Readers reflect: GI Bill created opportunity

When I was called upon to serve in 1969, it was a time of national turmoil and conflicting ideologies. Any of us who were faced with the prospect of serving our country in VietNam or protesting what many believed to be an immoral conflict will never forget how that period changed our lives.

I grew up in Chicago, the grandchild of recent immigrants and the son of a father who served in World War II. We had just lost my cousin in VietNam and our tight Italian family was devastated. The draft had converted to a lottery system and my number was definitely low enough that I would be drafted.

I was in the first semester of law school, struggling to see how I would afford to finish the program, but committed to figuring it out. I enlisted to go into Officers training, planning to serve in the Judge Advocate General Corp in preparation for life after military service.

Through a series of events driven by the de-escalation of the war, I and 120 other OCS candidates were offered a reduction of service time and assignment for 12 months wherever we requested. I took that option along with 115 others and was stationed in Germany for the remainder of my service.

When I separated from service I decided to try a few other options before returning to law school and was fortunate to decide to get certified to teach through a program in Illinois for veterans to complete certification. Within a short time I realized my life had been directed toward education for a reason and the G.I. Bill provided funding for both Masters and Doctoral degrees.

I was able to use VA benefits to purchase my first homes and the national objectives of lifting people up to access the American dream was in full swing.

As a result, I moved to Tucson and served as an administrator in Flowing Wells Schools for 22 years, ending my tenure as superintendent. I was offered a position at the University of Arizona as a Distinguished Senior Faculty Fellow and later assumed the position of superintendent of Tucson Unified School District. I am retired now and have a quality of life no one in my family could have imagined.

The G.I. Bill made all of this possible and gave life to the simple dreams of my grandparents who came to this country to make a better life for their family. While my gratitude to them is everlasting, my gratitude to a nation whose leaders acted on a vision to build a strong middle class and support the belief in the values of hard work and opportunity is without reservation.

John Pedicone

I received my Honorable Discharge after serving in Vietnam Nam in 1968-1969 as a combat infantryman. I started to receive my GI education benefits in 1974. The GI Bill has positively benefited me and my family our whole lives.

I was able to stop working at the local residential treatment center for the special needs population and enroll full-time at the University of Arizona to pursue my goal of earning my degree in Special Education. I graduated in 1976.

I was now eligible to obtain the necessary licenses and certifications to teach special education for the next 32 years. I taught for twenty-five years in Amphitheater School district. During my first year of teaching I was able to purchase our first home and provide a comfortable and secure life for my family.

The GI Bill enabled me to positively impact my students, give back to the Tucson community and live a productive and fulfilling life with my wife and daughter. Without a doubt the GI Bill has had a major and positive impact on me and my family. The Bill also enabled me to receive first class medical and health coverage for the past ten years of my retirement. It has also enabled my wife and I to obtain home and car insurance special veteran rates. After marrying my wife Rita and raising our daughter Riene, the GI Bill with all of its benefits has been one sweet deal.

I am very thankful for the life it has afforded me and my family.

John Connelly

After undergraduate school at the University of Montana I was accepted to attend the University of Arizona law school. Being from Montana I knew that tuition would be high and I would have to go into debt to attend. However my plans were changed shortly after being accepted when I received my draft notice.

The Vietnam War was raging and Uncle Sam needed young men. After serving in the Army, I changed my plans and attended law school in my home state. The cost to me was much cheaper and with the GI bill I realized I could complete law school almost debt free. My monthly and book stipend covered almost all my living expenses and tuition.

The GI bill not only paid for my education but allowed me to pursue the type of law I wanted to practice without having to worry about crushing debt. While I was not happy with being drafted, I can say the GI Bill was one of the best things to happen to me.

I repaid the government many times over for the benefits I received. Those benefits allowed me to not only do what I ended up loving, but also provided me with a good income which resulted in taxes owed. I always gladly pay them knowing that the GI Bill made so much of that possible. From my standpoint, the GI Bill was the best investment the government could make in me. I will be forever grateful.

Howard Strause

The GI Bill was an important benefit for multiple members of our family. My father was an orphan, and worked many blue collar jobs to help support family who took him in, as well as himself. He joined the Army in 1939.

My father, father-in-law, uncles, cousins, a sister, a brother-in-law and I were able to buy homes with the assistance of the GI bill. My father and a brother-in-law got college degrees, enabling them to provide better lives for our families.

Dad said it took him 20 years to "finally get that piece of paper," ─ a bachelor's degree. He did it while working full time, through a combination of correspondence courses and night school.

His continued drive to always learn was a powerful example to our family, and then to our children, and the end result was all of his grandchildren had college degrees, some with advanced degrees. Dad being able to get an education evolved into three generations getting educations ─ what a great result!

Ann Dreeland

The GI Bill is the reason that I went back to college after serving in the Navy, and the Tucson Community is the reason that I chose the University of Arizona.

While the degree helped me land a job immediately after graduating, the salary was less than that I'd been earning at a manufacturing plant in Chandler. This was to be expected, as my degree pushed me into an industry that is severely underfunded and understaffed. Still, the chance that the GI Bill afforded me to come back and reconnect and give back to a community that defined so much of a life was worth it.

I'll take a pay cut for that any day of the week.

Brandon Peacock

I served as a LTjg USNR aboard the USS CADMUS (AR-14) during the end of the Korean Conflict, 1954-1956, and remained in the reserves until 1963. I used the GI Bill and some personal savings to go through four years of medical school at Cornell University Medical College in New York City receiving my medical degree in 1960. After eight more years of internship and residencies I went on to a marvelous 26-year career in Reconstructive, Plastic and Hand surgery in St. Louis, MO.

Bill Webber, MD

The GI Bill is quite literally responsible for everything in my life. My father grew up in Brooklyn, New York, one of two sons who lost their father at a young age and with a mother who worked two jobs to barely keep a roof over their heads. By his own admission he was hanging out on the streets, up to no good and going nowhere. When WWII broke out both brothers joined the Navy.

The war showed him there was more to the world than the streets of New York. He knew the city was a dead end if he stayed there. The GI Bill was his ticket out. With all the money he had, he bought a train ticket to Minnesota getting as far away from New York as possible and enrolled in the Engineering school. Armed with that degree he built a career and business from nothing.

Every day I thank him for the wisdom to take advantage of his opportunity and change his life from one of poverty to independence and success. Even though he never used the GI Bill again the education it provided for him continued to pay dividends for the country as his five children followed his example becoming successful contributing citizens. Today I consider myself lucky to be retired and living comfortably in Marana. All made possible by the wisdom of a 20-year-old kid realizing he needed to change his path in life.

