full. BGen Angela Salinas, Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and the Western Recruiting Region, set the record straight in an interview with Military.com.
Formerly, a recruit who fails a drug test merited a 30-day postponement to allow the recruit to pass a new drug test. No longer. Fail a drug test now and the Corps isn’t interested.
The Marine Corps has zero tolerance for Marines who use illegal drugs. Now we’re expending that zero tolerance to our potential recruits. We don’t need those that have drug problems serving in the Marine Corps and possibly spread their addictions to those around them.
The Corps is also taking a harder line on tattoos. Too much ink, especially on a recruit’s forearms, could keep a potential Marine out of boot camp.
In short, if you’re serious about wearing the eagle, globe and anchor don’t even think about hitting that joint at the after-prom party and save the tattoos for well after your first combat deployment.
There was a time in the Marine Corps when it didn’t matter how many tattoos were decorating your body, but that time has passed. Marines have an image in the American mind that we must uphold. Would you be receptive to your son or daughter speaking to a Marine about possibly joining while he has ink up and down his arm? Not having tattoos on the forearms presents a much more professional appearance.
The most popular job in the Corps remains combat infantry – military occupational specialty 0311 – and that job has a lengthy wait, Salinas said.
“In the past, anywhere from 30 to 90 days was the average wait once you enlisted, if you are physically able,” Salinas said. “Now, if a high school graduate walks in the door right now, many [recruiters] don’t have a place for him until November or December.”
Another lie from the antimilitary camp is that young men are being forced into ground combat jobs. That is simply not true! I can’t tell you how many Marines I’ve talked to that WANTED to join the infantry, but couldn’t because all of their slots were full when the young man enlisted.
Recruiting Command is doing such a great job that a young man or woman that enlists today may have to wait until the end of the year to actually attend recruit training. If you’ve seen the size of a graduating company aboard MCRDs Parris Island and San Diego, you know that this much of a backlog is amazing. Even more amazing is Recruiting Command was able to complete mission for the month of June during the first week of the month!
I would love to see IVAW come out and attempt to refute how well Marine Corps Recruiting Command does their job in getting the best, brightest, and most highly qualified young men and woman to begin the journey to earn their Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. Their arguments are based on misinformation, twisting of facts, and all around illogical thought.
Tobacco use is pretty common within the military. Many service members have used from a young age while others start after joining. I was a half a pack a day smoker until two weeks ago and I’m proud to say that I’m doing a pretty good job at quitting. The decision to quit was my own, and my family and coworkers encouraged me for a long time before I made the decision to kick the habit. In the end, I had to quit for me and not anyone else. That may not be the case for many service members in the future. Emphasis below is my own.
DOD should gradually phase in a ban on tobacco use in the military, starting at military academies and officer training programs and among new recruits, the report says. DOD should also stop selling tobacco products in Army and Air Force commissaries — Navy and Marine Corps commissaries already do not sell them — and should stop selling them at a discount in military exchanges and other stores. In addition, Congress should allow VA to establish tobacco-free medical centers.
The report was requested by DOD and VA, who asked the Institute of Medicine to identify policies and practices that could lower rates of smoking and help soldiers and veterans quit.
The DoD and the VA asked for polices and practices to lower rates, not complete eliminate tobacco use from the military. In typical nanny-state fashion, the Institute said let’s just force them to quit and completely ignore the actual request from DoD! Those men and women in the military that are able to make life and death decisions on the battlefield are unable to make decisions regarding their own health. Let’s just force them to do what we want!
It gets worse. As if the military doesn’t have enough bureaucracy, we’ll add several more layers. Emphasis once again mine.
The Defense Department should set a date by which the military will be tobacco-free and require each of the four services to develop and enforce a timeline for achieving this goal, the report says. Recognizing that immediately banning tobacco use in deployed personnel is not realistic, the committee urged an incremental strategy, starting with closing the pipeline of new tobacco users entering the military. Smoking should be banned at military academies, and the current ban on tobacco use during basic training should be extended to include subseqent technical training. That ban could eventually be extended to all new enlistees, who would be informed during recruitment that they would be expected to remain tobacco-free during their entire military careers.
I really can’t imagine each service having the time, manpower, and funds to develop a timeline on banning the use of tobacco. Additionally, what makes anyone believe it is realistic to ban use in the states if it isn’t realistic to ban use in deployed areas? What effect would a ban on those who smoke from enlisting have on recruiting commands?
