Daughter wants grandson to go into airforce reserves to pay for college. Help!

[tinfoilinfor2005]

He has an academic scholarship to a college starting this fall but it will only pay for half. My daughter, who was in the airforce, believes that if he joins the reserves and goes to boot this summer, he will be able to go to school in the fall and not have to serve any time until he is finished with college. She is also completely convinced that since he would be in the airforce, he would not have to go to Iraq. I'm not sure where she got any of this information, but I am very unhappy with this idea. So I'm turning to you for advice. Is she right about this?

[Donnachaidh]

1. What's wrong with him looking for other scholarships to take up the slack?

Or work study?

There is ALWAYS a better option.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

12. That's what really pisses me off.

This college actively recruited him because he excels in soccer and the school has a soccer team that they are looking to build up. The coach sent him an email promising him the opportunity to play in his freshman year (pretty unusual) and said that there was money available to offer him an athletic scholarship. Because Brad is a 3.8 student, he also applied for an academic scholarship which he did get. The coach, as it happens, was fired shortly after he made his offer to Brad. Turns out he was caught sleeping with a student, apparently against the rules. Duh. So when grandson and mom met with the new coach, he skirted around the questions about the scholarship saying that he wasn't certain yet how much money the school was going to give the soccer program. Soooo...last week they get a letter from the coach: no money for an additional scholarship. Of course by now, it is already too late for Brad to put in to the other colleges he was initially interested in since he made the commitment to this school months ago and already accepted the academic scholarship. And since daughter and husband are just middle class working parents of two, the additional money that they were counting on from the school is now going to be difficult to scrape up. I guess because she was in the airforce back in the days before the world was in such a mess, she feels that this is a safe option that will provide him with the rest of his tuition. But I just don't think it is safe to take a chance.

[Donnachaidh]

17. hun -- try FastWeb.com

http://www.fastweb.com

They have a scholarship search by your perameters and I get new scholarships DAILY for my son. They also list internships and work study programs. We regularly have 30 or more scholarship programs to look at each week.

Give them a shot - you may just find something that can cover the other half right away, or perhaps a workstudy/scholarship thing can be worked out.

Don't give up! And DON'T let him sign up for any service! There is NO honestly with these sign-ups anymore. If they need another body -- he'll go, no matter what they signed him up for.

Keep us posted too. I'll keep looking for more info for you. Also, I think you might also want to consider a student loan. It's far less dangerous than the service is now.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

18. I have forwarded the site to her.

Thank you! Looks like a great site.

[jody]

2. IMO if he joins the AF reserves, he probably will go to Iraq. n/t

[Bjornsdotter]

3. Get in touch with

...the Financial Aid office at the college. They can help your grandson.

Cheers

[jtrockville]

4. LINKS to alternatives....

http://yayanetwork.org/alternatives

[SlipperySlope]

5. On the other hand...

I wouldn't say there is no chance, but he would be safer in the Air Force (or Navy) than in the Army or Marines. What about the Coast Guard as an alternative?

[Fresh_Start]

7. they have the coast guard in Iraq now

so if georgie puts a hit on iran, the coasties are targets too

[SlipperySlope]

8. Indeed, but...

Indeed, but better to be on a coastie cutter than cruising Bagdad in a HMMV

[Fresh_Start]

10. true enough

but a nice seminary might be a good place to hang out as well

[Divernan]

14. The first woman from the Navy killed in Iraq was killed by an IED

Although highly trained at other skills, she was seconded to the Army and driving a truck.

[patrice]

6. Ask her gently whether she thinks what we are doing in Iraq is good or bad.

It is only a matter of time before we have to engage in this struggle all over again if the basis of such decisions is only whether I/me/mine are inconvenienced somehow in whatever quid pro quo we agree to, rather than whether the quid pro quo results in a good thing or a bad thing.

Does she really want her son, your grandson, engaging in the monstrous obscenity being perpetrated upon the people of Iraq and upon the U.S. Military?

I hope not.

[jumpoffdaplanet]

9. Tell her the Air Force/Navy is on the ground in Iraq

At least since last year.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1219/p03s01-usmi.html

"Now the service's planes are wearing out. It is so short of cash that it plans hefty cuts in personnel. And its combat mission has changed so that, for perhaps the first time in Air Force history, hostile fire has killed more of its ground personnel than its pilots and airmen."




Tell her her son will be nothing but cannon fodder for bushco.