Bert Fredericksen

For WWII vets the GI Bill was extremely important to veterans and America. It built the middle class along with the unions in America.

As a Vietnam Era vet I went to three years of graduate school (1970-73) on the GI Bill. Congress had cheapened the bill to such an extent that it paid my tuition, part of the book costs and almost nothing to live on. And there certainly was no government housing available.

The only reason I was able to afford graduate schools was because my wonderful wife worked full time as a public school teacher. And in those days teachers were paid professional wages unlike the America of today.

For Vietnam Era veterans, the GI Bill did NOT help build the middle class.

Buzz Davis

I joined the "ready Reserve" in April 1955. Still in school, it offered avenues that I did not see in the corporate world. I had worked for several insurance companies but they lacked opportunities for advancement.

I got an opportunity at Campbell Soup in Camden, NJ; however, my reserve commitment and my working hours conflicted. I was given a choice of active duty or release from the Reserves. I chose active duty and remained for more than twenty years. I went to Officer Candidate School, got commissioned, and realized the benefits that awaited me.

I retired in 1978, in a grade I never imagined was possible and for more than 40 years have reaped the benefits. I did post graduate work on active duty, got my Masters Degree and was truly appreciative of the opportunity.

All this was possible by the GI bill.

Robert W. Yeager

My story of the GI Bill is one of an excellent investment by the U.S. government.

My background includes a period of homelessness when my mother was left with three very young children. My father and mother were divorced after he abandoned us when I was four years of age. This set the stage for fifteen years of abject poverty. The U.S. economy was suffering in the great depression. Jobs were unavailable for our mother and millions of others. We survived through the kindness and generosity of people in the area. After graduating from high school, a college education was out of the realm of possibility.

In 1948 I began employment as a lineman for the West Penn Power Company. The Korean war began and I was drafted, went through training at Camp Gordon Georgia and then shipped off to Korea in 1951. Within a short time I was promoted to Sergeant First Class as the Platoon Sergeant. After one year, I was returned home. It was truly important to me that I lost just two men during my watch. President Truman reduced service time by three months to all Korean war veterans.

I rejoined the power company but immediately explored colleges to pursue a BSEE under the GI Bill. I attended the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Without the GI Bill my education would have been halted at the high-school level. My first job after graduating was as an engineering team member in a research program. After three years I decided to branch out to gain business experience still using my engineering degree.

The country's investment in me has generated a return well beyond imagination for most investors. This return was possible only because of the GI Bill.

James J. Burns

In 1958 my mother moved our family from Iowa to Tucson to escape an abusive relationship. The move saved our lives.

At that time lenders were not interested in financing a home for a divorced woman with two young children. Fortunately my mother had served in the Navy WAVES during World War II so she was able to use her GI Bill benefits to buy a comfortable three bedroom home in a safe neighborhood with excellent schools. A home we could call our own was much needed and appreciated.

Ina Moreno

After serving 4 years in the Air Force at Davis-Monthan AFB, I started a Pest Control Company and began studies at the University of Arizona in September 1979. Because of the GI Bill, instead of paying for college, I was getting paid. I considered myself a "mercenary" student.

It was one of the best part-time jobs I have ever had. Back then tuition was only $300 a semester. I think I was getting about $400 per month, and that went up every time a new child came along. We had two at the time I started and were up to four by the time I graduated. I joined the Air National Guard about six months after being discharged from the Air Force. So with 3 part-time jobs we were able to make ends meet.

Eventually, I went back on active duty with the Army National Guard in 1986. I continued serving until November 2011, serving a total of over 35 years.

Another big benefit came along in the form of the Post 911 GI Bill. I know I had used up all my GI Bill benefits. But, before I retired, I applied for benefits under this new bill. To my surprise, I was able to pass these benefits along to my children, and one of my daughters graduated from U of A with the help of these GI Bill benefits. This new bill was better than the one I used. It paid for tuition and some books and also gave a generous monthly living allowance.

I am currently employed as an Agricultural Specialist with Customs and Boarder Protection. To be sure, the GI Bill had a big impact in my life. Having a college degree helped me with promotion points in the military and enabled me to qualify for the job I have now. The economic impact has been substantial. Our family is grateful to our country for all of this.

Daniel Powers

As high school was drawing to a close, my friends spoke of colleges they applied to and the places they were going while I sat silently knowing. Their future was college and a draft deferment while my destiny was a welcoming note from the draft board and a ticket to southeast Asia.

Instead of waiting for those nice Selective Service guys, I enlisted. Eight years later with submarine patrols in my rear view mirror, I crossed the brow for the last time and headed to college. Terrified. I "knew" that those smart, freshly minted high school grads were going to be impossible for someone like me to compete against.

Focus arising from fear and having no path back made that worry silly in retrospect. Three years later I left the University of Minnesota knowing how to research, write and problem solve. I also left with my wife-to-be walking with me. The draft and as a byproduct, the G.I. Bill, allowed us to leave behind a childhood defined by scarcity and hard times and enjoy a life of abundance.

The Navy and service aboard a submarine were transformative. The G.I. Bill gave us economic freedom.

Chris Steele

1946 was the year of my discharge from the US Navy Submarine Service. My immediate interest was to apply for a year of unemployment compensation, twenty dollars per week for 52 weeks known as the 52/20 club.

During this period I played baseball for the Greyhound Organization that had recruited me for their team. An executive of the company suggested I use the GI Bill to advance myself thru education which led me to the University of Illinois and a BA.

Having secured a position of note after college I added a MBA to my education at Rockhurst College in Kansas City and a career trading commodity futures until retirement was achieved.

Using the GI Bill improved my outlook, my goals and my life.

Albin S. Polonyi Sr.

I was born and lived my early life in Buffalo, New York. After graduating as a Chemical Engineer from the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNYAB), I was drafted into the military in 1968. After serving on active duty in the United States Air Force for 4 years as a BioEnvironmental Engineer, I returned to Buffalo.

While working, I started using the GI Bill and attended night school for seven years at SUNYAB. I completed a MS in Civil Engineering and then a MBA. Both opened up new doors for me in terms of employment opportunities and military choices.

I joined the United States Air Force Reserves at Niagara Falls Air Force Base. Later on I was hired as a Corporate Industrial Hygienist by IBM Corporation and moved to White Plains, NY. I changed positions several times with IBM including relocations to Virginia and Arizona. I was fortunate to continue my military connection in the USAF Reserves for 27 years. One assignment, I became a Civil Engineering Squadron Commander at McGuire Air Force Base.