Even more worrisome is enforcement of this new ban. Do they plan to now test for cotinine during unit urinalysis? What would result from a positive test? I can’t see asking a Marine why he was subject to NJP and having him respond, “I smoked a cigarette.” It is complete absurd.
The issue that weighs the heaviest on my mind is free will. If I want to smoke or use dip as an adult, why can’t I? Tobacco is not an illegal substance as marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. Yet, we are going to put cigarettes in the same class as these illegal drugs, ban them from the military, and punish service members for breaking the ban?
In the defense of the DoD and the VA, encouraging service members to quit is the right thing to do. It is bad for your health, costs a ton of money for both the smoker and the military health system, and is an incredibly nasty habit. I support the military’s current methods of cessation and do not support any type of ban or limiting the ability to purchase tobacco on base. In the end, service members are more than able to make their own decisions concerning their health. The military is welcome to encourage them to make better decisions, but not require it.
The Story below hit the wire today. This is a long time coming, in fact it is about 37 years too late. I could never understand how CSMs could be commandants of NCO academies on military posts world-wide but we had an officer in charge of the Sergeant Major Academy. I don’t know if oxy-moron or conflict of interest are the right descriptions, but either way it was just wrong. I am glad to see it has been corrected.
FORT BLISS, Texas — The next commandant of the Sergeants Major Academy here will be an enlisted Soldier, breaking a 37-year tradition.
Command Sgt. Maj. Raymond Chandler is scheduled to take charge of the academy today. The school provides the Army’s highest level of education for noncommissioned officers.
It had been commanded by an officer since it was created in 1972, but Chandler’s appointment changes that.
"Having a command sergeant major in charge of the academy is just indicative of how much trust and faith we put in our noncommissioned officers," said Col. Donald Gentry, who commanded the academy for the past two years. "It also is indicative of how far noncommissioned officers have progressed in their education."
Gentry, described officers as "architects" who make the plans, and noncommissioned officers as "engineers" who get things done.
The change in command structure will be accompanied by a retooling of the school’s curriculum to provide enlisted leaders with a strategic understanding of battlefields, something that had been reserved for officers.
"As the complexity of this persistent conflict we’re in continues to grow, we as senior noncommissioned officers have to understand the bigger picture," Chandler said.
Urban battlefields faced by Soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world demand that leaders of squads and other small units be able to make quick decisions. The consequences of a bad decision can easily be recorded on a cell
phone and broadcast to the world, creating a propaganda opportunity for the nation’s enemies, Gentry said.
"It’s the complexity and speed of things," he said. "There’s no time to report, have a decision made somewhere else and then have that decision travel back down."
In the past, academy students, each with a decade or two of Army service, would gather to share their experiences. They were looking for problem-solving ideas not found in field manuals. In the future, the studies will be more academic with courses similar to those offered to Army officers, Gentry said.
Within three or four years, Gentry said, the academy should be providing master’s degrees.
"Not only will our graduates be able to speak the same language as their officers, they will be able to translate strategic and operational goals down to the Soldier," Gentry said.
In 1981, as the all-volunteer Army was establishing itself, the average educational level for a noncommissioned officers was eighth grade, Chandler said. Now, 94 percent of those who graduate from the Sergeants Major Academy have some type of college degree and more than 50 percent of those are bachelor’s or master’s degrees, he said.
"It indicates a willingness and understanding of how to learn," Gentry said. "Those are the traits that have made them the backbone of the Army."
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Those are the words to the preamble of the document that every single military member has sworn an oath to protect and defend “against all enemies foreign and domestic.” Lately, we’ve had about as many domestic enemies as we have foreign ones. This is not a partisan issue I’m about to discuss, it’s a constitutional one.
Yesterday, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill to regulate energy consumption in this country. The President said the bill would create jobs, make renewable energy profitable and decrease America’s dependence on foreign oil. What he didn’t say is that the bill would also result in a massive loss of jobs, tax hikes, and inflation.
If we truly wanted to “decrease America’s dependence on foreign oil” we would use more of our own! The government did not legislate the use of oil in the early 20th century when the combustion engine was developed to move people further, faster. It was a product of commerce and capitalism. Likewise, the use of more energy efficient means should not be a government mandate. If the people spoken of in the preamble I quoted earlier really want cleaner air, the market will dictate it. When the government gets involved, it creates a false demand which forces commercial industry to spend more money on a technology that doesn’t exist within a more combat timeframe.
