Sequestration Hits Army Tuition Assistance

[d00ditsemily]

Earlier this week the Marine Corps moved to halt tuition assistance for new enrollees in response to the sequestration. On Thursday, March 7, 2013, the Army announced they will also suspend all tuition assistance enrollments

Comments

[alexvdl]

As I said, I haven't looked into either of those things in more than passing, but those are both concerns of service members that I have talked to. Cursory glance through Google does show human rights organizations with grave concerns as to how aid money is being given to Egypt and where it's being used, though. I'm aware that spending in one place, doesn't translate to loss of funding in other places,a nd that most of the times these projects ahve been on the backburner for months or even years, politics, etc. etc.

Regardless of where other money is being spent, this program being cut is a pretty big deal.

While I am well aware,that the sequester is the result of Congress continually failing to do their job, and the White House attempting to cudgel them into doing it, which Congress responded to with "Eh, whatevs", you have a large portion of soldiers, both junior and senior, who see this as a failing of the current administration. They saw 3.5 and 4.2 percent yearly pay increases, plenty of money for training and supplies, and a newly revamped GI bill under Bush, and are seeing 1.5 percent increases, motor vehicles not allowed to leave the motor pool, cancelled and extended deployments, and this TA thing now.

The realities of the situation and the causes there of are different, but the perception is of a White House that doesn't give a fuck about soldiers. The ones that are looking for sinister actions point to the "arms buildup" by DHS, and the fact that the President has yet to acknowledge the death of Navy SEAL Chris Kelly.

I reserve my anger for Congress, because, as you said, "Why did Congress let the sequester happen?" Also, "Why did we ever reach a place where the sequester was seen as a viable negotiating tactic?" And "What's being done by Congress to avert the government shutdown that will result in the next couple months if we don't pass a budget or CR?"