Senate bill protects veterans in college during COVID-19 at home study

Senate passes emergency bill protecting GI Bill benefits as colleges go online

Stars and Stripes
By NIKKI WENTLING
Published: March 17, 2020

Rep. Phil Roe of Tennessee, the ranking Republican of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, introduced a bill last week that also would guarantee the housing stipends for student veterans remain unchanged during the outbreak.

Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Ranking Member Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., asks questions to witnesses during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020. Looking on at right is committee Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kansas.
CARLOS BONGIOANNI/STARS AND STRIPES

WASHINGTON — The Senate approved a measure late Monday that would ensure student veterans continue to receive full GI Bill benefits, even as colleges go online-only in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

GI Bill recipients rely on monthly stipends from the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay for housing, food and other bills. Those payments are higher for students who attend physical classes as opposed to online coursework. As classes began to move online last week to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, tens of thousands of student veterans faced the possibility of losing their benefits or seeing drastic cuts to their monthly checks.

The Senate approved an emergency fix by voice vote that would allow students to retain the amount of benefits they received when they started the semester. It gives the VA Secretary broad authority to ensure GI Bill benefits are distributed without interruption during national emergencies.
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Caldwell University has agreed to pay $4.8 million for defrauding veterans program

Caldwell University to pay $4.8M for defrauding veterans program

New Jersey Business
By: David Hutter
January 6, 2020

Caldwell University entered into an agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey to resolve an investigation dating back to 2013, according to Caldwell and the United States Attorney’s Office.

Between 2009 and 2013, Caldwell College had a contractual relationship with Ed4Mil, a company that provided on-line training courses to veterans in conjunction with Caldwell, Caldwell spokeswoman Colette Liddy told NJBIZ.

Unbeknownst to Caldwell’s board and cabinet, Ed4Mil personnel and a college employee engaged in a scheme to defraud the government, Liddy said. The college employee separated from employment with Caldwell before the scheme was discovered. A number of people from Ed4Mil, including its principal, and the former Caldwell employee have pleaded guilty to criminal charges, she said.

Liddy said the board of trustees and the cabinet of Caldwell University have denounced this conduct and along with the administration are truly sorry for what occurred. Caldwell University cooperated with the government throughout its investigation, she said.

“Caldwell has been committed to making restitution to the United States on behalf of the veterans of our country by returning all of the money that the University was paid under the Ed4Mil contract,” Liddy said. “To that end, as part of the agreement with the United States Attorney, Caldwell has agreed to pay $4.8 million, representing the funds Caldwell received under the contract with Ed4Mil. Since becoming aware of the misconduct in August 2013, Caldwell University has developed new policies and procedures to ensure that this type of conduct will not happen again.”

From Jan. 1, 2011, through Aug. 8, 2013, Caldwell University submitted false claims for payment to the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to receive education benefits and funds pursuant to the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act (Post 9/11 GI Bill) to which it was not entitled, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. He also stated that the post 9/11 GI bill was designed specifically to help veterans who served in the armed forces after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
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U.S. Court of Appeals rules GI should not have been billed for benefits

VA Wrongly Denied Some Veterans' GI Bill Benefits, Judges Rule

Military.com
By Patricia Kime
5 Sep 2019

McHugh could not say how many veterans may be affected by the ruling but believes if a service member "served six years and three of those were Post-9/11, you should qualify for both, if you paid into the Montgomery GI Bill."

A panel of Department of Veterans Affairs judges has ruled in favor of a veteran who petitioned to receive full education benefits under both the Montgomery and Post-9/11 GI Bills, a decision that, if allowed to stand, could expand the payout for thousands of eligible veterans.

In a decision published last month, two of three judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims ruled the department erred in denying a benefits claim filed by a former soldier with "split time," having served as an enlisted soldier and later returning to the service as an officer.

The veteran, identified as "BO" in the suit, served in the military during several distinct periods, from 2000 to 2002 as an enlisted soldier; from 2004 to 2005 as a member of the Army National Guard; and from 2007 to 2011 as a commissioned Army officer.

