Pros And Cons Of The Montgomery GI Bill

The overarching goal of this assignment is to provide not only specifics to some of the proponents and distractors of the Montgomery GI Bill but to take a brief historical look at how the concepts and ideas of veterans benefits have changed in only a few generations. We are now at a time when most everyone at least on the surface supports veteran related issues and the term “military friendly” has been officially trademarked. We have even come to the point that if you disagree with policy decisions concerning military operations, you are in real danger of being labeled as someone who “hates the military” or “doesn’t support the troops”. We have went from opponents of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act to the passing of the “Forever GI Bill”

To even understand the journey to the passage of the MGIB, we must once again look back at our history to the original Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944; commonly known as the GI Bill of Rights. This bill itself was controversial during its time and hotly debated. Many of the opponents of the bill looked at it as an entitlement program for veterans. They argued that paying veterans $20 a month would eliminate their desire to seek further employment after their service. Another argument was that colleges and universities were reserved only for those who were wealthy and these battle-tested veterans certainly didn’t fit that mold. Despite the widespread disagreements, there was some consensus that something needed to be done to assist these veterans with their transition back into the civilian population. Interesting enough, we are still having those conversations today with our post-911 generations of veterans. Those in support of increasing veteran’s benefits saw this as an opportunity to right the wrong of how the veterans of 1932 were treated. The passage of The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 was lauded as a major win for veterans. According to the VA, “In the peak year of 1947, veterans accounted for 49 percent of college admissions. By the time the original GI

“Sonny” Montgomery Center for America’s Veterans, rewrote the original GI Bill and it became what was known as the Montgomery GI Bill. As someone who went to college under the MGIB, I can speak personally when I say if it hadn’t been for it, I may have never went to college. In fact, I almost missed my opportunity to pay into the GI Bill because I thought it was a waste of money that I would never use. At the time I entered the military, college was nowhere in my future and something I thought was not for me. Luckily I did put $100 a month into the program for 12 months and a few years later, I was able to attend college and graduate without taking out a single student loan and no assistance from my parents. Not only did I see the benefits personally for the MGIB, I have witnessed it assistance hundreds (maybe even thousands) of service members over my 26 years of military service. Now the MGIB bill pales in comparison to the post 9-11 GI Bill but it did provide for a monthly fixed payment for up to 36 months of benefits. While the bipartisan MGIB did pass both houses of Congress, it took seven years of effort and nearly two dozen hearings to make it