Schumer wants equal benefits for all troops

[maddezmom]

KINGSTON - U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer says troops in the military reserves and National Guard are no longer part-time soldiers and deserve the same compensation as active-duty forces.

Schumer, D-N.Y, told a crowd of about a dozen people, including reporters, at American Legion Post 150 in Kingston on Monday that he will introduce a bill after the Senate returns to session next week to bring benefits for troops in the reserves and National Guard in line with those of active-duty soldiers.

Schumer said the roles of these groups have changed and that they are shouldering much of the burden in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 500,000 Guard members and reservists have served in active duty since Sept. 11, 2001, and about 88,500 are currently deployed, he said.

"They got shot with the same bullets that the enemy shoots," Schumer said. "Yet when they come back home, the benefits are totally different."

For instance, Schumer said a reserve soldier attending school receives a stipend of only $297 per month, while an active duty soldier receives $1,097. Also, he said, 18 percent of disability claims filed by Guard members and reservists are denied compared to only 8 percent filed by active-duty soldiers. These discrepancies aren't a conscious effort to slight reservists, but an indication that the job of a National Guard members or reservist has changed, the senator said.


more:http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1769&dept_id=74969&newsid=17871846&PAG=461&rfi=9

[Benhurst]

1. Good for him!

And maybe some day, in the far distant future, even just ordinary citizens of The World's Only Superpower will have a national health plan and all the other things people in the industrialized world take for granted. No, I'm just dreaming. When you are The World's Only Superpower, you can't afford that.

[maddezmom]

2. Schumer seeks aid for Guard, reserves

BINGHAMTON -- The Army National Guard dropped the recruitment slogan, "One weekend a month, two weeks a year," when the Iraq War started.

"Now it's not if you're going to get deployed, it's when," said Chris Marion, an assistant to the Broome County Legislature and a lieutenant in the National Guard. He leaves in March to go to South Carolina for four months of military police training. Marion expects he will be sent to fight overseas.

While the country is deploying Guardsmen and reservists at rates not seen since World War II, the compensation and benefits for those Guardsmen and reservists are lagging behind, said U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., in a press conference Wednesday at the West End Armory in Binghamton. Flanked by active and retired Guardsmen, Schumer announced legislation that would:

* Double the education benefit paid to Guardsmen in college to $600 from $297 per month.

more:http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070222/NEWS01/702220351