BO paid into the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) as an enlisted soldier and qualified for the maximum benefit through military service. He also was eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill through his service.
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VA’s failure to appoint an accountable official to lead implementation of GI BIll

Report blames lack of leadership at VA for Forever GI Bill implementation failures

The San Diego Union-Tribune (TNS)
By Andrew Dyer
Mar 23, 2019

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs failed to modify its electronic systems and lacked an accountable official to oversee implementation of the Forever GI Bill, resulting in a bungled introduction last year that affected thousands of college students, a new report from the agency’s inspector general says.

The Forever GI Bill, the widely used name for the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017, was approved unanimously in Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in the summer of 2017.

The law changed how education benefits are applied for veterans, revising the formula that determines students’ stipend amounts and removing a 15-year expiration date included in the previous version of the law.

However, beginning in August, the VA’s system could not handle the intricacies of those changes in more than 400,000 claims, the report said. The result was that some students were underpaid and, in some cases, not paid at all.

In November, the VA decided to delay full implementation until Dec. 1, 2019.

According to the inspector general’s report, the VA’s failure to appoint an accountable official to lead implementation of the program resulted in “unclear communication of implementation progress and inadequately defined expectations, roles and responsibilities of the various VA business lines and contractors involved.”

Additionally, investigators found that the VA’s Office of Information and Technology and the Veterans Benefits Administration Education Service did not agree on how to solve problems once they arose.

Investigators found a 10-month gap from the time the Forever GI Bill became law and when the VA received the computer software to implement it. During those months, the VA worked with contractor Booz Allen Hamilton to develop the program.
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After VA GI Bill scam, jail next mission for ex-VA employee

11 years in jail for ex-Veterans Affairs official in disabled vet fraud scheme

WTOP News
Valerie Bonk
February 18, 2019

WASHINGTON — A former U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs official has been sentenced 11 years in prison for a $2 million bribery scheme involving a program for disabled military veterans.

James King, 63, of Baltimore, previously pleaded guilty to one count of honest services and money wire fraud, one count of bribery of a public official and one count of falsifying records to obstruct an investigation, authorities said in a news release.

King was sentenced Friday to serve 132 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and to pay $155,000 in restitution to Veterans Affairs.

Three school owners and employees, who admitted to bribing King, were sentenced last week.

Albert Poawui, the owner of Atius Technology Institute, was sentenced to serve 70 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution.

Sombo Kanneh, Poawui’s employee, was sentenced to serve 20 months in prison and ordered to pay $113,000 in restitution.

Michelle Stevens, the owner of Eelon Training Academy, was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $83,000 in restitution.

“James King and his associates exploited an important VA program that provides valuable services to our disabled military veterans,” said Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski in a release. “This prosecution once again demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to hold accountable those who seek to defraud government programs for their own personal enrichment.”
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Veterans College Bills part of the broken deal still

UPDATE 11/20, 2018

Veterans Affairs unexpectedly canceled overtime work to address GI Bill claim backlog

UPDATE: Can someone please update POTUS on what has happened to the GI Bill? This is from Stars and Stripes

Trump also said his administration has improved access to education benefits for veterans. 

Read the rest for yourself. It is too depressing to know the rest of the story.

It appears that reporters forgot how to LOOK UP WHAT THEY ALREADY REPORTED ON!

Veterans Affairs official reassigned after House hearing over delayed GI Bill benefits

NBC News
By Phil McCausland
November 14, 2018

A House committee will hear testimony Thursday from Department of Veterans Affairs officials over delayed GI Bill payments potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of veterans. NBC News reported Sunday that computer problems at VA have caused GI Bill benefit payments covering education and housing to be delayed for months or never be delivered, forcing some veterans to face debt or even homelessness.

On Wednesday, one of the key witnesses called to testify from VA was reassigned by the federal agency to a regional office in Houston, multiple officials told NBC News.

Robert Worley, executive director of Education Service of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), based in Washington, has been appointed to serve as the executive director of the VBA’s Houston regional office, according to two sources close to the VA and an email reviewed by NBC News.

Molly Jenkins, a spokeswoman for Republicans on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, confirmed Thursday that Worley would be departing his current position to lead the VBA office in Houston.
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*******

Well, that is the way NBC reported it.  It turns out that way back in 2008, there was another report about President Bush signing the GI Bill too. In that report the "overhaul" was a long time coming.