I eventually retired from the military as a Colonel while assigned to the Pentagon. Then I finally retired from IBM after 30 years as a Senior Engineer. I am sure my additional education played a big role in my successes.

Thomas J. Owens

I was born on April 25, 1949, in Lafayette, Indiana. My father graduated from Purdue University in June of that year thanks to the GI Bill. It was a circumstance that shaped my entire life.

He had served in the Army Air Corps as a navigator with 30 missions over Germany. He was a farmer in southern Indiana when he was drafted in 1942. He and my mother had one small toddler at the time and my brother was on the way. My mom often told of how upset she was when six months after my dad was drafted the headline "married men now being drafted" was posted.

After his tour of duty he returned to the farm and the next year my second sister was born in 1946. At that point my dad decided to take advantage of the GI Bill and be the first in his family to attend college. He certainly would not have been able to afford it had it not been for the GI Bill. Even then, he had to work at night while he attended school during the day and the family made do with very small quarters for a family of five. We became a family of six when I was born in April and he accomplished his goal as he graduated in June.

I know I would not have had the same opportunities had my father not decided to go back to school. He was definitely my role model and I, too, was able to complete my college education and become a special education teacher right here in Tucson (receiving my M.ED from the U of A). The GI Bill touched many lives; my family was just one of them.

Jody Friend

I used my GI Bill to complete my BS in engineering and MS in engineering degrees, plus I purchased my first home using a VA loan.

I started working for Hughes Aircraft when I completed my military service in 1963 in the U.S. Navy. The GI Bill allowed me to complete my degree while working part time. I was able to maintain my seniority with Hughes Aircraft becoming an executive before I retired when I was 57.

Don Ruedy

After spending four years in the Coast Guard (1969-1973), I went to undergraduate and law school using the GI Bill while I worked part time and my wife worked full time. This financial help kept us from needing student loans or asking family for help. While the benefits didn't last all six years, we certainly couldn't have done without it.

William Ben Smith

Prior to being discharged after four years in the U.S. Air Force in January 1971, I applied to and was accepted by the University of Arizona Graduate School of Business. After reviewing the tuition costs and living costs I felt that by living as economically as possible and with the help of the $244 monthly GI Education Benefit we (I was married with two dependents) could survive, and we did.

My wife became a part time telephone operator and later became one of the original employees of University Medical Center. Her experience at UMC kindled a strong interest in the Health Care field and she eventually went to graduate school and became a Hospital Administrator.

I graduated in June 1972 and feel the GI Bill helped provide options to me that I would not have had without attending the UA. Although $244 does not sound like much today, it was the difference between going to graduate school and not going.

Rick Keagy

After discharge from the U.S. Navy in October 1963, I joined the Tucson Police Department. About four years later I enrolled at the University of Arizona via its extension service in cooperation between the UA and TPD wherein classes were held at the TPD Academy campus and scheduled to coincide with TPD's various shifts.

After taking off-duty classes for the next seven years I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration. During this time, I received monthly stipends from the Veterans Administration commensurate with the number of units taken. Not only did this serve as an "off-duty" income, but the end result, the degree, was extremely beneficial in fulfilling education requirements in my promotion to sergeant.

Also, during this time, my wife and I purchased our home with the use of a low interest VA home loan.

John Sutton

My life has definitely been affected positively in many ways through the GI Bill. I'm a Vietnam veteran who served four years as an Officer of Marines. After completing four years of active duty in 1970, I enrolled in a Master's Degree program at San Diego State University through the GI Bill.

Upon graduation, I obtained a position with the City of Tucson, but grew disenchanted with local government politics. I decided a change of career was needed and enrolled at ASU for a two-year MSW program, majoring in juvenile corrections. This turned out to be the career I had been searching for, and the GI Bill made it possible.

I retired from a rewarding 30-year career with the California Youth Authority. My wife of 43 years and I reside in Sierra Vista. We have three children and two grandchildren. None of this would have happened without the GI Bill.

James Coan

Upon graduation from college, I signed a contract to teach fifth grade, but as that time the draft was active and very few were deferred, I enlisted in the Air Force and served at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, from 1968-71.

While I was on active duty, I started and completed my master’s degree using the “tuition assistance” program which paid 80% of my tuition and did not affect my GI Bill entitlements in any way. After I was discharged, I used the GI Bill to purchase my first home, and later assumed another veteran’s mortgage at a lower interest rate.

Professionally, I used the GI Bill educational benefits to pursue post-graduate studies and earned certification as a school principal, director of guidance services, guidance counselor, and special education teacher.

In 2011, I completed a career in public school education that spanned parts of five decades.

It was an honor to serve my county, and I feel the GI Bill richly rewarded me and many other men and women who served their county during the Vietnam War.

Richard Dinges

The GI Bill of World War II did two important things for me and family. It allowed for an education at Marquette University, followed by PhD from the University of California. Moreover, it allowed me to purchase a home for family while studying at UC Davis.

Chester  J. Mirocha

I retired from the U.S. Navy IN 1985 and worked in commercial HVAC for about a year and a half. Because I had surgery on both hands and needed to change careers, I went to college. I was able to earn an associate's degree before the old GI Bill expired in 1986. That degree gave me an advantage in job searches for the next quarter century. It improved my earnings and my retirement.

Terry W. Ford

In 1963, I was in Seoul Korea, I received a Early Out from the U.S. Army.

I returned home to Rapid City, S.D. and started my sophomore year at Black Hill State College. I traveled 110 miles every day from Rapid City to Spearfish. My wife worked full time, I held down two part time jobs. I graduated in May of 1966.

In 1966, when they re-instated the GI Bill for Korean War veterans, I enrolled and we bought our first home with the help of the GI Bill. I also went back to college and received my Masters in Guidance plus 15 addition hours in education. My post education was a result of the GI Bill.

Donald Newton

I voluntarily enlisted in the military after high school graduation, at age 17. I served in the Army Air Force, Air Force, 1947-1950.

This bill was a blessing for me, upon my discharge as a sergeant in 1950. I could certainly not have afforded my accelerated education without it. I earned a BA in Chemistry in 1953, got a Fulbright Scholarship to France, 1956, a PhD in Chemistry, 1959, and eventually a faculty teaching career at several universities. The stipends, book allowance, and VA benefits allowed me to concentrate on studies, and receive the grades needed for graduate school.

G. Fred Reynolds

I am a family practice physician in Oro Valley. I enlisted in the United States Air Force in the summer of 1971 after my first year of college. At the time, I had little idea of what path to pursue with regards to a college major, let alone career choice. I wasn’t in the mindset to continue college at the time.

