Soldiers march home to GI Bill benefits
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Daily Nebraskan photo
Rep. John Cavanaugh
By Ly nrr Mongar
As Johnny came marching home from each of this
nation's wars, veterans' benefits have awaited him.
Colonial legislatures and the British Parliament established
the practice with the first settlements. Traditionally, Am
ericans have granted postwar benefits and medical care for
disabled servicemen.
However, benefits for the able-bodied servicemen are a
recent development.
The reemployment provision of the Selective Service
Act of 1940 to help veterans during the period immediate
ly after their release from active duty, foreshadowed the
central theme of the Government Issue or G.l. Bill.
During World War I, Congress and President Woodrow
Wilson had failed to enact legislation to assist able-bodied
veterans returning to civilian life.
Servicemen's organizations, and veterans themselves
lobbied and marched in Washington D.C. for a veterans'
benefits bill.
FOUR PRESIDENTS vetoed the veterans bonus bill
before it was signed into law. On May 18, 1944, following
several days of debate Congress approved its version of the
G.I. Bill without a dissenting vote.
Among World War II veterans eligible for benefits,
more than 2,232,000 Veterans attended colleges at a cost
of about $5.5 billion.
The nation's institutions of higher learning found the
flood of veterans attending school difficult to accommo
date. Prefabricated housing units and tents were used at
Universal service' not the traditional draft
By Betsie Ammons
A proposal to reinstate the draft, under the catch-all
title "universal service" will be introduced to Congress
within the next two weeks, according to Nebraska Rep.
John Cavanaugh.
But it will not be the traditional draft. The bill would
place males and females ages 18 to 26 in various civil
service jobs as well as in the, military
"It will provide a system for an economic manner in
which we meet priorities," Cavanaugh said.
According to the Jan. 19 issue of the Daily Nebraskan,
Cavanaugh has said that the volunteer service system pre
sentry used is becoming inadequate, and the armed
services are primarily made up of lower income individuals
and minority groups.
THESE GROUPS, he said in the Daily Nebraskan, have
the "least favorable opportunities" in private enterprise.
In a March 15 article in the Omaha World Herald,
Cavanaugh was quoted as saying "The truth is we have
been using the -volunteer force as a social safety valve to
relieve our society from the consequences of our failure to
provide true quality of economic and employment oppor
tunity for the nations minorities."
The World Herald also reported that Cavanaugh said
more than 42,000 blacks were taken into the army last
year under the all volunteer system.
Under CavanaughX proposal, all males and females
would be required to register with the United States
Department of Defense before their 18th birthdays, and
have the option to specify the six month period when
they are eligible for selection by the government.
In addition, according to the Daily Nebraskan, a person
would have the alternative to volunteer for the armed
forces, forestry or other governmental, agencies, exempt
ing them from the draft.
THOSE CHOSEN FOR duty during the six months
they have designated would be inducted for two years of
service. As with the previous draft, if the six months pass
ed without notification, the individual is not under any
obligation to the, government.
At a press conference last Saturday in Omaha, Cavan
augh was confident about the proposal.
?I think there is a growing appreciation and under
standing of this problem" he said.
He also said extra compensation may be added for
those who opt for the military service, to ensure that
some choose it over civilian jobs.
The House Armed Services Committee questioned
Cavanaugh about the bill on March 14. According to the
World Herald article, it met with mixed reactions from
committee members.
From a recruiter standpoint. Gunnery Sgt. J J). Henry
of the US. Marine Corps said he agrees with the proposal
100 percent.
Although the Marines did not draft in the past, Henry
said the draft provides them with a "ready avaSable Est
of people qualified" for armed services.
HENRY EXPLAINED THAT the majority of VS.
Department of Defense draftees are given to the
Army, with the tpflloveT going to the Air Force, Navy and
Marines. v .
Ifcnry sad the Marines km not had trouble recruiting
fridmsrth 23, 1070
in Lincoln, but that nationwide the volunteer program has
some problems.
Henry, concurring with Cavanaugh, said he thinks the
majority of volunteers are what he called "lower citizens,
people who cannot make it in any other way."
These volunteers present problems to the recruiters, he
said, as a great deal of reference checking must be done
before they are admitted.
Henry said he thinks the new draft would save the
country money. The amount the U.S. spends on volunteer
services would be more effectively used, he added.
Under the Equal Rights Amendment, women should.be
included in the draft, said Henry, a marine for 12 years.
"IF THEY WANT equal rights, there shouldn't be any
choice," he said. "Why in the hell should they be ex
cluded?" Staff Sgt. Jim Vanderslice, a U.S. Army Reserve re
cruiter, also favors the proposal.
Vanderslice said he thinks the draft would be more
cost effective.
"The overhead of just getting one person into the
service is in the neighborhood of $5,000," he said. "This
does not include training, it is just to get him to raise his
right hand.
