OPINION: Fulfilling the American promise for veterans’ families

The Post-9/11 GI Bill Transfer to Dependents is an educational assistance program enacted by Congress for individuals with active-duty service on and after Sept. 10, 2001, which can provide up to 36 months of financial educational benefits for themselves, their spouse, and/or their dependents. Recently in reference to this Post-9/11 GI Bill, the original intent that dependents could use their parent’s earned time to pay for postsecondary tuition and/or job training has been increased to also include foster and adopted children. However, it still has not been addressed that many service veterans’ children have been overlooked when this transfer of the Post-9/11 GI Bill was not completed via specific submitted forms, particularly when the parent or parents were on active duty.

Parents have commented on a recent military veterans’ blog that it is not fair that they should be penalized after full-time honorable service just because they chose to have children following their full military career. Additionally, children have been left out whose parent or parents did not realize that this transfer of the Post-9/11 GI Bill Transfer to Dependents had to have been filed “while they were on active duty” — specifically before retiring and/or being honorably discharged from service. When I discussed the matter with Veteran Affairs at my son’s college, they have mentioned that even several retired colonels, whose children should be eligible in terms of their years of service, cannot be considered for this benefit because the transfer papers were not filled out when the student’s parents were on active duty before their retirement from the military. In the past several months, I had the opportunity to visit with the head of a local ROTC high school program, and here in the Municipality of Anchorage, I also heard this now very unfortunately familiar story that the promise of this Post-9/11 GI Bill Transfer to Dependents was not recognized for his own family and the military families of many of his students.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill Transfer to Dependents could easily be changed by dropping the specific clause that the benefit must be transferred to dependents while on active duty. By omitting that clause “while on active duty,” more military dependents would benefit from the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the American government supported by its citizens would be fully honoring the intended commitment and keeping the promise, which reinforces moral integrity.

The new director of veteran services at Montana State University in Bozeman, Mr. Todd Bucher, mentioned to me in a phone conversation that his own family has also been affected by not being able to transfer the Post-9/11 GI Bill after retirement.

I encountered this same story the first year our son started attending college there. I spoke to Mr. Joe Schumacher, director of veterans services on the MSU campus, who was named Veteran of the Year in 2021 by Elks Lodge No. 463 in Bozeman, Montana, and who served as a tank gunner in the U.S. Army during the Iraq War (deployed 2005 to 2006). He informed me that his own family and the families of many of the students with whom he has worked at MSU Veteran Services also were not eligible for the tuition and housing benefit of the Post–9/11 GI Bill Transfer to Dependents due to the phrase “to be transferred while on active duty.”

This change to the bill would better honor the time and service given of those service men and women who have helped protect our country by making this jargon change to allow inclusion of all of their dependents by omitting the phrase “while on active duty.” It could also decrease the amount of student loan debt in our country by honoring the original promise, because there would be less need for student loans when all of the dependents of these service members receive educational financial support and not face the overhanging burden of debt of large student loans.

The idea of the American promise and its significance is that by honoring this U.S. government promise of the Post-9/11 GI Bill Transfer to Dependents of those who have served our country, it becomes a demonstration to the next generations that there is a high value placed on education and giving back to one’s community and country. It is also aligned with the core values of the Department of Defense, including duty, integrity, ethics, honor, courage and loyalty. Also, it reinforces the Air Force’s values of integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do, as well as the Army’s values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. In the Army’s first version of “Field Manual (FM) 100-1″ by General Bernard W. Rogers, chief of staff from 1976-1979, to formally address professionalism the core value of commitment is stated as “the Army must promote high quality-of-life support for soldiers and their families while requiring reciprocal dedication to service of each member.”

The offices of Alaska U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski have received prior letters requesting a change for the Post–9/11 GI Bill to eliminate the clause “while on active duty” and to get legislation underway to honor the American promise. The willingness to work across partisan lines on such new legislation would also show our next generation that cooperation, teamwork and perseverance can get positive results and achieve justice even in what can be a demanding legislative process.

Citizens must get involved and let their voices be heard. We do not stand alone, so I urge others to share your truths, write your own letters and raise your voices. As Thomas Jefferson said, “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”

Valerie Ekberg-Brown is a 35-plus-year educator, proudly born and raised in Alaska. She lives in Anchorage and expresses her appreciation to Carole Anderson of Anchorage and Keenan Miller of Juneau for help with ideas, editing and inspiration.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.