"And, for the first time since the Vietnam War, there will be a completely free veterans' education benefit program that pay enough to fully cover the cost of getting a four-year college degree."

According to followup reports, it was going to cost and additional $100 billion over the following ten years. There were reports that "state by state benefits"were not consistent. 

By 2009, a famous student named Clay Hunt, was among those waiting for checks to pay tuition and housing, so while attending Loyola, he used $4,000 on his credit card, while the school was owed $6,000 for tuition and he owed $1,700 for housing and books.

You may remember the name Clay Hunt because Congress passed a bill in his name. The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act, because that is how his story ended. President Obama signed that one in 2015.

Back to the GI Bill, in 2009, the VA was looking for a contractor to help process claims. In 2011, 55,000 veterans were waiting for their claims, and history was repeated all over again. And in 2012, more of the same.

Senator Bernie Sanders was trying to get answers on if anyone bothered to figure out how to pay for the benefits they voted to deliver on.

Just as reporters seem think that forgiveness of Student Loans for totally disabled veterans is something new, it isn't, they seem to have forgotten that nothing that veterans face is new at all, even though it may be "new news" to reporters.

In 2015, benefits were cut for a disabled veteran in Denver, and then he was given a list of homeless shelters in the area. Why? Because he was attending gunsmith classes. No one told that before he moved into Denver to start school.

Oh, but it got worse because in 2016, the Senate voted to cut the benefits, they were still having a hard time paying out in the first place.

College Veterans Benefits Not Being Paid Still!

Veterans haven't received GI Bill benefits for months due to ongoing IT issues at VA

NBC News 
By Phil McCausland 
November 11, 2018

"I’m about to lose everything that I own and become homeless. I don’t want to be that veteran on the street begging for change because I haven’t received what I was promised."

U.S. War veterans salute during the Veterans Day parade in New York on Nov. 11, 2017.Eduardo Munoz / Reuters file

Shelley Roundtree departed the U.S. Army in 2013 after seeing friends and fellow soldiers die in combat during his tour in Afghanistan. He was committed to transitioning to civilian life, and one of his first steps was to enroll in college with tuition and housing benefits he'd earned under the GI Bill.

Roundtree, 29, began studying marketing at Berkeley College in Midtown Manhattan. He dreams of working in the fashion industry, and he's close to graduating — but now there's a serious obstacle.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is suffering from a series of information technology glitches that has caused GI Bill benefit payments covering education and housing to be delayed or — in the case of Roundtree — never be delivered.

"I’m about to lose everything that I own and become homeless," Roundtree said. "I don’t want to be that veteran on the street begging for change because I haven’t received what I was promised."

Without the GI Bill's housing stipend, Roundtree was kicked out of his apartment and is now living on his sister's couch, miles from school, where he feels like a burden on his family. The new living situation required him to move all his belongings into a storage container, which he can no longer afford. Now all of his possessions are in danger of being auctioned off by the storage facility.

"It’s just confusing," said Roundtree. "Who is there for us? Who is representing us? Who is helping us? Who is doing what they need to do to better the situation for veterans?"
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VA sending veterans into debt with GI Bill

VA owes veterans housing allowances under the GI Bill, forcing some into debt
NBC News
by Phil McCausland
Oct.07.2018

“You can count on us to serve, but we can’t count on the VA to make a deadline,” one veteran said.

If Jane Wiley and her husband Ryan Wiley, both retired Marines, don’t receive the housing allowance they get through the GI Bill by November 1, she expects that they will run out of money for food and rent. The two former Marines would also have to stop attending school if they can't afford childcare for their two kids.

The Wiley family is not alone. Because of a software issue, the Department of Veteran Affairs is struggling to pay student veterans the housing allowance and other benefits provided to them via the GI Bill.

"The VA said the problem currently stems from an IT problem caused by changes to the law when President Donald Trump signed the Forever GI Act last year. New standards for calculating housing stipends were to be implemented on August 1, but it caused “severe critical errors” during testing that “resulted in incorrect payments,” VA spokesman Terrence Hayes said."