I made one of the most important and wisest decisions of my life by enlisting in the United States Air Force. Upon completing my military commitment, I returned to college completing a bachelor’s degree in Biology. The GI Bill paid the entire cost of my college education at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

When I made the decision to go to medical school, I applied for, and received, a scholarship with the Air Force. The Air Force paid my entire medical school tuition and expenses as well as a second lieutenant’s salary while I attended school. In return for the Air Force covering my education, I served as a medical officer (physician) for the time I spent in medical school. I also purchased my first home using the GI Bill while I was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi as a physician.

I reflect back and wonder what would have happened if I had not decided to take the military route. I believe I may have still been paying back loans if I would have selected the same career path that I did. Then again, I highly doubt that I would have become a physician. I owe it to the Air Force and the GI Bill for enabling me to take the path I did and the subsequent success I have achieved as a result.

Ted Crawford

I joined the Navy in California January 1951 during the Korean War. I had never been out of California. After several assignments I was discharged in November 1954. I had a wife and two children.

This is where the GI bill comes into my life. I started East Los Angeles Jr. College in January 1955, having finished one semester before going into the Navy. I took all my classes in the mornings and had a job in a florist shop afternoons and Saturdays. When I finished junior college I went to the University of California at Los Angeles and continued morning classes and working. Upon graduating with a BA in accounting I secured a position as an assistant auditor in then one of the big 8 accounting firms Arthur Andersen.

I was able to go to college because the GI Bill payments took care of my college costs and all I had to do was make enough to live modestly on. Andersen hired me as an assistant auditor for $5,100 per year. I never thought I would need more than that.

In 1968 I became a Partner in Andersen and I remember being the the 50% tax bracket in 1971. I can honestly say I did not mind paying my taxes. The GI Bill had allowed me to get in that bracket and so the government made a good investment in me and I got to pay them back.

William Lindberg

I was a student at a new College in Wisconsin, projected to be in the first graduating class in the 1960’s. I was not really "college material” but my family persuaded me to enroll. After two years of average and below average success, my grade-point average was so low that my draft-board asked me to “join” the military.

This definitely changed my immediate future but I had no choice. This was the Vietnam-era, but I dodged a bullet and was sent to Korea for duty. When I returned to the states I remembered the G.I. Bill and quickly signed up to return to college.

I qualified and began going to night-school, summer school and took classes anytime I could to continue towards my degree. I was married and still managed to work part-time during schooling, while my wife worked full time. I probably would not have graduated from school, without the GI Bill.

Kenneth J. Unwin Jr.

My Grandpa Dahlen grew up on a small farm without electricity in Northern Minnesota. The GI Bill offered him a completely different life than that of his siblings and parents.

He was lucky to come home from the war safely after a brief tour and enrolled in an accounting program at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. He met my Grandma in the program. She likes to tell the story of scraping their money together to pay for his CPA exam and using what was left over to buy him a watch for his graduation.

He worked for a local plumbing supply company as their accountant for 20 years, raising a family of four and slowly investing small amounts of money that he was able to save. Eventually, he purchased the company and was able to sell it for a nice profit later on.

He continued to invest and was able to share his profits with his children. He gave all 11 of his grandchildren a stock portfolio that allowed all of us to go to college. Without the GI bill none of this would have been possible. Speaking for my whole family we are grateful for the opportunity it offered my Grandpa and all of us.

Lily Cummins

I spent thirty years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring in 1988. At that time, I couldn’t pass the GI Bill on to another family member, so I had ten years to use it or lose it.

After determining not to become a “Beltway bandit” in retirement, I decided to use the Bill to further my education. I enrolled at the University of New Mexico, was accepted into grad school, and completed a Ph.D. in English effective May 13, 1995.

I then pursued my avocation, teaching English Literature at both the University of New Mexico and then the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. This proved to be a most satisfying period in my life, made possible through the education benefits of the GI Bill.

David Martinson

After not doing well attending the University of Arizona in 1967, I was drafted and joined the Air Force in 1968. While in the Air Force I took a GI Bill correspondence course in operating heavy equipment. After I was discharged in 1972 I went to Florida for hands on training.

Returning to Tucson I found work operating heavy equipment for a local construction company. Eventually I found work operating heavy equipment at Anaconda Mine in Green Valley.

After a year or so working in the mine I decided to return to UA and pursue a degree at 24 years of age. Because of my financial situation, I could only enter UA with the GI Bill. I moved in with my parents and worked part-time at the U of A to supplement my small income. At this time I was highly motivated and determined to do my best in school. I eventually earned a Bachelor Degree at the U of A and began Graduate School.

I then met my future wife, married, and decided I wanted to work with my hands and entered the Carpenter's Union Apprenticeship Program. I became a journeyman carpenter welder, had 2 children, and bought a house with VA financing.

I was doing well until I got injured on the job. After a period of time recovering from my injury and becoming homeless with my small family, I fell back on my Bachelor's Degree and found work in community based mental health. I worked my way up the ladder until I eventually left mental health work after 23 years. For the last eight years I have been working to help homeless veterans.

The GI Bill has allowed me to become a heavy equipment operator, go back to school and earn a a Bachelor Degree and meet my wife (married 41 years), buy a home, and eventually find a successful career that was supportive and meaningful. It is hard for me to imagine how I would have accomplished these things without the GI Bill.

Michael St. Ores

I grew up in a large, lower middle class family where my father was a pastor who moved his family frequently. I was a discipline problem and poor student who left high school never graduating.

At 17, my father thought it better for me to leave home and took me to the U.S. Army Recruiter where I served honorably from 1962-65 achieving the rank of Specialist Four. I separated from the Army with a dream of attending college. I started at Fullerton Jr. College in California on probation, it was difficult because I had to work to support myself but made good grades and was allowed to stay.

The GI Bill was reinstated for Vietnam veterans and I was able to devote my full effort to attending college. After two years, I was admitted to the University of Arizona where I met my future wife, graduated in 1971 with a BS in Finance and a minor in History, I seriously doubt that it would have happened without the GI Bill.

I was selected for U.S. Air Force Pilot Training, got married, served until retirement, and used the GI Bill to buy our first house here in Tucson while serving at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, used it to attain my MBA and it also paid for the training required to attain my Airline Transport Rating. In 1988, I “won the lottery” by being hired as a pilot by Delta Air Lines.

I was just a poor kid whose parents were very supportive but did not have the means to help me financially, scholarships were not available for me and I honestly don’t know how my life would have turned out without the GI Bill. I will forever be thankful for the privilege of serving my country. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the generosity of my country and it’s taxpayers that dramatically changed my life by bestowing the GI Bill upon me.

