[Triggerhippie]

Veterans scorned by government?

I guess he never got his 10 point preference, GI Bill, or eternal heath care from Tri-care...

Nothing sadder than the "victim class."

[sarasmom]

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't.
I did not.
I served two terms.
I can not find a single point on which to disagree with the author, in this essay.

That you threw up a straw-man "argument" tells me many things about you.

Care to guess what those may be?

[Tailback]

I never used my 5 point preference until 7 years after working in the private sector. I didn't even need it then, I would have still got an interview without it.

I did use my GI bill (which I paid 1200 dollars into) which at the time was deductible from my federal student financial aid form. That means that given my particular financial situation, my 4 1/2 years in the Army were for naught because the monthly GI bill stipend would have been made up for by pell grants. Essentially, I got nothing in the way of financial aid for college that I wouldn't have recieved if I had stayed in my parents' house and smoked pot for 4 years.

I look forward to tricare when I turn age 60 (if I live that long) given the fact that I've put in nearly 20 years (it will be 20 on July 8 2007) into the Army and National Guard. I've served on 3 continents, during 3 wars, and I deserve my benefits.