The federal agency has paid some veterans too much, too little, or nothing at all. It is up to two months late on payments in some cases, forcing potentially thousands of former service members to spiral financially.

“It’s just another example of how the VA, in this capacity, does not have their s--- together, and that comes from the very top.” Jarid Watson

Wiley’s family was depending on those checks and included them in their monthly budget. Without them, they instead have a handful of maxed out credit cards and no expectations of when they might be paid.

NBC News spoke to 10 veterans who had to borrow money from family, take out loans, or open new credit cards — and watch their bank accounts trend steadily toward zero — because their payments were delayed.

“People are homeless and starving because they can’t rely on getting their benefits,” said Wiley, who left the Marines in June 2016 and now serves as a reservist in the Air Force. “If it means making [VA] employees stay all night, then get it done because it’s better than putting families in crisis.”

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VA (DEA) program will be reduced from 45 months to 36 months

Changes coming to Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance program

Department of Veterans Affairs

July 3, 2018

Effective August 1, 2018, the entitlement available under the Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance (DEA) program will be reduced from 45 months to 36 months, but in October, the monthly allowance for eligible recipients will increase.

These changes, part of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017, aka “Forever GI Bill,”were passed by Congress last summer.

The DEA program offers education and training opportunities to eligible dependents of Veterans who are permanently and totally disabled due to a service-related condition, or of Veterans who died while on active duty or from a service-related condition.

DEA benefits may be used for degree and certificate programs, apprenticeships and on-the-job training.  Surviving spouses-can use benefits for correspondence courses and remedial, deficiency and some approved refresher courses.

What you need to know now:

• If you’re already taking classes, or will start taking classes by July 31, 2018, you remain eligible for up to 45 months of education entitlement benefits
• Beginning Oct.1, 2018, all students will see a significant increase in the monthly benefit

Eligible DEA recipients will be entitled to a monthly allowance of:

• $1,224 for full-time coursework, compared to $1,041 currently as of Oct. 1, 2017
• $967 for three-quarter time coursework, compared to $780 currently as of Oct. 1, 2017
• $710 for half-time coursework, compared to $519 currently as of Oct. 1, 2017

These increases go into effect Oct. 1, 2018.

To find out more about DEA benefits, please visit the DEA page on our website.

Call us if you have questions!

If you have further questions about your entitlement or eligibility, please call 1–888-GI-BILL-1 (1–888–442–4551). If you use the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD), the federal number is 711. You can also visit the Forever GI Bill website at FGIB website.

As always, be sure to follow us on Facebook and on Twitter at @VAVetBenefits. These give you quick and helpful updates.

Deployment didn't stop Air Force Sergeant from College Graduation

Air Force sergeant graduates college via Skype
WGRZ News
Jeff Preval
May 14, 2017

"First, I would like to thank President Conway-Turner, as well as, the faculty and staff of Buffalo State," Winters said. "I would also like to thank my family, as well as my wonderful fiancee Kathleen Peterson and her family who is attending the ceremony here today, tomorrow we'll begin a new challenge taking on the world head on."

BUFFALO, NY - Some very special accommodations were made Saturday morning so a Buff State senior, who is abroad serving in the military, could graduate on time.

U.S. Air Force Sergeant Adam Winters, who's from Rochester, was deployed to Southwest Asia three months ago, as he began his final semester at Buff State. Winters is an aerial port specialist, loading cargo and passengers onto military aircraft. The deployment meant Winters would have to take online courses abroad, so he could graduate on time.
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"Friend to all, protector of the weak" lost his life to suicide

‘Hidden wounds’ claim USCB student, warrior — and a friend
Island Packet
BY BRIAN VOSICKY
Special to the Packet/Gazette
April 4, 2016

He was a friend to all and a protector of the weak.

Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/community/beaufort-news/bg-military/article142544299.html#storylink=cpy

About a year and a half ago, I wrote a column for this newspaper about my experiences with PTSD and how the University of South Carolina Beaufort Sand Sharks Veterans club helped unite fellow service members who may be struggling to cope with civilian life.

I spoke about how the deepest wounds can be the ones that are unseen, and that many aren’t fully aware of the severity of the problem until it is too late to act.

