The Transitioning Officer Part Three: The Education Route
This piece continues the Twitter based professional conversation between military leaders in the United States and faculty and students at Kings College in London.
The views expressed here are the author’s alone and do not reflect those of the US Army or the Department of Defense. Read the post and join the discussion on Twitter #CCLKOW.
This week’s CCLKOW is the third in our three part series about the role of the Company Grade officer in the transition process. Our focus in our final part is on the advanced education opportunities related to the post-9/11 G.I. bill and the importance of advanced education for the transitioning Army Officer. While the post-9/11 GI bill is not exclusive to the Army officer, this brief discussion focuses on this important part of transition from the Army officer perspective.
On June 30th, 2008, then President George W. Bush passed signed into law H.R. 2642, which became well-known among veterans as the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. The intent of the new G.I. Bill was to cover the majority of expenses related to the tuition costs associated with advanced education and provide a housing assistance stipend as well. The requirement to “pay in” $100 per month as was expected with the Montgomery G.I. Bill was removed and officers could earn the benefit in percentages based on the amount of time past their initial commissioning commitment. An added benefit of the program is that after 10 years of service, officers could elect to transfer their GI Bill benefit to a family member. The new G.I. Bill was introduced to help slumping recruiting efforts during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has been seen by many as an attractive incentive to serve.
This week’s discussion is focused on the education-minded transitioning officer. We’d like to examine the ways you’ve seen the post-9/11 G.I. Bill being utilized by transitioning officers in your units. Here are this week’s questions:
1) If you were to be approached by a transitioning officer who is considering an education route during his/her transition, how do you counsel them to make the best use out of this benefit?
2) Some “for-profit” schools have been in hot water lately over their targeting of veterans. Do you counsel your transitioning officers about these programs? What advice do you offer?
3) What advice do you offer to transitioning veterans who are considering transferring their G.I. Bill benefits to children/spouses?
