The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)

57% of Military Personnel Who Signed Up Have Received Nothing - Average Net Payout to Veterans: Less than $2200

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June-July 2005 / Sam Diener and intern Jamie Munro / Peacework / AFSC -  The advertisements blare: Join the military and receive $70,000 for college! This bonus program, known as the Montgomery GI Bill - Army/Navy College Fund, is in reality, according to an August 27, 2004 press release from the US Army Recruiting Command, only available to those who qualify with high test scores, sign up for what the military deems "critical" military specialties (critical usually means hardest to fill and least desirable), and enlist for at least six years of active military duty. Approximately 95% of those who enter the military are not eligible for this maximum amount.

In fact, 57% of the veterans who signed up for the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) have never seen a penny in college assistance, and the average net payout to veterans has been only $2151. Primarily, the low average net is the result of the many military personnel who the Department of Defense (DoD) declares ineligible, and of the challenges faced by veterans trying to access the promised money even if they are eligible.

To be eligible for the MGIB, members of the military have to stay in for at least three years of active duty (except for a select few who qualify for a two-year active duty stint), and need to receive an honorable discharge. All enlisted military personnel are required to have $100 deducted from their salary for the first 12 months they are in the military to help pay for the program, unless they sign special forms opting out. This "deposit" is non-refundable. If the member of the military is later ruled ineligible (see below), they lose the $1200. The only circumstance in which the $1200 is refunded is if the enlistee dies on active duty. In that event, their next of kin will receive a refund.

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November 24, 2002 / Elaine Rivera / Washington Post - Christopher Schmitt is careful to protect his son from companies that want to give the teenager credit cards or sell him sneakers. So at this year’s parents night at his son’s Fairfax County high school, Schmitt was dismayed to see a new form in the usual stack of permission slips and reminders.

This one invited him to sign if he wanted his son’s name, address and telephone number withheld from the Pentagon. Otherwise, the information would be included in a directory of the school’s juniors and seniors that will be given upon request to military recruiters.

Schmitt signed the form — quickly.

“Most people probably missed [the form], and it’ll probably be too late,” Schmitt said. “There is a commodity with your consumer history. With the military, the commodity happens to be your children’s information. . . . Once there’s a point of entry, you don’t know where the information is going to go.”

High schools across the nation must provide the directory — what one school official called “a gold mine of a list” — under a sleeper provision in the new No Child Left Behind Act, which was enacted this year. Military officials pushed for it to counter a steady decline in the number of people who inquire about enlisting.