Readers of Tom Philpott's Military Update column sound off.

Banner Recruiting Year Doesn't Please Everyone 

Just the other day I was talking to my husband about how sad I am that our youngest son, 24, has been forced to join the military. Then along comes your article about more middle class youth, in a poor economy, entering the service. What a sad state of affairs this country is in!

Since a teenager, our son has wanted to be in law enforcement.  At present he is a manager for a large fast food chain where he has worked since the age of 16. There is no doubt this job has helped him grow. It's taught him to multi-task really well, be more assertive and learn how to deal with many different types of people. However he has only stayed with the company because it provided him an income while he furthered his education.

Recently married with a wife in the last semester of her education, student loans will soon be coming in and there will be no money for him to go back to school. Then came the news El Paso County and the City of Colorado Springs will not be hiring new law enforcement officers. In fact it is probable they will lay off some current officers.

Faced with the "what now" question, after much thought and discussions with us, our son enlisted in the Army as an MP.  He will finally realize his dream of being in law enforcement. And I'm really angry and sad that he and we may pay for this dream with his life!

CAROLYN MURPHY
Monument, Colo.

I've always enjoyed reading your articles.  Unfortunately, the information you repeated in your recent "Military Update" on recruiting is only what was provided by the Department of Defense.  The announcement that all recruiting "goals" for fiscal 2009 were met is only partly true.  Enlisted accessions goals were met; officer accessions goals were not. 

The services continue to miss recruiting goals for physicians, dentists, nurses, other health professionals and Catholic chaplains, among others.

Sadly, the larger good news of meeting enlisted accessions goals often over shadow the inability to meet all recruiting goals.

MARK A. FORTUGNO
Lieutenant Colonel, USAF-Ret.
Via e-mail

I have fumed over your latest story on military recruiting. Great, all branches of the service made or exceeded their goals. In the process they have cut off recruitment of prior-service members who wish to serve and to give back as well as youth who did not graduate from high school but passed the GED (General Educational Development) test.

I am retired military and have always seen it as a way for an individual to grow as well as serve our nation.  Are the brass so naïve as to think that these "job only" hunters will stay or give their all?

In addition the cost for a prior service to reenter is a lot less than the training of new recruits.  How about telling all the story, not just what looks good. 

LLOYD ROSE
Staff Sergeant, USA-Ret.
Via e-mail

GI Bill Mismanagement

The VA had a whole year and a half to prepare to process all the Post-9/11 GI Bill applications and they didn't

I did everything correctly in applying for new benefits and so did my school.  It's nice that VA now offers $3000 advances on delayed benefits but the regional offices are located way in the boondocks, not in major cities where the most people live. For instance, the regional office in Virginia is in Roanoke, not in, say, Norfolk, a more populous city with Virginia's greatest number of veterans.

 I did receive my first housing allowance payment after I wrote to my senator. I also received the $3000 advance which I never even applied for on the internet and no one knows anything about it.

But there really is no excuse for what's occurred. VA had plenty of time and they didn't prepare.  There were grand promises made that didn't square with reality.  I went eight or nine weeks into the semester without books because I didn't get the book stipend until my claim was fully processed.

The VA could have and should have a computer system to automatically process these claims. My father ran a similar computing system when he was vice president of his company. Why is it the civilian workforce can do things better than the government?

Christopher K.
Via e-mail

I am attending school.  I received a VA letter in August stating I qualified for 80 percent GI Bill benefits so I signed up for classes.  The school took the letter on good faith and allowed me to attend classes without any payment until VA paid the 80 percent promised.  I have taken my midterms and picked out my intersession classes.

I just now received a letter stating that the VA made a mistake and that they will only pay 40 percent of my fees because I do not qualify for as much as they had previously stated.  This is after the course add-drop period.  I am now supposed to finish my classes and figure out how to pay for what VA won't cover.

I would never have signed up for these classes because 40 percent is not enough for me to live on. I will not be able to continue school.

VA took way too long to tell me of their mistake made at my expense.

MELISSA DANEHEY
Springfield, Mass.

No Female Submariners

I oppose the purported stand by the chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Navy on assigning women to submarine duty. It appears our military leaders are more interested in social engineering than in combat readiness.  By appealing to a minority in military, and to civilian special interest groups, they have abrogated their main responsibility of maintaining combat readiness to keep America safe.

Submarines were constructed as an ultimate deterrent to war.  They are designed to run silent and unnoticed in the world's oceans. Anyone who has spent time on a submarine will know space is a scarce commodity, and that living quarters are built around machinery and weaponry, not the other way around.

Morale is the highest in the submarine service because of a shared experience. It is that morale as a combat-ready unit that sustains it in time of hardship and uncertainty.  If more living space must be carved out to accommodate women, resentment will lower morale and do what our enemies have not been able to do -- weaken combat readiness.

As a proud veteran submariner, I believe we all have a task in keeping America safe. That means putting men and women where they can serve that purpose the best.

Our elected officials should ensure that our military leaders make the right decisions to defend us against all enemies, foreign and domestic. 

A. RUIZ
Via e-mail

Letters may be edited for clarity or length.  Write to Military Forum, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA  20120-1111, send e-mail to militaryforum@aol.com or visit www.militaryupdate.com