On March 31, Benjamin “Nick” Becker, 36, a U.S. Army combat veteran, a USCB student, SSV member, and my friend, succumbed to his hidden wounds and took his own life.

Nick was loved tremendously by all who knew him. Known best for his witty sense of humor and Cheshire-cat grin, he was always a bright light in the room. People naturally gravitated toward his magnetic charm. He was incredibly intelligent, compassionate, fearless and had a true warrior spirit.

Nick was one of the first friends I made at USCB.
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Three Tour PTSD Veteran's Service Dog Not Welcomed at University North Texas?

Disabled veteran’s service dog kicked off UNT campus
CW33 News
BY JAKE YOUNG
APRIL 1, 2017

"I will risk my education, career to make sure this will not happen to another disabled veteran or disabled person." Tawan Throngkumpola

DENTON -- "This is probably the least disabled veteran friendly school in the nation right now," Tawan Throngkumpola told NewsFix.

Throngkumpola thought his toughest battles were behind him: three tours of duty, IED explosions, and even homelessness. Now, he's being told his service dog isn't allowed on campus at the University of North Texas, where he's a student.

"I kept reading, 'We're upholding these actions.' But no reason why," Throngkumpola said.

The letter came Friday at 5:01 p.m., closing the door on an appeal of a ruling from November. The original ban for his service dog, Cali, listed five incidents of her being aggressive but not actually harming other people.

Throngkumpola says it was out of nowhere, "We got blindsided that day."
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Vietnam Veteran Joins Phi Kapa Sigma Faternity

Fraternity initiates Vietnam veteran
Indiana Daily Student News
Larmie Sanyon
February 20, 2017

After returning from the Vietnam War, Army Col. Gregg Hammond said he struggled to integrate back into society because he felt alienated. Since serving in Vietnam and eventually Iraq, Hammond said he learned how to cope with society, both as a veteran and a citizen. When Phi Kappa Sigma initiated him Saturday, Hammond said he had an opportunity to share his experiences with a young group of people.

Retired Army Col. Gregg Hammond, right, was initiated into the fraternity Phi Kappa Sigma on Saturday. DOMINICK JEAN

Hammond, a native of Peru, Indiana, graduated from IU in 1979 and served about 33 years in the Marines and Army. Sophomore Jake Olson, the fraternity’s president, said the 167-year-old initiation kept with traditions at Bryan Room in the IMU.

The standards and traditions reminded Hammond of the Army after he retired in 2009.

“I started to research it after I retired and I found the values of Phi Kappa Sigma to be almost identical to the Army’s core values.” he said.

The fraternity’s local chapter, the Delta Pi chapter, recognized the colonel by initiating him along with 14 other young men in their winter class. Hammond said he never had an opportunity to join a fraternity while at IU or any other institutions, but he remembered one of his classmates being a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma and 
enjoying his experience.
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University of North Texas Veteran Kicked Off Campus After Service Dog's Bad Behavior?

Veteran's service dog kicked off UNT campus because it was 'direct threat'
Dallas Morning News
Claire Z. Cardona

A veteran and student at the University of North Texas is worried about whether he will be able to continue his education there after his service dog was kicked off campus, KTVT-TV (Channel 11) reported.

Tawan Throngkumpola, who served in the Navy for 12 years and survived three IED blasts and three traumatic brain injuries, is pursuing a psychology degree at UNT, the station reported.

His service dog stays by his side, reminding him to take his anti-seizure medication and keeping him calm.

Recently, Throngkumpola told KTVT the university sent a letter saying his service dog is no longer welcome on campus or in his dorm because she is "a direct threat to the campus community."

The university cited several complaints including that the dog barked, lunged at students and staff and bit the Office of Disability Accommodation director on his hand and heels. Two professors also said the dog startled students and disrupted classes.
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Without Warning Senate Votes To Cut Veterans Education Benefits

Vets Group Criticizes Senate Panel Vote to Curb GI Bill Housing Aid
Military.com
by Brendan McGarry
May 13, 2016

"In a normal process, they would have published a schedule and in two or three weeks time, we're having a hearing to mark up this particular bill,'" Jonathan Schleifer, the organization's chief policy officer, said on Friday during a telephone interview with Military.com.