Ron Kobernik

To qualify for the GI Bill, I served in the Army Air Corp, 1943-1945, as a pilot trainee in the Western Training Command. Had it not been for the atomic bomb, I probably wouldn’t be here. I'd be one of the million projected casualties in an invasion of Japan.

My family was burdened with medical bills so there was no money there. The “Bill” gave me exactly what I needed: College, earning a BS in business, a stipend and a mortgage in 1957. Payments were $105 a month, all included, for 29 years.

John H. Anderson

In a family of five kids, my older brother Ray was the only one who entered military service (Navy) during World War II, and though the war was over only about a year after his enlistment, he was entitled to apply for the GI Bill upon discharge. He did apply, and obtained a much-coveted degree in electrical engineering. He was recruited by Bell Labs/Western Electric/AT&T and worked for the company for 37 years as an engineer/supervisor. His first job was in Pueblo, Colorado.

Meanwhile, my family (on the East coast) was in the throes of some difficult times. At the young age of 24, Ray's circumstances enabled him to rescue my mother, younger brother and me and help us get established near him in Colorado.

Without the benefit of the GI Bill, Ray would never have been able to afford college, earn his degree, and have the ability to come to the aid of his mother and younger siblings. I have wondered in the many years since what would have become of all of us had Ray not been able to come to our rescue, and realize that much of the success of that deliverance harks back to his being able to take advantage of the GI Bill. I am so thankful.

Brenda Nichols Ainley

I grew up during the Great Depression, born in 1927, and grew up in a family of five children during those harsh, difficult years for our country. Any thought of college, or any schooling beyond high school, was never even considered, much less discussed.

However, during my senior year of high school, I worked part time at the General Electric Company in Lynn, Massachusetts. GE had a policy of hiring engineering students from a nearby university who would get work-related training along with attending college. It didn't take me long to recognize how different the young engineering students’ futures were from mine ─ the difference, of course, being their education. With this insight, I promised myself that somehow I would find a way to get an engineering degree.

Directly upon high school graduation I joined the navy, as did many of my male classmates, but it was during this time that the war was coming to an end, and I was ultimately discharged. It was my good fortune, however, that the GI Bill was then being offered.

I immediately applied for the Bill, and then to a number of colleges. I was finally accepted by the University of Colorado, and granted tuition plus the generous stipend of $65/month (later increased to $75). After four years, I graduated with that degree in electrical engineering. I was offered a job with the Bell System, and ultimately spent my career ─ 37 years ─ with Bell and its successor, AT&T, as an engineer/supervisor.

For the satisfying, rewarding career as an engineer, which as a young man I had longed to achieve, I am inexpressibly grateful for the GI Bill.

Raymond Nichols

My parents were enlisted in the Marine Corps during World War II and married at Camp Lejune in 1944. With the help of the GI Bill, they were able to finance their new home in Suffolk Hills built by the Lusk Corporation in Tucson. Dad, Mom, six kids and two dogs moved into the house in 1962.

About 20 years later, we lost both parents to lung cancer. Their benefits also included end of life care in the VA hospitals in Denver and Tucson.

Tim O'Connor

My father, Victor F. Arana, didn't use his GI Bill to go to school. As a member of Disabled American Veterans, he was able to give it to me. I studied at Pima Community College and at the University of Arizona.

I earned a dual certificate in education (K-8 regular and K-12 adaptive education). As a result of my father's service, I was given the opportunity to give back to the communities of Southern Arizona (Nogales, Sierra Vista and Tucson), as well as earning a decent living while enjoying a wonderful career.

Francis D. Arana

My father, Glenwood Broyles, came through Tucson on a troop train in May of 1942, heading for the South Pacific. When he returned to Ohio at the end of WWII, he remembered the warm sunshine and the spectacular mountains of the Southwest. In 1949, after my brother Frank and I arrived on the scene, my dad convinced my mother that our family should leave behind the snow and cold. He desperately wanted to attend university, and Tucson had a great one. The newly-established GI Bill would provide the necessary extra funds to allow him to follow his dream.

Dad earned his bachelor's degree within two years, and began teaching, first at Spring Jr. High and then at Tucson High. He started the radio bureau at THS, a subject near and dear to him as he had run a radio station in Fostoria, Ohio for several years. Eventually, my father also received his master's degree from the UA and transferred to TUSD's administration office where he established educational television. He worked closely with KUAT in this endeavor.

Without the GI Bill, none of this would've happened. I am grateful that this city called to my dad six years before I was born; that the GI Bill gave him options to pursue his education; and, especially grateful that he was lucky enough to return from the war.

Susan Tornga

I was out of the service, and working as a diesel mechanic in 1966 when I heard of the GI Bill. I had not been a good high school student, but I knew that it was hot in the summer and very cold working in open pit mines. I had a wife and 5 dependents.

I went to the University of Arizona. The GI Bill paid for 12 units as a full load, so I took 18 or more units each semester, and with a part-time job I made it. Another GI break was the day I found out I could get 2 units credit for PE and 3 units credit for ROTC for my GI time. All in all the GI Bill paid me from my Freshman to almost a Masters degree at the UA.

I became a Fifth grade teacher and taught for 31 years in Marana School District. I am still in contact with students and some parents that I had in my room over 31 years. I enjoyed teaching, and my time in the service.

Ned Russell

Because of the GI Bill, I had the good fortune to grow up in Tucson.

I was born in Brooklyn, New York, as were my parents Bernard and Lillian (Shapiro) Fisher. After completing college, my father enlisted in the Army during World War II. He served stateside and after discharge, took advantage of the GI Bill to attend dental school at New York University. He and my mother married during his first year of dental school.

My father had a private dental practice in Red Bank, New Jersey, when in 1954, he was drafted; the draft had been a condition of his use of the GI Bill to attend dental school. In February of 1955, he was stationed at Walker Air Force Base in Roswell, New Mexico for a 2-year term-of-duty.

During his time in Roswell, my father experienced an improvement in his health as he had previously suffered from asthma. He decided he wanted to stay in the southwest because he felt so much better. He and another Air Force dental buddy studied and took the Arizona dental boards together and they passed.

Our family moved to Tucson in the spring of 1957. My father had a successful dental practice until he retired in 1988. My mother graduated from the UA College of Law in 1963. My siblings and I all became Wildcats.

Marjorie Cunningham

I cannot express my gratitude for the GI Bill that helped me complete the five-year Bachelor of Architecture program at the U of A. The college expenses for model building and graphic presentation materials were extensive so I really appreciated the Bill. I started working part time in my career during school and fortunately gained professional employment immediately following graduation.

