WTF Has Obama Done? - Issue No. 004 - Military Veterans and Families

Today we are going to look at the broad policy of the Obama Administration's achievements concerning Military Veterans and Families. As you all know, when our veterans come back from a tour of duty or war they need a job to come back to.  And more often than naught, they come home to no jobs at all or find that the company they used to work for is no longer around.  

It's a difficult time for our military vets when the job they held in Iraq or Afghanistan is not part of our civilian way of life, and they find themselves having to learn new skills to find a job.  Furthermore, looking for a job is hard in a slowly recovering economy.

So WTF has Obama done?

WTF-8

Initiated a new policy to promote federal hiring of military spouses.

More than 1,000 franchise businesses have committed to hire 80,000 veterans and their spouses by 2014 -- with 5,000 of those jobs to be directed specifically at wounded vets... 

In brief remarks at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a block away from the White House, Obama also said that 100 companies and organizations that joined the Military Spouse Employment Partnership a year ago have also committed to hiring 20,000 military spouses.  [Reference-1, Reference-2]

WTF-9

Improved benefits for veterans.

Obama noted a proposed 2010 budget which included a 15 percent increase in VA funding, the largest boost in more than 30 years. 

"Finally, this budget recognizes that our veterans deserve something more -- an equal chance to reach for the very dream they defend.  It's the chance America gave to my grandfather, who enlisted after Pearl Harbor and went on to march in Patton's Army.  When he came home, he went to college on the GI Bill, which made it possible for him and so many veterans like him to live out their own version of the American Dream.  And now it's our turn to help guarantee this generation the same opportunity that the greatest generation enjoyed by providing every returning service member with a real chance to afford a college education.  And by providing the resources to effectively implement the Post-9/11 GI Bill, that is what this budget does."  [Reference-1, Reference-2, Reference-3, Reference-4]

WTF-10

Worked to clear the backlog of veterans claims and streamline benefits to those who served.

The goal is to "cut those backlogs, slash those wait times and deliver your benefits sooner," Obama told the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 2009 at their national convention in Phoenix. "America's commitments to its veterans are not just lines in a budget. They are bonds that are sacrosanct, a sacred trust we are honor-bound to uphold. And we will," he said.  

This goal has been hard for Obama to accomplish due to the number of  veterans coming out of Iraq.  It is not going to get any easier when we start pulling troops out of Afghanistan.  But we all know how we ended up in Iraq and Afghanistan don't we?  [Reference-1, Reference-2]

Please make sure to read Issue No. 005 tomorrow as I continue with WTF-11
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