I am the VA Certifying Official at Ozarks Technical Community College and I have around 1100 veterans and semester after semester I have Veterans come into my Office from the Vietnam War through the Bosnia conflict whose GI Benefits have expired for multiple of reasons. And I want this practice of dictating when a Veteran needs to use their benefit for education eliminated. I have at least 1 or 2 homeless Veterans every semester want to try and use their benefit. If they could use their benefit they would be able to afford a place to live while they went to school and then they could get a job after to school to provide for them. Families would not feel the pressure of trying to use their benefits while raising their kids one of them could stay home or whatever and when the kids were of age they could use their education benefits. I also have a handful who paid in for their benefit but it is not available to them.
There are many complex Veterans issues but this one is simple, delete the end dates. I launched this weekend quietly on Facebook and we have over a 100 signatures and we are in 28 states. I have people working with VFW's in Texas and Florida. One person may not be able to make much of change but someone with many friends can. This is an election cycle and there is no better time to put the pressure on.
But I am emailing because I would like your organizations support in signing the petition and sharing on social media, promoting, and help reach over a million signatures. Once there is over a million signatures anyone who wants to go with me can help me hand deliver this petition to the Congress and the President. If anyone would want me to speak to their organization, church, employers, or group of friends. I will!
Below is the link and the text: Thank you for your consideration
https://www.change.org/p/john-
The problem is someone a long time ago decided there should be a time limit on when a Veteran could use their education benefits. Those were the days when most people only had one career or worked for one company. This was also the days when a soldier could leave the service and go into a career and retire from the career providing for his or her family.
Now in the last twenty years the Congress and the Presidents of multiple administrations have passed laws that have sent jobs overseas. Veterans have lost their jobs and many of them have not be able to access their earned benefit because the time had expired. Why does benefits for our Congressmen and Women along with our Presidents last a lifetime and men and women who risked their lives is given a time limit to use their benefit?
By ending the time limit forced upon the Veteran they will be able to use the benefit when it best suits them. When a Soldier becomes a Veteran they do not get to remove the scars and burdens they earned while serving this country . They carry them for life and so should their Educational Benefits. When a politician becomes a civilian the generally get a better paying job.
If you support our troops and Veterans then sign this petition to tell Washington to let the Veterans have their Education Benefits when they need them and to do away with end dates immediately because there are Veterans going to college without access to the benefits they earned.
My name is Dennis Peters a Gold Star Dad....
In honor of my Son SA Sgt Joseph M Peters K.I.A 10/06/2013.