The GI Bill provided assistance to pursue a much better career than ever possible without the degree.

Owen Rentfro

After serving on active duty as an Air Force intelligence officer, including a tour in Vietnam in 1971-72, I used the GI Bill to obtain Masters and Doctorate degrees in political science from the University of Washington.

Those credentials were the vehicle I used to begin a college teaching career, starting at Boise State University, followed by stints at the College of Idaho and the University of Portland. From there, I accepted positions in the U.S. Senate, first as Legislative Assistant for Defense and Foreign Policy for Senator Slade Gorton of Washington, then as Senior Analyst for Defense on the staff of the Senate Budget Committee for the late Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico.

My experience in the Senate led to an offer to join the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, CA, where I served for a quarter century. I retired from NPS in 2012 as an Associate Professor of Public Budgeting, Emeritus, and still do some contract teaching for them via the internet.

The GI Bill opened doors for me, enriching my life and providing wonderful professional and personal opportunities. I am forever grateful.

Richard Doyle

I served three years in the Air Force during the Korean conflict.

I used my GI Bill for four years of college and received my degree, which enabled me to secure a good job designing cars for General Motors.

My wife and I also purchased a home with my GI mortgage and raised our family. None of this would have been possible without the wonderful GI Bill program.

My father had a small car dealership and trained two ex GI's on the GI Bill to be car mechanics, helping them, my Dad and the small town we lived in.

Jim Ewen

The GI Bill allowed me to go to nursing school and to purchase a home but I only learned about my military benefits by accident. At the time I was a divorced mother of three with very little financial support for my children and with only a high school diploma.

At the age of 20 at the end of my 2-year military commitment, I had met and married my husband and thought my dream of falling in love, having children and living happily ever after in a house with a white picket fence around it had come true.

I eventually found myself divorced with three children under the age of six and moved to Chicago to be near family. I was working and trying to further my education at the same time.

While on a break from class one evening I met several older students attending the same college who were veterans working full time like me and attending classes in the evening. Through our conversations I found that they were getting funds through the GI Bill to attend school and they suggested that I look into it. By the next semester I had gone through the process of applying and receiving additional money from the GI Bill to continue my education.

When I needed a home and hoped to purchase one, I again found out about another GI Bill benefit from a friend. I had not been told of these benefits when I was discharged.

In the end I purchased the townhome using my VA loan benefit, paid off the student loan that I had and enjoyed a 30-year career as a registered nurse. I was able to help my children out when they needed it, travel extensively and do all the things I always thought I could never accomplish. Without that GI Bill maybe things would have gone differently.

Connie Campbell

I immigrated from Germany in 1956, and in 1959 my brother and I enlisted in the United States Air Force. I got out in 1963 and traveled around the country and wound up in Tucson, Arizona, in 1965. I started to work for the Tucson Police department in 1966, and in 1969 I started to go to the University of Arizona on my GI Bill and received my BS degree in 1974.

While working and going to school in 1972 I also used my GI Bill to purchase a brand new home. Thank you uncle Sam for giving me an education and the affordability to buy a house for the four years I gave you to protect our freedom.

Michael Kud-Kudijaroff

Although it was not I who earned the benefits of the GI Bill, I have definitely felt the benefits during the past 75 years. My husband always wanted to be a writer, but growing up in a small Ohio steel town, his future seemed to be in the steel plants where his father had always worked. His two years' service in the South Pacific with the U.S. Navy and the GI Bill gave him hope of a different life.

He was able to go to Journalism School at Ohio University and plan an alternative future. I and our baby son went to college with him and since the GI Bill paid for tuition, books, fees and a $90 per month stipend, we managed to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table for four years. When he was offered a great job with a Chicago publisher, he went to Chicago to look for housing. The demand for housing was so great after WWII that no one would rent to anyone with children, so once again the GI Bill came to our rescue. With a GI loan he was able to purchase a house in a brand new "bedroom" Chicago suburb.

He loved his job and moved up quickly. Of course, my life improved along with his, thanks to the GI Bill.

Lois L. McKelvey

The GI Bill and the Army were very good to me.

I joined the Army Security Agency on a four year enlistment in March of 1965. After basic training I was assigned to Ft. Devens, Massachusetts, for a thirty-eight week school specializing in electronic equipment repair.

After that, the Army assigned me to Sinop, Turkey, and Kassel, Germany, where there were many opportunities to work on electronic equipment and learn practical troubleshooting and repair techniques.

After completing my enlistment, by using the G.I. Bill, and alternating between work and school I was able to earn a bachelors degree. This enabled me to parley my military experience and my education into a very rewarding career allowing my wife and I to retire in our early sixties.

In addition to the G.I. Bill, the training, and the practical experience I received while serving, I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge that I served with many fine officers and non-commissioned officers who helped me in many ways at a time in my life when I really needed the help. I will honor them in my memory for the rest of my life.

John Ziegelbauer

The GI Bill provided me with the opportunity to get an undergraduate degree as well as my masters in education. That path then led to a successful career as a teacher and building principal. My family was an indirect beneficiary of the Bill because of successes of my career.

The "Y" in life's roads, for me, was the GI Bill. If I had taken the other turn I thinks it's safe to say all aspects for my family and me would be totally different. I'm now retired and living quite comfortably and it's all due to the opportunities that were provided me all those years ago. Thank you, thank you, thank you GI Bill.

Jerry Moss

My father is 91, and served in the armed forces in the 1940's, including a brief period during the end of World War II. When he returned home to California he used the GI bill to attend art school at Art Center in Los Angeles. He used that education to make his living as an artist.

His older brother had been a passionate artist but he died at age 16 of an appendicitis and so my father took on his passion as well.

The photograph shows a portrait of his wife of 62 years, Dody, which he painted. She passed away in December and his artwork is the most beautiful way to remember her.

Craig Wisnom

When I was 19 I had attended one year of college. I had great grades, but I was uncertain on my major. I enlisted in the Marine Corps. I went to boot camp in November 1975. This was very lucky because Nam Era designation ended in January of 1976. This gave me some extra benefits when I got out three years later.

After my three-year enlistment I got out. I had married a Marine and he got out a few months before me. We decided to move to Oregon (my home state). We were an interracial couple and felt Oregon would be more accepting. A few years after leaving the Marine Corps I went back to college before my benefits expired. I got my BA and MA in three years. This allowed me to become a math teacher and eventually become the math specialist for the second largest district in Oregon (Salem). I then went on to become an administrator and finished my career with 10 years in principalships in Portland, Oregon. My entire career happened because of the college benefits. My spouse also used his benefits. (We divorced after 21 years of marriage.)