[1monster]

11. See if you can find a copy of Myra McPherson's LONG TIME PASSING, A HISTORY OF VIETNAM AND THE

HAUNTED GENERATION.

It is an excellent book. (I have the original editon in paperback that I bought in the eighties.) Among other things it details are the outrageous, shocking and vile unjust treatments dished out to the Vietnam soldiers and veterans. (Be prepared, the book will make you angry... and she tried very hard to not take sides). And compared to the way the Bush Administration and the Pentagon are treating today's military men, the Vietnam years were country club living.

Tell her to read it before she advises her son to enlist. I take it her experience in the military was not during a(n illegal and unjust) war.

http://www.amazon.com/Long-Time-Passing-Vietnam-Generation/dp/0253214955/ref=sr_1_1/102-0126603-1025702?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176423220&sr=1-1

EDITED TO ADD:

Editorial Reviews

Book Description
This new edition of a classic book on the impact of the Vietnam War on Americans reintroduces the haunted voices of the Vietnam era to a new generation of readers. In a new introduction, Myra MacPherson reports on the legacy of the war and its impact on contemporary political life, interviews a number of her principal characters to bring their stories up to date, and reflects on what has changed, and what hasn't, for the haunted generation in the years since these interviews were conducted.

From the Publisher
Based on more than 500 interviews, Long Time Passing is journalist Myra MacPherson's acclaimed exploration of the wounds, pride, and guilt of those who fought and those who refused to fight the war that continues to envelop the psyche of this nation. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

[Divernan]

13. As of June 13, 2006, the "U.S. Air Force has flown over 237,000 sorties in Iraq."

"The US Air Force's Expeditionary Air and Space Force (EAF) concept and organization sets a guideline for Air Force deployments to operational locations. The EAF is comprised of 10 Aerospace Expeditionary Forces (AEF) each with lead combat and support wings including on-call wings that could be deployed if required. While deployments for active duty units generally lasts roughly 90-days, Reserve and Guard units deploy typically for 30-60 days. In testimony before the House Armed Services committee on June 13, 2006, General D.W. Corley, USAF reported that "n Iraq, the Air Force flown over 237,000 sorties."
www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat.htm

It's easy enough to document via googling the U.S. Air Force and Iraq, plenty of hard facts to prove that your grandson's mother is (I don't want to be obscene - she is your daughter) - unbelievably ignorant of the facts of the Iraq war - and that's inexcusable since she should have no problem determining the military reality of that war. When you google, you will find many items re Air Force personnel based in Iraq. And I'm not going to repeat earlier Google searches I have done, but I can tell you that you will find that specialized Navy and Coast Guard personnel have been seconded
to the U.S. Army as truck drivers in Iraq and have been killed by IEDs. Once your grandson is signed up for ANY military branch, he is easy cannon fodder to get sent to Iraq. My god, Bush has just extended the tours of duty to 15 months and gives every sign that he will continue to escalate the fighting until the day he leaves office.


There's also another current story about West Point graduates leaving the service in record numbers to escape the dangers of Iraq. Your grandson is bright enough to get an academic scholarship - must have worked hard to achieve that - how on earth can she risk his future rather than take out student loans? My kids each took out student loans and had work study jobs, and I also took out loans. I would NEVER have chosen to risk their lives for money. Yes it took years and years to pay them off, but they all did well, got graduate degrees and have high paying jobs which they enjoy. I drive my cars for 200,000+ miles and have lived in the same little ranch house for 25 years - but none of my kids are buried in a military cemetary, or suffering from depleted uranium poisoning, or confined to a VA hospital.

On edit: Someone suggested speaking gently to your daughter. I say scream and shout and raise holy hell with the family. Present them with the facts about Air Force service in Iraq. This is a life and death matter for your grandson, and you will never forgive yourself, or your daughter, if she gets her way and pressures him into enlisting, and he is sent to this war.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

16. I feel exactly the same as you do.

Thanks for your thoughtful letter.

[TwilightGardener]

15. He might have to go to Iraq, but it all depends on his AF job--

my husband is AF active duty, and had to spend only a week in Baghdad during a 4-month deployment to Qatar. However, his squadron will start 6-month rotations in Iraq later this year. It's dicey, but the Air Force is not like the army or marines--he likely won't be there as long, if he does go. Make sure to ask him if he is really ready for that possibility, and if he really wants to serve--there are easier ways to get college money.