This increase in research and development to meet government-imposed deadlines adds to the cost of these technologies making them unattainable by the masses. They then become unaffordable and disappear – or the government subsidizes them. By subsidizing an industry, taxes go up! You and I pay for that subsidy, it doesn’t just appear. By charging the so-called “polluters who currently emit dangerous carbon emissions” that you and I use, you and I will be paying more for it! Our power does not come from nuclear power or turbine water power. Most of it comes from coal power which means we’ll be paying more to turn on our reading lights, cook our dinners, and watch the non-stop Michael Jackson coverage!
Yes, this bill will create jobs in one segment of society – while it crushes and vaporizes jobs in another. Those mean, nasty oil companies that our government wants to eliminate are responsible for literally millions of jobs!
Today I went to the local weekly gathering to honor our troops – and oppose the wingbats across the street that think hugs and kisses can solve everything. It’s also the same place where the false WWII veteran resides each week.
But, today wasn’t like most weeks. The local Tea Party organizers had teamed up to protest the massive spending by our politicians in Washington who want to spend us into oblivion combating fake energy and health care “crises.” We’re all fed up and standing up for our rights. These people melted the phone lines in D.C. against this bill, but were ignored. Hopefully, the Senate isn’t as spineless and honors their obligations to represent states’ rights. Below is a video I took of the gathering today, though I probably walked a little more quickly than I should have.
Back in February, Troy and I interviewed Aron Gaudet, Director of the stunning documentary, “The Way We Get By.” When I redeployed, I came through Bangor, Maine. These people are true patriots and they deserve this recognition.
The movie opens in New York City at the IFC Center on July 17th, 2009 and I wanted to take a moment to remind you a little about it if you didn’t catch the interview.
The SXSW Special Jury Award winning The Way We Get By is a deeply moving film about life and how to live it. Beginning as a seemingly idiosyncratic story about troop greeters – a group of senior citizens who gather daily at a small airport to thank American soldiers departing and returning from Iraq, the film quickly turns into a moving, unsettling and compassionate story about aging, loneliness, war and mortality.
When its three subjects aren’t at the airport, they wrestle with their own problems: failing health, depression, mounting debt. Joan, a grandmother of eight, has a deep connection to the soldiers she meets. The sanguine Jerry keeps his spirits up even as his personal problems mount. And the veteran Bill, who clearly has trouble taking care of himself, finds himself contemplating his own death. Seeking out the telling detail rather than offering sweeping generalizations, the film carefully builds stories of heartbreak and redemption, reminding us how our culture casts our elders, and too often our soldiers, aside. More important, regardless of your politics, The Way We Get By celebrates three unsung heroes who share their love with strangers who need and deserve it.
This documentary will bring tears of joy, sadness, and patriotism to your eyes! The hardest thing in the world to hear is when that gentleman says, “My life doesn’t mean a whole lot to me, but if I can make it mean something to somebody else…that’s my endeavor.” He sort of sums up the entire movie right there.
I saw a sign on the Camp Lejeune 7 Day Store during a visit last fall that made me roll my eyes and wonder what they’ll come up with next. The sign had two messages, one I don’t quite remember, the second said, “say and speak my name correctly: Luh-jern.” I couldn’t believe it. Was someone really making a fuss on the correct pronunciation of Lejeune? Why in the world does this even matter?
By the time I finished shopping and left, I had forgotten all about the sign until last Wednesday when I attended the graduation ceremonies for Drill Instructor School aboard Parris Island, SC. The narrator would read off the prior assignment for each new Drill Instructor as they marched across the stage to receive their campaign cover. Each time a Marine from Camp Lejeune would cross the stage, the narrator pronounced it Luh-jurn. One of my friends sitting next to me nudged me and expressed the same feelings I had last fall when I saw the sign at the 7 Day Store. Why is it all of a sudden Luh-jurn and not Leh-june?
The Lejeune family, who are natives of Baton Rouge, La., prefer the French-Creole pronunciation and Brent said they “cringe” when they hear it pronounced otherwise.
“At all times, General Lejeune and his while family, for the last couple of hundred years have said Luh-jern,” he said. “To honor the man we should pronounce his name appropriately.”
Well, if the family of General Lejeune would rather me say Luh-jern, I guess I could do that. It’ll be a difficult change to make since all I’ve known for almost seven years is Leh-june. We’ll see if other Marines are able to break the habit themselves.
