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15 Representative Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ), Chairman, Committee on Veterans’Affairs Representative Lane Evans (D-IL), Ranking Democratic Member, Committee on Veterans’Affairs Colonel Bob Norton, U.S.Army (Ret), Deputy Director of Government Relations, Military Officers Association of America 1987-Present— Effect of the Montgomery GI Bill: Creating a Recruiting and Educational Incentive SONNY’S SUMMARY Surveys consistently show the Montgomery GI Bill is the primary incentive to which military enlistees respond and that we continue to recruit youth of uniformly high quality. National study group reports of 1997, 1999, and 2001 all warned of the need for a strong military to protect the United States from attacks by rogue nations and international terrorist groups and the continued need for recruiting highquality youth into our military. Through legislation primarily sponsored by Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and “Jay”Rockefeller (D-WV), President GeorgeW.Bush signed H.R. 1291, the Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001, into law, including a record 46-percent increase in the Montgomery GI Bill over three years. House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle (R-IA) and Ranking Member John Spratt (D-SC) authored some $7 billion in direct-spending increases for this bill in the Congressionally approved FY 2002 Budget Resolution. In addition, from 2002 to 2004 alone, Congress made six major eligibility enhancements to the Montgomery GI Bill. Lastly, in 2008, Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) primarily authored legislation enacted into law that enhanced the Montgomery GI Bill’s purchasing power; and created a more generous “Post 9-11 GI Bill” for enlistees that included two original provisions from H.R. 1400, the proposed Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act of 1981. 15 Sonny’s Cast of Characters ACROSS THE AISLE 154 Rick Maze, Congressional Editor, Navy Times Jim Holley, Public Affairs Officer, House Committee on Veterans’Affairs Honorable George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States General Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S.Army Honorable Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States General John Shalikashvili, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Philip Odeen, Chairman, National Defense Panel Anthony Principi, Chairman, Congressional Commission on Service Members and Veterans Transition Assistance Honorable Gary Hart, Co-Chairman, U.S. Commission on National Security/ 21st Century Vice Admiral Patricia Tracey, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Nancy Gibbs, TIME Magazine Ed Elmendorf, Vice President, American Assn. of State Colleges and Universities Mike McGrevey, former Vice President, Mississippi State University Sonny’s Scene Setter An unsafe world, implementing the Montgomery GI Bill, and hoping to help make the world safer for all. 1987 Folks,the first three years of Montgomery GI Bill implementation saw continued enthusiasm for it as evidenced by high sign-up rates, including enlistees who scored in the upper quartiles on the Armed Forces QualificationTest. I was pleased the program was working,as these service members would soon be asked to appear on the world stage,indeed a dangerous place. 1988 The year 1988 was important because it was the first year of implementing the permanent New GI Bill program—now by law called the Montgomery GI Bill. Here are some excerpts from an article I wrote for the January/February edition of The Mariner,the magazine of the Naval Enlisted Reserve Association:1 “Since its beginning as a test program in July 1985, some 400,000 active duty recruits have signed up, in addition to 70,000 Guard and Reserve personnel… Our ‘All-Volunteer’ Force is actually an ‘all-recruited’ force.This New GI Bill has enabled the Armed Forces to open a previously untapped recruiting market— college-oriented young people… “… In FY 1980, before implementation of the Montgomery GI Bill, 52 percent of the Army’s non-prior service accessions were in the lowest mental category (IV). Contrast this with the four percent [emphasis in original] Category IVs being accessed during FY 1986.The number of high school graduate recruits increased from 54 to 91 percent during the same period. In addition, the percentage of higher mental category recruits grew from 26 to 63 percent.” Mr.Rick Maze wrote about the implementation of the Montgomery GI Bill in the March 21,1988,edition of the Navy Times:2 “The [Montgomery] GI Bill is giving the services people who might not otherwise have enlisted.‘I was going to try to save money for college anyway,’Army recruit Barbara Huntley of Toledo,Ohio,said,‘The GI Bill seemed to be a good way to...

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