Vanderslice said recruiting costs include advertising on
national television, and paying for physicals and recruit
ers salaries. In some cases, he said, potential recruits must
be flown to large cities for the physicals .
The draft would eliminate having to offer financial
compensations to coerce people into the service, accord
ing to Vanderslice. He said draftees would have no choice
in the matter and the bonuses would not be necessary.
VANDERSLICE AGREED WITH Henry that the draft
would provide a better cross section of the population in
the military.
"The doctors and lawyers sons would be included
along with the rest," he said.
Vanderslice also said, however, that the draft would
"enhance the national defense posture."
In threat of war, he said, the U.S. would not have
enough time under the volunteer system to get adequate
military personnel before war broke out.
But Vanderslice said he most strongly supports the
draft for a purely emotional reason -a person't duty to his
country.
"People take for granted the freedoms they enjoy, he
said. "The only thing that stands between them and no
freedom is the military.
"I am finally resolved that people do have patriotic
duty, contrary to popular notion."
Vanderslice predicted that the final form of a reinstat
ed draft would foe a compromise between hard-line draft
supporters and those who believe in volunteer service.
He said he thinks the draft will be implemented tor the
US. Army Reserves, which would cause the percentage of
people Who enlist full time to increase, because the draft
lets them serve two years instead of the six the Reserves
require.
Although the Army received the most draftees under
the old system, Vanderslice said he has no trouble recruit
ing in Lincoln. Rather, he said, the problems have aS been
with the hih cost of recruiting.
fsthcrn
several universities to accommodate returning servicemen
attending school on the G.I. Bill.
The benefits under the O.I. Bill have increased since
World War II, according to a Veteran Service officer of
the Veterans Administration.
"The Vietnam era vets have monetarily greater bene
fits," Bert Plannett said. .
PLANNETTE SAID he thought Congress was more
aware of what the Vietnam veteran needed.
V.A. Chief of Fields Section, Paul Madsert. said, "The
Vietnam vets were more vocal about their needs"
The G.I. Bill for the veteran today provides more
money for loans and financial assistance for tutoring.
A special V.A. campaign is underway to encourage
Vietnam veterans to use their education benefits before
their entitlement ends, according to a V.A. spokesman.
Veterans have 10 years after their discharge but not
later than Dec. 31, 1989, to use the G.I. Bill.
In 1978, the agency said Operation Boost concentrated
on 11 states with 50 percent of the veterans taking ad
vantage of the G.I. Bill.
In Nebraska, 62 percent of the Vietnam veterans
have taken advantage of benefits. Today at the University
of Nebraska 1,200 students .are receiving financial aid
from the G.I. Bill.
THE PROGRAM today is "not the program it was
before," Palnnette said. The current program, for veterans
and servicepersons entering active duty on or after Jan. 1,
1977, is on a matching dollar basis.
The Veterans Administration will match the contribu
tion of the veteran at the rate of $2 for every $1 paid by
the veteran. The Department of Defense may also make
contributions to the fund.
Sgt. John Henry of the Marine Recruiting Office said
the new program has not affected recruitment.
"It's not that big of a factor," he said. "I've been in the
Marines for 12 years and I haven't seen that much of a
difference," he said.
Sgt. Jim Taylor of the Army Recruiting Office agreed
with Henry.
"It reaily hasn't affected our recruiting at all," he said.
"The new program is even part of my sales pitch."
Nuclear discussions
stem from explosion
of first atom bomb
By Shelley Smith
The first atomic bomb exploded July 16, 1945, near
Alamogordo, N.M. Within a few weeks, American planes
helped bring World War II to an end by dropping atomic
bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The bombs
killed over 100,000 people.
Since that first explosion in 1945 "and the total de
struction of two Japanese cities, the merits of atomic
energyhave been a major concern for every nation.
According to the World Book Encyclopedia, the
history of the atomic bomb began in the late 1890's when
scientist Albert Einstein's theory of relativity provided a
basis for understanding nuclear energy.
Soon, many physicists recognized the military possi
bilities of atomic energy and felt that the United States
government would be interested in further research. Early
in 1940, the scientists received the first federal funds for
research.
THE RESULTS OF the research were positive and in
1942 The Manhattan Engineer District of the Corps of
Engineers (the Manhattan Project) was established to pur
sue the production of an atom bomb.
After the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, the Russians tested their first atomic bomb in
1949. Soon. every major country in the world was testing
nuclear energy .
Realizing the dangers nuclear weapons represented to
the world, the United Nations in 1963 proposed a treaty
banning nuclear testing on the ground, in space, and under
water. Within two years, more than 130 nations -had
signed the treaty. And in 1968, the UN approved a treaty
to stop the ipread of miclear Weapons.
However, research concerning nuclear weaponry con
tinued. Criticisms of nuclear energy emerged almost
tnmediately after the bngHrange effects of the bombs
dropped on Japan were known. The land was burned
barren and filled with radioactive substances-thousands
of people were stricken with the scars of tsrcre radiation.