We also used our Oregon VA benefits for home ownership. At a time when interest was quite high we were able to get two GI loans. The first was through me (I was a native Oregonian) and then seven years later through my spouse. At that point he was considered an Oregon resident as well. Those low interest loans made the difference in our ability to buy property and build equity.

There is another angle why those home loans were important. When the GI home loan program began (1944) there were very few people of color in the service. This meant that white GI's got into homes and began accumulating wealth. The many fewer GI's of color could get the benefit, but they were often red-lined for where they could live. These properties often accrued value at a much slower rate. This became a systemic issue that caused strong accumulation of wealth for whites while people of color didn't have this advantage. My ex-husband became a property owner while he was still young and he has profited by this through building equity, selling and buying another home, and so on.

I don't regret one moment in the service. It changed my life forever.

Tanya Ivey

After 24 months service, 1944-1966, five of which were spent in the combat infantry with the 30th Infantry Division in the European Theater, the first benefit procured was a four year degree, tuition, and texts paid to Northwestern University under the WWII GI Bill.

Next was a home priced at $10,400, $400 down and a $10,000 mortgage payable over 20 years at 5% interest guaranteed by the government under the GI Bill.

Being recalled for Korean service for 24 months, I became eligible for monthly payments which paid for a four-year night study of law at Southern Methodist University, a Bar Review course and expense money for a three day bar examination. This led to a successful and satisfying career selling law books.

But that is not all. My wife of 63 years, Margery, is buried at Camp Nelson National Cemetery. At almost 93 years of age, I will join her shortly.

Given the above, you can sign me, not GI Bill but

GI Gene

Eugene Pflughaupt

The GI bill allowed me to become the first of anyone in my family to graduate from college at age 47 or 48. As a result I qualified for employment opportunities that I took advantage of during my "second career" after retirement from the military. It never would have happened without the GI bill.

Tom Billeter

Of all the events that have had a positive effect on my life, the passage of the GI Bill in 1944 was the most influential.

As a teenager, I had dreams of becoming an electrical engineer, but that was out of the question financially. Also, I lacked the required academic courses. Therefore, just prior to my graduation from high school, I joined the US Navy in 1943 hopeful of being trained in electronics. Fortunately I was trained in the use of radar and sonar and served for 2 1/2 years until I was discharged in 1946. I then returned to my High School to complete my academic courses and was admitted to Syracuse University in 1947.

The GI Bill paid my tuition and also provided me with $75 each month (as I recall) for living expenses, which allowed me to attend and graduate from Syracuse University in 1951 with an electrical engineering degree.

This led to my being employed by RCA as an electrical engineer until 1959. One of the employee benefits at RCA was free tuition for those who were willing to attend night classes at one of several Universities in the Philadelphia area, and be able to maintain a required grade-point-average. I chose to attend the University of Pennsylvania and obtained a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1959.

Also in 1959, I was offered a position on the staff of a research Laboratory at the University of Arizona. I subsequently spent 27 years there as a researcher and also as an assistant professor teaching electrical engineering.

Because of the financial help that the GI Bill gave me, I was able to work in a profession that I thoroughly enjoyed and to accumulate enough funds for a comfortable retirement. Also, without the GI Bill, I would never have met my beautiful, wife while attending Syracuse University.

John B. Theiss

After honorably serving in the US Navy, the GI Bill gave me initiative and financial ability to obtain a Four-year college degree in Industrial Management.

More importantly, I was the first of my family of six children whose grandparents immigrated (legally) to the United States from the Baltic regions of Northern Europe.

Vincent J. Ermovick

The GI Bill helped my then fiancé go to college at $90 a month in 1947. We were married in August 1948. My husband continued his college courses until we became pregnant. Being from the old school, he quit college because his thinking was no guy goes to school when he should be supporting his family. If he had stayed in college we would have received $120 after the baby was born. The only sure income we had then was $1,000 every three months from the Navy Reserves.

Jumping forward to when the baby was 6 months old, I told him we were going to take out a GI loan and buy or build a house. We had lived with his parents in Detroit for 18 months. I agreed to this as long as he was in school. So in October 1949 we got a wonderful mortgage loan at 4% for 30 years. We had a friend build our home and moved in January 1950. My husband still had not found a permanent job, but we could manage the $33 monthly payments.

Fifteen years and three children later, we paid off the loan. We lived very happily in that comfortable, small brick home in a suburb of Detroit for 37 ½ years. We then retired to Tucson in 1987. My husband died after 65 years of marriage, and now I have lived here for nearly 32 years. The GI Bill was certainly a Godsend for us.

Avis L. Claeys

My parents, William Henry Ford and Regis Celeste (Gregg) Ford both joined the U.S. Army straight out of high school during WWII.

They met in a military hospital where they were both serving as surgical techs.

After the war they married and enrolled in college under the GI Bill in Nebraska.

Dad went on to complete his medical degree, while mom held down the fort raising four children. Number five was born the same week as his graduation. We eventually became a family of 11.

Sister Ellen Lucy, from Saint Mary’s Hospital offered the new Dr. Ford an internship in 1953.

He then joined a small practice in Casa Grande that served most of Pinal County, with dad eventually delivering thousands of babies throughout the county.

Dad did not die a wealthy man, we often found watermelons and bags of corn on our doorstep in lieu of payment for his services.

Also of note, they are the couple who survived the historic Pioneer Hotel fire by climbing down an exterior conduit pipe from the 8th floor.

The GI Bill had an extraordinary impact on not only our family, but countless families.

Frances Ford Carino

I entered the Army immediately after high school in 1969, served in Vietnam from 1970-71, and was honorably discharged upon returning to the states. Almost immediately I started post-secondary education at a local community college under the GI bill.

In those days the amount was something under $100 per month. So, like the rest of my fellow vets, we all had at least one, and often two or more part-time jobs while going through college to make ends meet. Since I was unsure of any major area, I foundered in the general studies curriculum with some time away from school for part- or full-time work as either a mechanic or truck driver.

Eventually I decided upon a major as a high school shop teacher and transitioned to a nearby University. After a year, I found wedded bliss and moved to a rural area in another state to complete my teacher studies at a small college, while receiving pay from the GI bill, always working additional jobs.

Because it had taken so long to work through these life decisions, I couldn't complete my degree in the allotted 36 months at 9 months/year. I appealed for an additional 9 months, which was granted, thereby finishing my degree with 48 months of GI bill support. At the end, I believe I was receiving around $170 monthly.