"This was done certainly without any notice or warning."

A veterans group is criticizing a key Senate veterans committee for voting to curb the GI Bill housing allowance.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America on Thursday issued a statement blasting the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee after members approved omnibus legislation that would reduce by 5 percent the Post-9/11 GI Bill housing allowance to pay for other veterans programs.

"As Congress quietly passed another bill cutting veterans education benefits, veterans are stuck having to beg for the benefits we earned," IAVA Chief of Staff Allison Jaslow said in a statement. "We fought hard eight years ago to get the Post-9/11 GI Bill passed and we will not quit fighting until Congress protects the benefits being earned on the battlefield as we speak."

The Senate committee, headed by Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Republican from Georgia, during a hastily convened session on Thursday afternoon unanimously voted in favor of the legislation, known as the Veterans First Act.

The circumstances surrounding the vote also drew criticism from IAVA officials.
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Vietnam Veteran Remembers Nong Son Mountain

Vietnam Veteran Considered Guardian Angel 
Rutgers University 
By Robin Lally 
Monday, April 25, 2016

A War Memory

One incident of the war that will always be seared in Taylor’s memory: A lieutenant ordering the troops to fire on a low hill at the enemy. The round came in short, hit directly behind Taylor, killed his assistant gunner and wounded four others. A few months later, the same officer ordered Taylor to fire artillery through what he considered to be friendly villages. Taylor refused. “It was all about morality,” said Taylor who faced being court-martialed for disregarding the order of an officer and cancelling the mission. “It was something I knew I shouldn’t do and that’s all there was to it.”

Photo: Courtesy of Ray Taylor Ray Taylor in Vietnam in 1967.

“I found out many years later that if we hadn’t fired the artillery when we did nobody would have survived the attack,” said Taylor, who was with Bravo Company 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division. Of the 62 troops atop Nong Son, 43 were wounded, 13 were killed and only 12 – including Kuchar – could walk.

It was Ray Taylor’s last patrol in Vietnam, just before midnight on July 3, 1967. The 21-year-old Marine sergeant should have been sleeping, but he was going home in a couple of weeks and felt a little wired.

About a mile and a half away on top of the Nong Son Mountain – the site of the only active coal mine in Vietnam – Marine Corporal John Kuchar was asleep in his bunker when he became involved in the bloodiest battle of his 13-month tour.

Kuchar credits Taylor, a Rutgers University-Newark alumnus, for saving his life. Taylor is among the thousands of Rutgers graduates who have served – and sometimes died – in American military conflicts throughout the university’s nearly 250-year history. He has recorded his experiences as part of the Rutgers Oral History Archives, home to one of the nation’s largest collections of personal accounts.

“If it wasn’t for Ray, I wouldn’t be here,” said Kuchar, a Marine in the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Division, and a buddy for almost 50 years, who met Taylor in 1968 after the two had left Vietnam and enrolled in Union County College. “I’ll always consider him to be my guardian angel.”

Taylor, who graduated from Rutgers University-Newark in 1971 with a degree in economics, arrived in Vietnam on June 14, 1966 after serving one tour in Guantanamo Bay. His jobs ranged from a machine-gunner, scout and sniper, to commander of the recon platoon and liaison at the division headquarters.

On the night of the attack at the mine, Taylor and another Marine in his reconnaissance platoon were sitting on top of an observation hill located on the other side of the Song Thu Bon River. Recon’s job is to be the eyes and ears of larger units, to find the bad guys before sending in the infantry, and going on to their next patrol.
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Homeless Veteran Booted From College Campus Because of How He Looked?

Headline Homeless vet, student booted from PHSC campus files grievance 

"José Antonio Hernandez, 41, told officials he is a homeless veteran living at a residential center in New Port Richey paid for by the Department of Veterans Affairs while attending classes at the college through VA benefits. Describing himself as “scruffy,” he said he is being discriminated against because of his appearance."

And this is the homeless veteran trying to make his life better by going to college.

“I will remind you at this point that I am a registered student attending classes and have only had to endure this treatment because of the ‘way I look,’ ” Hernandez says in the grievance. 

