COLUMN: Government disappoints by cutting soldier tuition
Bravery, honor, loyalty and service; these are all qualities any member of the United States Army possesses.
They stand up and fight for the everyday rights most of us take for granted.
They sacrifice their normal routines to train, engage in combat and constantly put themselves in dangerous, life-threatening situations.
Meanwhile, we sit comfortably in front of our flat-screen televisions, snacking on bags of Doritos. Undoubtedly, these soldiers deserve recognition and respect for all they do for the nation.
Despite all they do for our country, the recent announcement of tuition assistance being withdrawn from soldiers who are newly enrolled in classes, suggests that recognition and respect for these remarkable men and women is hard to find lately.
These cuts will affect not only the Army, but the Army National Guard and Army Reserves.
I understand our country is facing many devastating budget cuts, known as sequestration. However, I feel this is simply no excuse to take away something so important from the men and women who fight so bravely for our nation on a daily basis.
Was this really the best place to take funding away from? Was there really no other way to side-step this drastic measure?
Stated in the driest way possible, this act is simply not fair. I may not know the ins-and-outs of government policies, or the nation’s financial avenues, but what I do know is making tuition assistance one of the casualties of sequestration is not wise.
When young individuals are looking to enlist, there is never any mistaking the fact that the Army provides substantial tuition assistance for soldiers.
This benefit is a major recruiting tool, and used to be on every pamphlet, commercial, brochure or magazine promoting the Army. Now, this promise is being ripped away.
These new cuts will impose extreme negativity on the lives of countless soldiers. Imagine how this affects college students that are in basic training right now.
Their hopes of avoiding student loan debt are crushed. Additionally, they are now missing a significant amount of college schooling for training that will not even benefit the funding of their future education.
Many older soldiers have been planning their lives around monetary assistance from the Army, and now, these plans stand as irrelevant.
Furthermore, overall morale will drop significantly once soldiers realize something previously guaranteed to them is suddenly gone.
Army men and women, as well as any other branch of the military, should be the last group of people to be affected negatively by sequester cuts.
These honorable people have done nothing but bravely support their country by enlisting in the Army, and now, they are being stripped of a promised benefit.
I do not think this was a sound moral decision, and it will most definitely decrease the number of men and women willing to enlist in the future.
Reach columnist Kathleen Serie at [email protected]