I'm unsure of what would have happened had it not been for the GI bill and doubt that I would ever had a successful career path as a high school auto mechanics teacher, which has suited me perfectly as a life-long career.

When we moved to Arizona, my family included a child. We desired to buy a home, but were stymied by costs that exceeded our income level. At the time,1979, Pima County offered first time home buyers a reduced rate program of 9 3/8%; compared to today's rates under 3%, and we thought we we're getting a bargain. We happily succeeded in qualifying for a mortgage, even though we didn't have a 10% down payment because of the home loan guarantee from the VA through the GI bill. We paid off our home years ago thanks to this original assistance, and now experience a reasonable retirement because we're mortgage free.

I stayed in the Army reserves, retired, and was called out of retirement for a year of duty in Afghanistan in 2008. This entitled me to another GI bill of the new variety, which I have yet to use.

Jerry Petersen

While I am a second-generation college grad, my GI Bill experience is STILL a bonus for me and my family.

I had the qualifications to go to college on the GI Bill, but I still had to take a battery of placement tests. The nearest place for me at the time was on-campus at ASC, Flagstaff. I remember being surprised to learn that the results predicted I could be a salesman, which at the time was as far from my plans as it could be. I was not yet in broadcasting on the air and in sales, among other jobs I held in a 50+ year career (at KVOA Radio/TV and later at KGUN TV9).

I did get a degree in Secondary Education, Speech/English major and Earth Science minor. I did not ever teach for a living. But with the GI BILL, I also became one of the graduates from a public university in our state. My wife taught school here in Tucson before we were married, and all of our family ─ six people ─ have public school educations from kindergarten through college graduates. Two of the six (both non-service connected) have Master’s degrees!

We are home-owning, tax-paying products of one of the greatest pieces of legislation this nation has ever enacted.

Larry Schnebly

I am a Korean War Vet. After three years of active duty and six more years on active reserve, I was honorably discharged on November 30, 1962. With the GI Bill (to the amount of $110 a month), I went to a university in Kansas.

The tuition was prohibitive, but with the GI Bill benefits supplemented by two part-time jobs on campus, I was able to pay for tuition, books, and a basement room to live in. Without the GI benefits, I doubt if I could have finished four years of college work. I had no other means of support. (I am not from this country.)

I joined the United States Army at Clark Air Base, Philippines. Born of an American father and Filipino mother, my enlistment in the U.S. Army (and eventual pursuit of four college degrees), was a way out of an otherwise bleak future, living, no doubt, in grinding poverty in Manila.

After I received my first degree, I taught in a rural school in Holyrood, Kansas, saved, and taught for the Department of Defense School system, saved some more and went back to the university for my second degree. The third earned degree was from a university in South Dakota. I was offered, thereafter, an assistantship to do my doctoral work at a university in Tallahassee, Florida. I have since become a professor at Briar Cliff University, Sioux City, Iowa, an associate dean at Pima Community College (from which I retired after 26 years at that wonderful institution.) I was also an adjunct at the University of Arizona.

Above and beyond my education, I was awarded a Certificate of Eligibility by the Department of Veterans Affairs to borrow $36,000 with which to purchase a home on March 1979, a year after I moved to Tucson.

All this was started by the GI Bill of Rights. Needless to say, I owe this country, and will continue to serve it as long as I can. I do volunteer work at an elementary school lunch monitoring and teaching tennis and subbing as well. I also help at my place of worship.

 Arnold C. Davidson

I got GI Bill benefits as Korean War Veteran. I had been a cook during the war and received by undergrad and graduate degrees on the bill. I taught in high school and junior college.

Harry Loumeau

The GI Bill enabled me to earn my college degree and to purchase my first home. I appreciated that these benefits were a recompense in recognition and appreciation of having served four years in the U.S. Air Force to meet my military obligations.

Ed Schaefer

Over a decade ago, I was an infantryman operating in the rugged terrain of Afghanistan. While deployed there, my parents made many trips to their local post office on North Oracle Road.

Postal employees did their duty, making sure my parents morale boosting care packages made the long journey from Tucson to my small combat outpost near the border of Pakistan. One of these special deliveries changed the course of my life.

After removing the customs form and tearing off all the packing tape, I pulled open the cardboard box. Nestled in a bunch of essential items for any soldier— AA batteries, beef jerky, canned goods, candy, magazines, and powdered drinks—was a paperback book.

The title caught my attention: Teacher Man. The book details Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt’s account of teaching English and creative writing at several New York City high schools.

At the time, I was thinking about life after the Army, and I wanted to do something where I could continue to give back to my community and country. After reading about McCourt’s exciting experience as a teacher on breaks from patrols, teaching made sense. And inside the book, my mom scribbled, “Brian—You would make a terrific teacher, just like Mr. McCourt.”

You can’t argue with mom, so I decided to become a teacher. When I returned home from deployment, I was accepted into Teach for America, enrolled into a teaching credential program at American University, and assigned to teach history in Washington DC.

I thought I had it all figured out, but becoming a teacher is an expensive career choice. The financial crisis put my new mission to the test.

I had saved my combat pay and invested most of it into the stock market. As I prepared for my transition from soldier to teacher, the Dow plummeted, and my savings hit rock bottom.

As I examined my financial situation, the math was clear. I was not going to be able to cover the cost of tuition and the high cost of living in the nation’s capital on a starting teacher salary and the meager payouts associated with the Montgomery GI Bill. I was about to give up on my dream of becoming a teacher when I received another special delivery.

The passage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill ensured I would step foot in the classroom without taking on too much debt. And I was rewarded with the chance to serve again, spending five rewarding years inside the classroom teaching world history to teenagers at a high poverty school. And I didn’t let mom down. In 2012, I was recognized at the Kennedy Center with an Excellence in Teaching Award for outstanding achievement.

I may no longer be in the classroom, but I remain committed to the transformative power of education. Today, I am responsible for leading Lockheed Martin’s philanthropic efforts to support our service members, veterans, and their families.

As a responsible corporate citizen, Lockheed Martin has a role to play to support veterans use of the GI Bill. We do this through supporting organizations that help veterans succeed in higher education, such as Student Veterans of America.

Veterans have a lot to offer college campuses from their proven leadership to their diversity of experiences. And when they graduate, they offer the same values to any organization.

Today’s GI Bill provides eligible veterans with up to $300,000 for tuition and living expenses to pursue education and training opportunities at colleges, trade schools, and apprenticeships. The GI Bill not only saves veterans from the burden of student debt but also helps them reach their full potential and secure that dream job. Another benefit of the GI Bill is it makes parents proud, especially a mom and dad living in Tucson.

Brian Thompson