Professor Turned Into The Nanny For 4 Month Old

Watch: Professor Holds Former Marine’s Fussy Baby During Class
The Blaze
Carly Hoilman
Mar. 26, 2016

“Taking care of others in a time of need, and even in not a time of need, just loving and caring about others — that God’s purpose,” Dr. Darryn Willoughby

Full-time wife, mother and college student Katy Humphrey found herself in a predicament last week when the babysitter she hired backed out last minute. Humphrey, a former Marine, was counting on the sitter to watch her 4-month-old daughter, Millie, while she attended class at Baylor University.

Knowing that missing class was not an option, Humphrey quickly began brainstorming solutions.

“I had the Marine reaction, since I was in Marine Corps — I have to pull through somehow,” she told KWTX-TV.

So she placed her baby girl in a carseat and headed to class.

“I was thinking, ‘well I hope I can balance both,’” Humphrey said.

She didn’t however, think of what she’d do if Millie got fussy. And that’s exactly what happened.

But instead of getting frustrated at the student who decided to bring a wailing infant to class, the professor, Dr. Darryn Willoughby, went over to Humphrey and offered to help comfort Millie.

“Within the first five minutes Millie got fussy,” Willoughby, the Associate Professor of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation and the Director of Exercise and Biochemical Nutrition Laboratory at Baylor, told KWTX-TV. “So I just went over, picked her up, carried her back, and went right back to lecturing without missing a beat.”
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DeVry University Suspended?

VA suspends DeVry University from a key veterans program
Washington Post
Danielle Douglas-Gabriel
March 14, 2016

The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday suspended DeVry University from participation in a program that identifies schools doing a good job of serving former troops, in light of a federal lawsuit accusing the for-profit chain of misleading consumers about the employment and earnings of its graduates in advertisements.

The agency is taking action after reviewing a Federal Trade Commission case against the school filed in January, VA spokesman James Hutton said in a statement. The lawsuit alleges that DeVry deceived consumers about the likelihood of finding work, with claims that 90 percent of its graduates seeking employment land jobs within six months of graduation. DeVry is under threat of losing access to federal financial aid from the Education Department if it fails to pull those advertisements and notify students of its inability to substantiate the claims.
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USF Got $71 Million for PTSD Research But Failed Own Student?

USF received millions in the last "five years" for PTSD research but has yet to learn how to help veteran students with PTSD?

"USF has also received about $71 million over the past five years to develop cutting-edge PTSD treatments and other programs for veteran rehabilitation and reintegration into society."

Troubled veteran must serve sentence before re-enrolling at USF
Tampa Tribune
By Anastasia Dawson
Tribune Staff
Published: December 3, 2015

TAMPA — Qadratullan “Shawn” Hassan sat quietly by himself Thursday, listening to reasons a man he feared would kill him should be given a second chance at graduating from the University of South Florida.

A number of mental health experts say Clay Allred is ready to be reintegrated into USF, a judge says, and the court might even provide him an escort on campus.TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO

Hassan, 29, was working at a gas station and convenience store just steps from USF’s Tampa campus when former Army Staff Sgt. Clay Allred, 30, told the Muslim clerk, “I don’t like you people,” urinated on the store’s floor and fired his handgun into the air repeatedly.

Hassan said he has sympathy toward the man, who has suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a traumatic brain injury from a car crash.

Yet Hassan said the experience has given him nightmares of his own and was relieved USF’s Board of Trustees appeared to stand firm on its decision to keep Allred out of school until he finishes serving his sentence for the crime.

“It was a hate crime, and if it was a civilian I wouldn’t have taken it so bad, but it was a veteran and that hurt my heart,” Hassan said. “At that moment, I thought my life was over and I was just asking God for a miracle.”

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Gregory Holder told USF’s thirteen trustees Thursday that Allred, a decorated veteran and former U.S. Army Green Beret, has made considerable progress with help from Holder’s Veterans Treatment Court.

Through veteran’s court, Allred has completed therapy for both PTSD and alcoholism. A number of mental health experts say Allred is ready to be reintegrated into USF, Hiolder said, and the court might even provide him an escort on campus.
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